an e-chapbook, you say?

Once upon a time, about 3 years ago, on a whim I entered a quarterly "Poetic Idol" contest at a site named Artella and to my total amazement won 1st prize - and a nice prize it was - $150 cold cash and an e-chapbook and publishing the winning poem (A Redress of Clouds in their paper magazine.

But then, nothing happened. Time passed. I finally contacted the publisher only to find out she'd suffered the loss of her father and hadn't been able to get to the e-chapbook. And then there had been a reorganization of staff. whatever. Ok, fine, no problem. It'd get done eventually....

Well, eventually led to 3 years and I'd pretty much written it off for ever getting done, when today I had an email from them telling me they had finally gottten around to finishing the e-chapbook. Well, I just about damn near fell off my chair.

The name of the e-chapbook is Origami and it contains 20 of my better, very early poems (some copyright dates go back to 2001), most of which were workshopped here at PFFA. I've just re-read them all and see some that really need sprucing, but some still stand up ok. The chapbook also has over 20 of my own photographs prettying it up.

So, I don't have all the details yet about how to get a copy or what it will cost, though I suppose it can't be more than $10. I have to set up a "shop" at their site that will enable you to download the chapbook directly to your printer. I don't know if you'll be able to purchase a printed copy. I don't know yet what setting up a "shop" entails, but I'll post the particulars for those of you who'd like to have a copy.

Imagine that....and what perfect timing for NaPo!!! I am so stoked!

And so it begins.

After fighting the urge to join the April madness over at PFFA for over a month now, I have instead succumbed. Against all better sense, I've started a thread at PFFA for NaPoWriMo. God help me. I expect to be writing a lot of crappy haiku's, seeing that I have been unable to rouse my comatose muse since last June, when I ran out of steam from NaPoWriMo 2006.

I don't expect to be able to write something every day. I don't expect to be able to keep up with all the other threads. I don't expect to be able to write anything even close to halfway decent. But, wtf, maybe this will break the block. It's worth a try. And besides, I hate being left out - which is, in all honesty, the real reason why I succumbed in the first place. Not a great reason for joining in, I know, but I've partaken of April madness since it's inception in 2005 and I don't have the heart to drop out now, even if the poems I do write turn me a blend of scarlet and lime.

As in prior years, and if I do come up with anything of substance, I will post it here.

Like I've said, God help me.

hmmmm...the results of this were very interesting!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Courtesy of Scotty, I took the test. Supposedly my personality type is very rare. No wonder I often feel alone and misunderstood...

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

So, I finally got around to creating my Etsy Store. It's named Cookalas House Of Cards and the url is http://cookalashouseofcards.etsy.com

There's an Etsy link in the right column.

I'm selling some of my ACEOs,canvas panels in assorted sizes and other altered art items (assemblages, altered books and journals, accordian books, etc). I decided to try selling some of my artwork as a way to make some extra money to buy art supplies, which are expensive!

I'm hoping this will be a lucrative venture!

ATC - The Road To Adventure
(by me)




Sometimes really amazing, good things happen when you least expect it.

A little over a week ago I was contacted by Deb Elzie from CircleBack Studio, asking me if I'd be interested in doing an interview for CircleBack about the artwork I'm doing for National Crafts Month in March. CircleBack is the brainchild of Deb and her sister Wendy Todd, and it's a website/blog/wiki. Their vision and goal is to give voice to the local creative - whether it is scrapbooking, stamping, or painting. with video and journal in hand they hope to capture the hearts and minds of the creative industry, and by doing this they want to bring the industry together as a whole.

Of course,I agreed. I can't tell you how honored I am, and surprised, and excited! This is an amazing event for me. I've been very busy making ATCs, and some larger pieces on canvas panels in sizes ranging from 4x6 to 9x12 - that's a big part of the reason you don't see me posting here as much as I used to. I've become very active on several yahoo ATC groups with swapping ATCs, and also doing alot of private trading from the cards I post at my Flickr site.

I've always loved art, but strayed away from it when I started going to college. I just didn't have the time or energy for it. Then the career in IT came along, and it was more of the same. But after my mom passed away in November 2005, I turned back to art as a means of coping with the grief of losing her so suddenly. I made my first set of ATCs for a swap in January 2006, and since then I've made over 1,000 cards and swapped all of them except for 120 which I've kept for my private collection. You could say there are pieces of me floating all over the world now. Heh. It's quite an amazing feeling.

But anyway, it struck me suddenly that people really like my art, and I can't even begin to tell you how rewarding that is. And now, this interview comes along out of the blue. I've got my fingers crossed that maybe this will be the start of some really good things for me, so say a prayer that it is. But imagine that, someone wanted to interview me. Me. How cool is that?

If you'd like to read the interview, CircleBack Studio's url is below. Each day this week you'll see some of my art and read parts of the interview. Somebody - quick - cyber pinch me, please! I need to know this isn't just a dream!

http://circlebackstudio.com/blog/

Well, this is pretty much the last of the Jersey pictures. After looking at them again, I'm reminded how awesome the aftermath of that ice storm was. Check out the ice bridge - first time I've ever seen anything like that. It was about 16 inches long, and even had a slight arch. It probably formed from the steam rising from the stream below it. Pretty amazing.

More pics from Jersey - it was really cold out, as you can see. The beach was arctic and blowing, the lake area was balmy in comparison, as the wind was minimal. It was good, though, to get out with the camera and take a nice walk in the woods!