It’s here: Goddess Tarot for Android app!

After months of work, here it is at last!

As you can see, we’ve kept the design of the Goddess Tarot android app as close as possible to the iPhone version but with one important upgrade: the Android app has been designed for both phone and tablet screens. So it’s two-for-one, so to speak. It’s also on sale at a special launch price of $1.99 at Android Market. (Eventually it will be available from Amazon’s App Store too.)

I hope you’ll go forth and download. Here are a few additional screen captures of it.

• Filed under goddesses, iPhone apps, new projects, tarot and oracles | No Comments

On Sale: Goddess Tarot HD for iPhone 4

I’m pleased to announce that Apple has just released the HD version of the Goddess Tarot app! Like the “regular” Goddess Tarot app, it’s available in a free Lite version and a paid Full version. To celebrate, the full version app is on sale this weekend for $0.99 (regular price $3.99). Now’s the time to upgrade if you’re currently sporting the non-HD version on your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch with a retina display.

You may be wondering what’s the difference between Goddess Tarot HD app and the “regular” Goddess Tarot app. The only difference are the high definition graphics which have been optimized for the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch retina display from the original art and design. Otherwise, the apps are exactly the same.

So, if you have an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch with retina display, go forth and enjoy the sale!

Goddess Tarot HD app

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Publishing Monday: PubIt! with a side of Slush Pile Hell

Two things this rainy Monday in Brooklyn:

1. PubIt!* As evidenced by recent actions, Barnes and Noble is desperately embracing the e-book world. No surprise, but Nook displays have gained significant real estate in their retail stores. During a recent visit to my local Barnes and Noble**, a kiosk devoted to the Nook dominated front and center; if I hadn’t known better, I might have wondered if I’d walked into a computer store. Secondly, and more of interest to authors and independent publishers, they’ve launched PubIt!, a self-distribution endeavor.

Here’s PubIt!’s aggressively friendly graphic which greets visitors to their home page:

This pitch appears after they invite you to “Live the Dream.” Which begs the question, What and whose dream?

I’m still digesting how I feel about PubIt!. On one hand, it’s a new distribution channel for independent publishers and authors—what’s not to like? So far, I’ve been distributing my own e-books and apps through Apple and Amazon; I’m glad to have a new market via Barnes and Noble. However, the disturbingly jaunty tone of “Just don’t forget about us when you’re Big Time” makes me want to…. Well, you can fill in the blank.

Someone asked me on Twitter what I think about PubIt! so far. The truth is that I don’t know yet. Though I’ve signed up for an account, I had some problems with registration. I’m set up with New York State with a business EIN (Employee Identification Number). I run my business from a commercial storefront. Regardless, there were issues regarding tax addresses and EIN addresses and other fussy technical stuff that required a telephone call to a rather bored-sounding PubIt! employee. Though he did his best to be helpful, I had the impression the poor guy had spent all morning fielding similar questions.

Several e-mails later, I think I’m good to go with Pubit!. Part of me expects another e-mail from Barnes and Noble announcing there’s still an issue with my account. Time will tell.

2. Slush Pile Hell. Though I discovered this site some months ago, it never fails to crack me up. Billed as “one grumpy literary agent, a sea of query fails, and other publishing nonsense”, it’s snarky as all out. But, like jokes about New Jersey***, I hope I’ve earned the right to indulge in some publishing humor. After all, I started out in the biz reading hundreds of unsolicited submissions for a major New York publishing company.

Based on my personal experiences, I suspect the letters published on Slush Pile Hell are drawn from real life. Here’s one example—what follows is the agent’s imagined response:

Every agent I’ve encountered thus far has been a complete idiot. Let’s see if you can prove you’re different by representing me and my book.

Stop. Your seductive charm is making me feel woozy.”

And another:

Hello dear. I want to present to you my nonfiction work.

Dear? Mom, I’ve already told you that just because you raised me doesn’t mean I’ll give you preferential treatment.”

————————–

* Yes, the exclamation point is intentional on Barnes and Nobles’ part. It! Makes! Publishing! Sound! So! Exciting!

** Yes, I usually support indie bookstores, but they had a book I needed badly and immediately. (Hangs head in guilt.)

*** I spent my formative years in New Jersey. No Snooki jokes, pretty please.

• Filed under be-mused, e-books, goddesses, publications, publishing | 2 Responses

Creativity Friday: Spoonflower!

A deep, dark secret from my past: I used to sew most of my clothes when I was a mere slip out of art school. Usually these efforts were inspired by favorite paintings. For example, I created a Lady of Shalott dress to wear to a gallery opening. Another time I created a Jane Morris-inspired dress, complete with underdefined waist in a pomegranate-colored cotton. Sometimes I’d wear a stiffly starched petticoat under it for that proper Aesthetic buzz.

