Songs From the Infinite Highway

My Inspiration

 

"Sad Story #2"

        My writing now seems to be inspired by the art I create. This past month I took a monotype class at the Baird in South Orange with Debbie Livingston. I wasn't particularly pleased with what I did in the first class; I was trying to make something like paintings, and they just weren't very good. But in the second class we did chin collé, which I'd never gotten the hang of before. I really liked what I did using pictures of houses printed on very fine rice paper.  So after the last class I made a bunch more. And while I was working came up with two titles; the first bunch are called "Dark Houses" and each one represents a disturbing event. The second group are called "Sad Stories." I haven't written anything down yet, as I'm still working on my sci-fi prequel (which started out as short stories, but is evolving into another novel I think). I have some vague ideas floating around in my head, but nothing I'm ready to put down on paper yet. I'll publish the first one here, I think.

The Content Group

So, in addition to making collages, writing, making artist books and selling real estate, one of the other things I do it to chair a group call The Content Group. It's a sub-group of a much larger group, The Book Arts Roundtable. Early on in the beginning, there were a group of us who were interested in how to develop content for our artist books. At our last meeting I brought a bunch of pages of images, and we all made collages, using the same images. Next week, we'll do the same thing, only everyone will bring pages of their own images to share. This is my collage from last month. And if you're interested in joining our group, just email me. You don't have to be a professional artist; we welcome anyone who wants to give this a try. It's called "As If We Could Fly."

I've Put Part of My Novel on My Website

I have redesigned my website so that there is now an area devoted to my novel "Chronicles of the 2nd Scythian War."  There is a pdf  of the first chapter that can be downloaded. I have sent the book out to beta readers, and will be trying to publish it online in the near future. 

I found the writing of the book to be much easier than the editing process. Because I'd written the book without going back to re-read anything, I had some major re-arranging to do. And of course I continue to find typos and their/there errors. 

I've heard the story of a guy who was so successful in self-publishing online, that he turned down major offers from traditional publishers because he was making as much money as they were offering on his own. He finally got a deal with Simon and Schuster to have them publish just the paper version of his book - he kept the digital rights, which is unheard of these days. The books is called Wool.

It' nice to have such an impressive accomplishment to inspire one!

What You Need to Know When You're Writing

I titled this collage "The Aunts Who Always Know Best," even though I didn't really have any aunts growing up. My father was an only child, and my mother's sister was hospitalized with schizophrenia for most of her adult life. In my new story, I have Aunts being a major factor in the way certain villages treat their children; how they help them through adolescence, etc. Anyway, as they are a made-up race of half human/half bird creatures, I can create any sort of social world for them that I choose.

Now, however, I'm attempting to write a series of short stories that are pre-quels of some of the main characters' lives, and I realize that I don't know lots of things that I need to, in order to make the story more believable. For instance two of my human characters are Drs. One is a cultural anthropologist, which ok, isn't that hard to research. But the other is a genetic scientist and I realize I need to have some more information about gene splicing, cloning, etc., in order to present her past in a realistic way. The book doesn't take place that far in the future, so I can't just assume that the world is totally different. Ok, in some ways it will be, but in others it won't be, and I have to guess what will work.  It's easier to imagine the thoughts of the Scythians! 

Just came across a really cool website for writers.

http://aerogrammestudio.com

The 10th Annual Book Arts Roundtable Show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit belatedly, but here is a picture of one of my books in "Booked 10," which is up at the Pierro Gallery in South Orange until Sat. March 30th. I'll be there around 2pm on Sat., if anyone wants to come and see it. It's also open all week long from 11-4pm, except Mon. 

I have three books in the show and each one is related to my novel, "Chronicles of the Second Scythian War," a science fiction novel about bird people in the year 2175. If you go to my past posts, you can read some of the excerpts. I'm just about finished with the beta version, and if anyone would like to read it, just let me know, and I'll send you a pdf. 

