Words of Whimsy Publishing

The strangest thing happened on the way to rewriting my story, Throwaway Dog.  I have mentioned having trouble finishing this story and just couldn’t put a finger on why.  I put it away several months ago and as I told you a while back, thought I would be able to finish it now.  I did finally finish it but, in a way I never imagined and certainly didn’t plan.  The whole story came to me in rhyme.  I was suddenly overwhelmed with phrases and I even had a hard time sleeping because my head just kept on with the story.  I had this experience once before, when I wrote Perry the Pack Rat Finds a Friend.  It came into my mind and nothing else seem to matter until I had written it all down.  It’s almost like an out of body experience, but, a really fun one.  Anyway, I am finally pleased with it and plan to begin putting paragraphs with illustrations soon.  The other nice thing about this “happening” is the story is once again for younger kids, which was my aim in the first place.

This time I will be doing the layout because my husband, Franko, bought a commercial printer for me that will arrive in a few days.  I am very excited about it because it will save me miles of travel to Chico and many hours of frustration with people who let me down.  I learned that I am happiest when I am in control of most of the production where my business is concerned.

Another nice feature is, I will also be able to print my personalized cards at home with the help of Chris, who will be teaching me my new graphic design programs.  Things are coming together for my business now and I will be updating my website soon to reflect those changes.

I have been busy painting some special designs for my beekeepers that will be on the website in a couple of weeks.  Randy, my website designer, just bought a new home and he doesn’t need my problems right now, but he will let me know when he is back in action.

Until then, have a good time creating whatever you are in to.

Mardy

I’m still in the process of setting up “Small Talk”, my note card business.  So far things are going as well as they can for someone with no experience.  But, I have a wonderful network of friends who encourage, suggest, and help me make it all work.  They are constantly telling me when new places open, and of people to contact, which saves a lot of time.  Thanks, everyone!

The summer event season is here and I am going to try a few new ones.  Tomorrow I will be at the Portuguese Plaza in Orland for a one day show.  It’s a new event for our artisans, and we hope to make it a success.  I will also participate in the new Market Place event at Butte College parking lot in Chico, but, I’m not sure of the date yet as I have to be careful doing outside events with paper products.

Things are evolving with my cards and I find myself wanting to do some with sayings and statements.  As you know from my Perry the Pack Rat books, I like to rhyme.  I also like putting a lot of emotion into a small statement, so, I think it will work.  It should be fun and I will let you know more about them as they take shape.

Thanks for the interest,

Mardy

I’m learning that it takes a great deal of coordination to set up the website for “Small Talk” and there is no way I could ever do it without Randy or Chris.  Randy is my friend and webmaster.  Chris is a new friend and graphic artist who takes my artwork and transforms it into any form Randy or I might need.  We keep him hopping.  Randy then takes everything we both send him and correlates it into an awesome website.  I don’t know how he does it but believe me, when he is finished loading, making changes and tweaking it into shape, you will really enjoy a visit.

I will be very proud to share both sites for which I have Randy to thank.  Chris and I are working on some advertising to let our friends know when the sites will be open for business.  I am trying new kinds of marketing and ways of driving business to my sites and keeping my fingers crossed hoping they work.  Everything is a gamble and this end of the business is new to me.  I can create all day long and I do well at events and schools but I’ve never actively tried online marketing.  I am excited.

My last note was just before the holiday event season, and I was telling about the note cards I am making.  I am pleased to say they found their own market and I am busy setting up a card line called, “Small Talk”.  I will soon have a website dedicated to Small Talk where you will be able to see each design.  I will be adding new designs, and plan to branch off with cards for occasions.   Thinking of occasion cards has my mind filled with rhymes, and me in a painting frenzy.  Designing cards is a joyful experience, but I won’t forget the books that are deep in my heart.

I have to say, with a very humble heart, that in this sad and awful economy, Perry the Pack Rat is holding his own.  We did well through the holidays and have had some wonderful visits to schools.  I will share an especially heartwarming school visit where I would be reading for K, through 4th grade students at a very nice Charter School.  Teachers made a project of my visit having groups of students create large posters of Perry in fun settings.  I was thrilled as we walked a hallway lined with these posters, and impressed by the talent of these students.  It was a wonderful experience for me and the first time to be honored with such a project.  Students celebrating Dr. Suess birthday wore pj’s to school making a rainy day story time very cozy.