These days, my schedule doesn’t allow me to explore this form of creativity—it’s been some years since I’ve sewn something beyond the occasional pillow slipcover or a loose button. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t yearn to. I recently unearthed my sewing machine from the back of a closet and have been staring at it mournfully while watching episodes of Project Runway. I will befriend you again, I vow to it. I promise.

In the meantime I’ve discovered Spoonflower, a wonderful website that makes it possible for artists to design, print and sell their own fabric designs. The custom-printed fabrics are available in a number of weights. My first two designs are up, one which has been entered in their fabric-of-the-week contest—the theme is masks, just in time for Halloween festivities.

Venetian Masks
Design inspired by THE LOVER’S PATH.

Here’s the fun thing: Each Venetian-style mask can be worn. Simply adhere to iron-on backing, cut out, and sew ribbons to each side. The masks can also be decorated with sequins and embroidery as desired to invoke a sumptuous evening on the Grand Canal. Added bonus: this design also works as a large-scale repeat. Great for drapes and upholstery in your private paradiso.

(Psst. If you want to vote for it as fabric of the week, click here.)

Goddesses Galore
Design adapted from THE BOOK OF GODDESSES.

I think the goddesses would make wonderful curtains or pillows, don’t you? Future fabric ideas include a pattern to create goddess dolls and a Doomed Queens repeat pattern complete with tiny guillotines. As you can tell I’m having fun.

You can view my fabric designs on Spoonflower here. So far, only my goddess fabric is available for purchase. You’re required to proof your fabric creation before releasing it to the public—I hope to be able to release the masks fabric in a few days.

Or, if you’re an artist, you can set up your own Spoonflower account to upload your own designs for free. If you do so, let me know—I’d love to see what you create!

• Filed under be-mused, creativity, goddesses, stuff I like | 2 Responses

Creativity Friday: School’s out….

… and Thea is now officially a kindergartener. The above photo was taken right after her preschool graduation celebration — look how pleased she looks! And now she is home until she begins summer camp in about two weeks. As for myself, my hours in the studio have been limited in the meantime. I’ve had to tie up a number of projects now that summer is upon me.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s what at this moment:

~ The first draft of The Novel (aka THE LILY MAID) is officially set aside for the next few weeks until my schedule frees up. The first draft is complete at 105,000 words — whew! That written, I still have a number of plot points and character arcs that require refining. I’m hoping that the time away will help me clarify my thinking as well as better judge what I have so far. Right now, I am careening between enthrallment and despair over all I’ve written. C’est normale, so I’ve been told. This is the longest manscript I’ve ever worked on — and fiction to boot! — so THE LILY MAID is brave new world territory for me.

~ I’m excited about e-books for the iPad. Toward that end, I’m moving forward on designing and producing THE BOOK OF GODDESSES e-book as well a a number of others: PERSEPHONE AND THE POMEGRANATE, SACRED ANIMALS, and more. So far, I’ve set up my publishing imprint with Apple’s iBooks, purchased my isbns, and am slowly mastering the finer points of the ePub digital format. (Apple’s iBooks only distributes ePubs, unlike Amazon’s Kindle which uses a proprietary format.) I’m finding ePub design to be a strange, slippery amalgam between website programming and book design. Much of what I’m learning as an e-book designer feels counterintuitive to me. But then again, it’s all new.

~ Related to above: I have a blog post on my experiences incubating about my discoveries and challenges designing for the ePub format so far. I hope to have that up once I have a chance to catch up in the studio, in a week or so. The short version is that my intention is to create the most beautiful, inspiring, and user-friendly e-books available despite the constraints of the medium. Here’s a peek at my e-book imprint logo, which will go within the front matter for each digital publication.

~ I’m considering making some of my more text-heavy books available for Kindle, such as THE BOOK OF GODDESSES. It seems as though people are wedded to one format or the other, based on what e-book device they own. For example, I’m amazed at how many people downloaded DOOMED QUEENS on their Kindles. However, I’m wondering if this is worth my effort, since the Kindle only handles black and white books at this time. I’d include all the art from my books, but obviously they’d be reproduced in black and white. Opinions? Thoughts?

~ We also have a new exhibit planned for next month at the gallery. I’m very excited about it since it will be curated by my husband, anthropologist Thomas Ross Miller. ON THE ROAD OF BONES will feature native Siberian and American photographers documenting Russia’s Old Kolyma Highway, built by prisoners of Stalin’s infamous gulag.

~ Next Friday (June 25) is our monthly tarot salon. Live in the NYC area? I hope you’ll stop by for a glass of wine, some chocolate and a reading. More information here.

And how is your summer shaping up so far?

• Filed under The Novel, be-mused, creativity, goddesses, new projects, publishing, the world around me | 2 Responses