Artsytalk

I forgot to mention earlier in the week that Will Write For Chocolate has been updated.

As I've mentioned before, my music group (Urban Tapestry) is the Music Guest Of Honor at Balticon next year. Connie Willis is the Author Guest Of Honor, and we've just found out that John Jude Palencar is the Artist Guest Of Honor.



You may not recognize his name, but I guarantee you've seen his artwork. He's done book covers and illustrations for works by Stephen King, Lovecraft, Connie Willis, Tolkien and many others, but is probably best known for his covers to the fantasy novels of Christopher Paolini.

For those that don't know, Balticon is a four day science fiction convention that with over 300 hours of multi-track programming featuring authors, publishers, editors, artists, scientists, musicians and other "creative sf luminaries." Date: May 23-26, 2008. Place: Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn in Baltimore, Maryland. You can download the Balticon 42 PDF flyer or see the Balticon Web site for more info.

My convention plans for next year are as follows:

GAfilk (Atlanta, GA - Jan. 11-13): Very much looking forward to this! Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff are the Guests of Honor, Brian Richardson is Toastmaster, and the Brobdingnagian Bards are the Interfilk Guests.

SCBWI Winter Conference (New York - Feb 8-10): The 9th Annual Winter Conference On Writing & Illustrating For Children.

FilKONtario (Toronto, Apr. 4-6): GoH-Michelle Dockrey and Tony Fabris, Filk Waif: Bill Roper, Interfilk Guest: Marilyn Miller, Special Guest: Heather Bruton. Urban Tapestry has a concert!

Balticon (Baltimore, May 23-26), of course. We'll be doing a concert and will also be involved in the children's programming.

SCBWI Summer Conference (Los Angeles, Aug. 3-6): Beckett Gladney and I are rooming together at this conference about children's book writing and illustrating.

And I'm hoping very hard to be able to make it to the Ohio Valley Filk Fest next year, where the Guests of Honor are Annie & Tim Walker, Toastmasters are Becca and Graham Leathers, Listener Guest is Jan di Masi, and the Interfilk Guest is Sibylle Machat. This convention will depend on finances, though, since going to the LA conference will be pretty pricey.


"Bunnylove" - original fridge art on 3"x5" canvas board.
Available on Etsy.

In addition to my regular writing, I'm working on two book projects right now: the graphic novel I mentioned before, plus putting together a book proposal for a compilation of some of my writing-related cartoons.

And I'm still getting huge enjoyment out of my DSLR camera. Since buying my Rebel XTi last July, I've been taking a ton of photos. Many are very, very bad and I end up deleting them. But I'm gradually learning more along the way.


"Sunjoy" - original fridge art on 3"x5" canvas board.
Available on Etsy.

Above: "Sunjoy" is all about embracing life. The girl in the picture is facing the sun, arms outstretched in the wind. In my mind's eye, she's smiling, her eyes closed.

Anyway, I'm thinking of revamping my online work portfolio to include photography. I'm not actively pursuing professional photography right now (I want to focus on my writing and illustration) but I have enough publishing credits anyway that it's about time I list them somewhere.

And just recently, an educational publisher contacted me about using one of my photos in a new textbook. In the old days, I would have been just thrilled. This time, I cautiously asked about how they were planning to use the photo (how much of the page it would take up) and they responded with detailed info plus their standard rate...which was more than three times the amount I was planning to ask for (!). Wow.

I've also had a family-owned garden centre in California pay a licensing fee to use one of my garden photos. Kudos to John from Clifton's Flower & Garden Center; he could have just scooped my photo and used it on his Web site (it would have been a violation of my copyright but would I ever find out?), but instead he was honest and asked permission.

So how many of you have started Christmas shopping? I actually started early this year, when I was in Calgary. If you're buying for a writer, librarian or bibliophile, by the way, don't forget to check my list of holiday gifts for writers.



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