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Hi, folks! Today is my twenty-eighth wedding anniversary with the sweetest man ever, Tim Blaisdell. He is also a blogger and writes over at THE MUSINGS OF A MEANDERING MIND.  I also am in a entrant in QUERY KOMBAT. Queries are selected by judges and they go head and head in a VOICE-esque contest. Only one query moves to next level. I'm Southern Gothic Secrets and my critique partner Ellen is Mochi Monster!

What do we win? Twenty-eight agents and editor will be looking at the queries with the possibility of landing an agent or even a contract. Did you notice 28 and 28? Feels very portent-y to me!

This week I'm writing about a deep truth. We are all born to bloom. A dear friend facing who suffers from a cancer syndrome hugged me and whispered, "I want to bloom but I feel like I'm falling apart."

I hugged her back because I know what it is like to be broken on a genetic level. Some things don't need words. What we can do is focus on the splendor of now.  Blooming does not come from us but creator of all things.

I grew up with a plant-loving mom, and she surrounded my life with flowers. So this week, I'm going to share about unusual blooms that I have seen in my life. I love flowers and I pay attention. I hope you will take lessons from these blooms and realize that you are stronger that you know.

A half-of a daffodil  bloomed in my mother's yard once. It was the most beautiful thing. A genetic anomaly but more beautiful because of it was unique.

One time there was a sad rhody in my yard that covered with some kind of leaf disease. I had to hack away more than half of the plant. The next year the rhody bloomed with almost a hundred gorgeous blood-red blooms that took my breath away. It had never bloomed before.

Once my mom stopped the car beside the road and made me get out and look at this field of spiky plants with these gorgeous white blooms on tall spears. She told me to soak it in because these were century plants and this might not happen again in my life time.

I planted a cemetery rose in my backyard from a cutting that was about two inches long.  This year rose is the size of a small car and it has hundreds of blooms.

So this week, I was blessed by this: my daylilies bloomed during the 8 inches of rain that fell on my house this week in 24 hours. The splash of color on such a dreary day uplifted my heart. Bloom during the flood!

Maybe one of these blooms speaks to you. Just like you were born to share, to be merciful, to smile, and to love, you were born to bloom. Seize every day.

I will be back next week with a new series about the Monomyth.   I hope you will join me.

Here is a doodle:

Hi, folks! I'm continuing my Bloom series for the month of May.  There is nothing more heartening to me than a flower blooming in the crack in the sidewalk, the crevice of a mountain, or on a cliff face by the sea. Another surprise is a bloom in the desert place. There is no circumstance than can hold back a bloom. You must bloom where you are planted. This is your purpose. Life finds a way.

"Bloom where you are planted" is a quote attributed to St. Francis De Sales, the patron saint of writers. This is a little quote I whisper to myself often. It is a story of tenacity and one I am close to. Flowers that bloom in impossible places are the heart of tenacity. They put down roots in rocks. They cling to life when there is little chance of life. They bloom even if that bloom is stunted and its flower is deformed. Writers have a similar tenacity to bloom. I am no exception.

How does a writer bloom where they are planted? You may live on the backside of nowhere, i.e. suburbia.  You may work a mind numbing job that is mocked on national TV.  You may be over the age of 50. You may have family members with complex health issues and you care for them. You may suffer from depression during this same time.You may have received more writing rejections at this point than you considered was humanly possible. At the end of the day, it's tough to stay alive in a place like this this, much less bloom.

So how do you do it? How do you bloom?  Here some of the answers: live in this moment. Don't think about the road that brought you here. Don't think of the road that will take you on. Be here and now and exist. Place your baggage down and move on. Don't refuse to forgive yourself and others. Move on with your life. Stop the foolishness. It is time to let all that stuff go. Focus of all the good you know, have known and hope to know. Believe that you will  rise above the waves that wish to beat you down. Work when you are too tired. Be positive even if the waves crash over you.  Be positive if you are washed out to sea and must swim back to shore. Believe that your gifts will make a place for you. Never stop trying. Do these things and you find yourself blooming in some odd places and at some odd times.

Life is tenacious. Whatever you facing, don't let it choke you. Bloom.

I'm glad you dropped by!  Come back next week for the end of the Bloom series.

Here is a doodle for you. Cemetery Roses.

Hi folks,

This week I continue my May bloom series. Last week, guest blogger and awesome author, A. LaFaye, shared a master's class post on how to mix magic and realism. Hard to follow, but here goes.