I think I'm going to try and self-publish on the web first; it seems to be the way to get attention these days. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be most happy to hear them. 

My website has all the art I've done so far to illustrate the story.

Pierro Gallery

The Baird

5 Mead St., South Orange NJ

Tues-Sat. 11am-4pm

One of My Favorite Science Fiction Short Stoies

I am starting to write some science fiction short stories, and so, as a matter of research, I started re-reading some of my old favorites. "Persistance of Vision" by John Varley is an amazing collection of short stories. The title story, which is more of a novella, won tons of awards when it was first published. I wanted a picture to accompany this post, and the illustration on the left popped up when I googled the book. I never liked the original illustration, and I have no idea how this relates to the stories, but I think it's an amazing illustration. I've decided to make a new cover illustraton myself for his book. Perhaps they'll re-issue it!

I discovered Varley and a bunch of other contemporary sci-fi writers back in the early 80s. I was living in Hoboken, and working in lower Manhattan. I used to go a science fiction books store called "Forbidden Planet." It was on University Place, not too far from one of the few Japanese restaurants in the area, Japonica, where I would occasionally treat myself to dinner. I would be one of the few women in the bookstore. It was mostly sort of geeky guys in their 20s who totally ignored me. I always felt a little out of place, but it was the only store where I could find the newest writers. I plan on re-reading all of Varley's work this spring. I'm now half-way through "Blue Champagne" which is quite good also, although not nearly as incredible as Persistance. 

Go out there and read!!

Science Fiction Recommendations

Since finishing my novel, I've been poking around the web to see what science fiction books are getting the most talk. I ran across an old blog where people were commenting on their favorite sci-fi books. I was amazed at not only the age of the books, but the lack of diversity. Surely we all know about Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, but there are a number of fantastic women writers, not to mention writers who've written great novel in the last 35 years!!! So I decided to start posting reviews of some of my favorite writers.

I'm choosing C. H. Cherryh for the first female writer to recommend. She's an amazingly prolific writer, and an extremely creative one at that. My favorite book of hers is "40,000 in Gehenna," which is part of her "Downbelow Station" series, although it holds up on it's own. It's takes place on a far-flung world, where humans land to start a new colony. There are beings on Gehenna, but they aren't supposed to be sentient. The weather, and the large, dinosaur-like creatures contribute to the failure of the colony. The only people who survive are the azis, clones who are treated like sub-humans, but they end up being the bulk of the humans that live on generations later. I highly recommend this book, as well as the entire Downbelow Station series. 

Finished my novel!

    I haven't blogged in a while, as I've been concentrating on finishing my novel, "Chronicles of the Second Scythian War." It's a science fiction story about genetically altered being who are half human and half bird. They have been given a reservation in what is now Moldavia in around 2125. 

    I've finished the initial draft; now comes the editing part. I've never written anything anywhere near this long before, so I'm a little daunted by the task of editing it. There are lots of characters, and different time frames and I have to go back and make sure it all makes sense!

    I want to thank NaNoWriMo, and 750 Words. They are two free websites that hold you accountable for writing a certain amount every day. Without them, I doubt I would have written 119,000 words in three months.

    I've been doing collages all along that illustrate the story. As a matter of fact it was the first collages that gave me the idea for the book. Here's a recent one:

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Camp NaNoWriMo - April 2013

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Setting Deadlines to Streamline the Writing Process

I did it!

I started writing a novel this month via NaNoWriMo. I honestly didn't think I could write 50,000 words period, much less in a month, but I did it! My novel isn't finished yet, but it's getting there, and I hope to be finished with the first draft in 2 weeks. There, I've set myself another goal. I've been continuing to make collages, which were the initial inspiration for the book. Here's a drawing I did, and I'm not sure which character she is; perhaps Lady Julie, who is a member of the aristocracy, and a secret diplomat/spy. She is also an empath, something she doesn't share with many people.