I am still working on Throwaway Dog, and have been researching printers.  I will put into place what I learn and be ready for publication when the time is right.

This Sat., Oct. 17, I will be a vendor at the Antique Truck Show in Orland, Ca.  It is an event you won’t want to miss.  The antique trucks are in all sizes and beautiful to see.  It attracts a congenial, happy group of people who enjoy family fun, much like the Patrick Ranch event.

I will be offering my books and a new line of note cards.  I know…. it is a slight deviation from books but remember, I’m an artist too and sometimes I just have to go with those creative juices

Working on my cards has been a pleasure and I plan to enlarge my selection.  You will be able to view them on my website, wordsofwhimsy.net, in the near future.  Give me time to finish the line and get the information to the amazing Randy and you will get to see them in full color.

I promise you, I am still working on books.  In fact, not only am I finalizing “Throwaway Dog”, I will be finishing “Paint and Me”(a small boy and his stick horse) , and “The Tooth Fairy’s Secret”, a very different and special take on the tooth fairy.

I am very anxious to get these books in print and plan to work hard to accomplish that after the new year.

I hope to see you at some events throughout the holidays.

Mardy

Summer is quickly coming to an end and I am busy organizing my winter calendar.  Perry the Pack Rat continues to be a favorite with students and educators so, I will stay busy as a visiting Author to many schools throughout the area.  Sprinkled among the school visits will be the yearly Holiday events I attend.  I love those events and look forward to talking with many friends who visit my booths each year. 

I will start this season with Homespun Holidays, Nov. 13 - 14 in Paradise, CA. and then to the Attinger Ranch Christmas Boutique Nov. 20 - 21- 22, at a beautiful private home on Nord Hwy. north of Chico, CA.  Next is the famous Orland Craft Fair on Nov. 28 - 29 at the fairgrounds in Orland, CA.  On Dec. 4 - 5 I be in front of a lovely fireplace doing Christmas at the Old Mansion in Los Molinos, CA., an amazing event.  

It is a great honor when people are loyal to your work and so I try to offer something new each season.  This year it may be prints and bags as I am revising Throwaway Dog into a chapter book that is not yet completed.  I have labored over this book, changing it many times.  It makes me appreciate and stand in awe of anyone able to write a novel. 

I love the story of Throwaway Dog, but each time I read it, I am driven to change a word here and there or flip a sentence.  I illustrate my own work, and have found, projecting yourself on paper in either form, is very personal and sometimes difficult to finalize.  I always want to make it better, resulting in stacks of stories, and a hundred plus illustrations with which to work.  My job, as I see it now, is to choose which art goes with each chapter :-) and then the editors will need to review my writing one more time.

My goal is to publish this book in 2010, and when it is in print, you will hear me screeching from rooftops, to tell my long suffering friends it is finally finished.

I will try to share my struggles in laying out a chapter book.  A process for which I have no formal guidelines and will be learning along the way, so, it should be an interesting adventure.  Any suggestions will be considered and appreciated!

Thanks for your interest,

Mardy

We have spent some time getting acquainted with Spook (aka - Sugar) our beautiful blue eyed mare.  We are thrilled she has joined our family and she has settled into semi-retirement nicely.  In fact, she is getting quite domesticated and loving every minute :-)  I can’t wait for Cowboy Kenny to visit because he will not believe his eyes.  I’ll tell you why.  Until she was 2yrs. old, Spook was owned by two women who badly mistreated her.  Kenny bought her and through kindness and amazing ability, made her his number one cow-horse.  Most of the time they lived in Eastern Oregon where she worked hard to help him earn their living, and believe me, she can do it all.  She is now fourteen, still in her prime by most standards but, because Kenny loves and respects her, he wanted her to retire before she got injured from that hard lifestyle.  He spoke about it with us several times telling us she was understandably leary of women and nervous around children.  We thought abut it long and hard because when we commit to an animal they become a member of our family.   Well, we committed, and she is family :-)  She is also sweet to me and our seven year old horse crazy friend, Jillian.  The two of us call her Sugar, it’s a girl thing :-)  Sugar even reaches around to “hug” Jilli when she is brushing her.  It is quite a sight.  Kenny will be shocked.   