I love May. My yard is blooming like crazy. Amaryllis, day lilies, roses, they are all so beautiful. This week I'm going to write about a few finishing touches that may connect with writers with readers. This post is about what puts the big show into your writing. The first finishing touch I will chat about is emotional connection.

One big deal about stories is they have to create an emotional connection with the reader. How is this done? You must communicate to your reader what is possible for your character.  Since housecleaning is another one of my expert fields: on those first few pages of real estate, remove the clutter.What is essential? What is beautiful? What is provocative? Leave that. The rest gets moved somewhere else, tossed out, or recycled.

Now rearrange the furniture until you achieve maximum effect. This means think about how you are rolling out the story. It depends on the room, the people who will inhabit it, and the purpose of the room. This is some deep thinking for you. The best writing in the world isn't going to work if no one wants to be with you in your story. What connects with the most people? Put your comfy couch in a central place, surrounded it with useful tables, place coasters around. Maybe you should just get rid of the futon chair.

Next, do a deep cleaning. After furniture rearranging,  you kick up dust.  Dust the tops of the cords, the lintels, the baseboards, under the furniture. Make your writing shine. Finally add a pop of color. One color. In terms of your story, one colorful aspect to your main character on those first few pages.

I believe your story now plants a seed of welcome in your readers. You have opened the world of possibilities with your hard work. Your story begs readers to hang out and to come again. Good job! You are blooming like crazy!

I hope this is useful for you. I hope it helps you find your way!  I will be back next week with more blooming posts. Ha! By the way, if you live in the College Station area and you are or know a teen who wants to write. Please join us for the second annual TEENS Publish program at the Ringer Library in College Station. We will have weekly workshops every Wednesday in June and July except July 6. The group will meet from 2:30 to 5:00.  Here is a link to the flyer. 

Here is a doodle.

Hi folks, time for a new series! It's April. Time for water. Time for spring. Time for new beginnings. I will write about the water we need to burst with new life.

This week the post is really short but I hope helpful.  What is water to my creative soul?  Here is a simple list of stuff that makes me bloom.

1. A stroll on a sunny day.

2. A heartfelt conversation with a friend.

3. Kissing my sweetheart.

4. Hugging my purring cat.

5. Listening to an upbeat song.

6. Picking a bouquet of flowers.

7. Forgiving someone.

8. Seeing a need and meeting it.

9. Napping.

10. Stretching with breathing.

Ah, the best things in life are free.  Something to remember when seeking water.  I will be back next week with more water.

Here is a doodle.

Hi folks, last post in the BLOOM series.  Flooding has inundated Texas this month. I drove by the Navasota River yesterday, and it was at least a mile out of its banks.  I mean when it rains here it makes Seattle look like the sunshine city. My youngest nephew is spending the week with me because his house was flooded in Houston. I have been a busy bee.

It's a feast or famine situation in Texas. I have lived here for five years. Four of those years have been drought years. And finally we hit this year.  Yes, everything is blooming that isn't drowning.  My red daylily is just popping velvety bloom after velvety bloom, the first year that has happened since I planted them. I want that for my writing life.

Wait for your flood year. Life has a way of not clopping along at an even pace. This drives me crazy because I like a nice even pace.  I have had some dry years in a row.  I have big expectations of myself. I want to rattle the cages and shake the foundations worldwide. This is tough to do in the middle of a California drought.  I am working toward good climate change.

What can I do to bring water to my work? I plan to teach students how publishing works with my upcoming summer in my program at the local RINGER Library.  TeensPUBLISH for 7th through 12th graders. Wednesdays in June and July except July 1.Time: 2:30 to 5:00. For more info about this event and registration info, please follow this link. A creative experience like this will bring in some rain.

What else will I do? I'll convince you to check out my awesome book PLUMB CRAZY too! Here is a link to purchase it.  There is a lot of my heart on these pages. You might find a bit of your heart there too. I am always finding myself within the pages of a book. You need that!

So what to do while I wait for the flood. I keep working.  I hope you do too!  You are not alone, and the creative journey is worth it. I will be back next week with a summer series that is all about the journey to publishable works.   I hope you hang out for that. :)    Enjoy the sunshine when you can find it. Seize the day!

Here is a doodle for your life.  "Fire Sky"

Hi folks, welcome to the blog. I'm writing a continuing series called BLOOM this month. It's all about how to make your work bloom. Not always an easy task. This week I'm going to chat about how blooming is really evolutionary process. Writing a book definitely starts a  with a spark of an idea and slowly over time a complex book appears.