I am working on a picture for a friend who is a beekeeper.  When I had a shop some years ago I created many things for beekeepers and really enjoyed it.  They are an especially nice group of people to associate with.  They are religious about what they do and very much appreciated the serious artwork I did for them.  If you have noticed over the years, many things concerning bees are cartoons, and when it is your business, you would like a serious view presented.  I am very respectful of their industry as we are farmers and I know first hand, ”Pollination is the Promise of Harvest”.  A phrase I coined for my beekeeping friends. 

I have decided to reformat “Throwaway Dog” into a chapter book, if I am talented enough to pull it off.  I must admit it is a lot of work.  After phrasing, rephrasing and condensing paragraphs for over a year, I am now trying to ”flesh them out”.  What a job!  It means I need to re-word practically the entire book :-(   Anyway, my plan is to have ten chapters with a few full color pages and some black and white artwork as well.  I hope it will cut down on the cost of printing and step up to be a crossover book.  I feel the message is a little too old for a picture book.  I’m thinking it would be good for students  from fourth grade to sixth or so.  I was able to preview it at a middle school where I spoke to 15 classes about how to write and illustrate.  When setting up my PowerPoint, I got some sour looks from a few eighth grade boys and overheard them saying, “baby books”, so I began by saying if they are truly interested in being an author, they should explore all ways of writing.  I went on to say that although my stories are presented in picture books, the message was for everyone, and they are just offered in a whimsical way and that whimsy gives you a kind of freedom no other style offers.  That got their attention and it turned out to be a really fun week.  It was especially nice when many eighth-grade boys asked if they could buy Throwaway Dog.  They had forgotten about it not being in print.  Anyway it was a very nice experience and I ended up selling many Perry the Pack Rat books to teachers as well as students, and I was charmed by the big boys who said they were buying them for their brothers or sisters.  When I asked what name they wanted it signed to, they would tell me to sign it to them although it was for their brother :-)  I love kids! 

I will be working every day to complete this book.  I am very anxious to get it printed. 

Thanks for your interest,

Mardy               

First let me say how sorry I am to my friend, Randy, who works diligently to bring me into this world of computers.  He designs websites, creates blogs, put me on u-tube and has placed me all over the internet and I have trouble remembering to blog.  Sorry!  I seriously want to keep up but, when I am writing or illustrating a book, I hardly come up for air.  Weak excuse but, true.  Anytime I am into something artsy, I lose myself to it, along with days, weeks and sometimes months.  Lucky for me, I have an understanding husband.

I am still working on “Throwaway Dog”.  Many people have said it is my best book.  I hope so.  I’m proud of the message it offers and very close to being content with my illustrations.  I just keep going back to make a little adjustment here and there and before you know it, I have a new set of illustrations.  So far I have three sets and any one of them would work just fine.  I like this story and I guess I’m just not ready to cut the apron strings

Other than that, my husband lost his gallbladder, came out of surgery with his toenails painted red and a jar of stones you could use for fishing sinkers.  That was a month to remember! 

 We have moved a barn, built corrals and fencing, bought hay and put it in the barn just in time for the arrival of a big grey mare with blue eyes named Spook.  I know it sounds odd but, she is really pretty and has won Top Hand - Working Cowhorse more than once along with the respect of many a cowboy who wouldn’t think of riding a mare.  Think again boys!

I had a booth at the Patrick Ranch, old time threshing bee last weekend and it just gets better each year.  There were more vendors with many new items, yummy things to eat, beekeeping demonstrations and of course the magnificent draft horses that work hard to harvest the wheat and plow the fields.  What a fun weekend.

I am working with Jennifer at SBDC to learn about marketing and growing my business.

When Randy comes to visit, I promise to learn more about my blog site so I can do a better job of staying connected.  Thanks for being patient

This week I am preparing for a book signing in San Jose.  It will be held in a charming shop where I have secured a space for my books and prints.  Cottage Crafts Boutique is a new venture and I will be a part of their celebration of being in business for 15 years.  I am looking forward to a new experience and will let you know how it turns out.

I recently had the pleasure of sharing my Perry the Pack Rat stories with the students of Citrus School.  It was especially nice for me as I began kindergarten and went through fourth grade at Citrus.  I love the old building, and pride radiates through it’s halls.  The principal, Cherie McGuire and her staff are an amazing group, completely dedicated to giving each student information and the courage to move forward.  They are studying about writing and the skills necessary to become a writer.  After reading my stories, the students were bursting with questions, and it was truly a joyful day.  I spent the remainder of the day visiting classrooms where I was able to interact on a more personal level.  It was great fun and the atmosphere at Citrus School is wonderful.