Here is a third way to stir up the creative pot. You want to bloom.  Are you hiding in the shadows? Keeping yourself safe from critique, safe from rejection, safe from failure? That works for a while. When the work is young, it needs to be kept safe, but when your work is ready to bloom it needs conditions that force it to bloom.  The nutrients of critique, the water of experience, and sunlight. Exposure. Are you lurking in the shadows? Seeking that connection with others is important. You must be brave now,

I hope this helps you on your journey!  Come back next week for one more in this series,  Also remember that my book PLUMB CRAZY is out.  Please consider adding it to your shelves or the shelves of your local library. Here is a link.

Here is a doodle. Oregon Plains

Finally a quote for your pocket.

It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.

Nikola Tesla

Hi folks, I am continuing my series called BLOOM this week. This month my series is about how to make your work bloom. Not always an easy task. For the artist, the story isn't really always so pretty. This year has been tough for me. My stupid brain has been letting me down. I've stumbled into a period of anxious depression. I've always been this internal optimist at heart, but gray clouds have rolled in.

Here's what it feels like. I sit at down to work. I've put the time aside. I focus but the feeling of jazz is gone. Bitter feeling have replaced it, and it's really choking my soaring spirit. It feels  like my window to bloom has passed me by. The winter is here and I'm just screwed. There is no money for a hothouse to force a bloom in this cold winter's walk in my life. Has my opportunity passed me by?  I don't know but I keep working.

To tell the truth, the only thing keeping me afloat right now is the work itself. I can see the years of crafting on the page. It's a happy mirror to me. I've never written better. How weird is that? Even if the brain is sort of messed up, the work is not. I'm bleeding onto the page.right now. This blood is rich stuff. This work is  the best of me. It  dodges all the feelings and the life is on the page. More than a few tears end up on those pages too.  I am so grateful for the work. So grateful.

I refuse to pause even on these cloudy inside days. Life feels too short to pause for them, and I plan to bloom. I believe that for me and you. I know that time and life isn't always on our side. And yet, dream for tomorrow. Dream another dream. Don't let the chance to create slip away from you. I know how scary it is to feel no one is ever going to see your work. Work anyway.

I have heard a saying. "April showers bring May flowers." I'm counting on the truth of this.  Showers are here. Flowers should be coming. I hope you come back next week for more of my bloom series.

One last thing, a request.  I hope that you check out my book PLUMB CRAZY.  Please read it, share it with a friend or a library, post a review somewhere.  I put a lot my heart unto this book. It will lift you up in unexpected ways.

Here is a doodle.

Hi folks, My novel Plumb Crazy has been released under my pen name Cece Barlow! Here are the links. Here is the Amazon link for paperback.  Here is the link of the ebook.

Hi, folks, yay for all the blooming flowers in my yard!  I feel like blooming too. Next Saturday is the release of Plumb Crazy by Cece Barlow aka me. :) If you have wanted a copy to tuck away in your backpack, purse or the floorboard of your car, that day is about to come for you.

This month my series is about how to make your work bloom. You have all seen it. Those roses by the back fence didn't bloom this year or those bearded irises just didn't show any color,or the dailies that languished with nary a bloom. What is going on?  Conditions just aren't right yet.

Blooming doesn't just happen.  Books don't happen either. If your works in progress keep on fizzling, you need to consider what you are cultivating. The soil of you just isn't allowing whatever you want.

Dang.

What is the creative soul to do?  Hint, the solution requires you be addicted to change.

Here is an idea. Change what you are cultivating. You might not be literary heavy that you have sought to be and instead are really a genre mystery writer. This kind of change takes chutzpah. I mean it is tough to dig out a flowerbed and replant. It is hard to rip out all your grass and shrubbery and put something else in. And it is excruciating to toss all your WIPs out and take a new direction, but this may be the only way you will bloom.

Here is an idea. Listen to what  your counselors are telling you. If they love your work keep with it. If there is no critique love, it may be time to change to something else. This takes humility to adhere to. I mean it is tough to follow someone's advice.  We all have feet of clay and more than one person has steered you wrong before. I have some news for you, creative endeavors involve high risk. Try engineering or something like that if you want a sure thing.

Here is one last idea. You might have to transplant.  The nutrients flowing into your life.  The support, the love, the encouragement, might not be there. You may need less feedback or much more. You may need to rent a cabin in the woods and work as hard as you can for a few days. You may have to start working in a local coffee shop instead of at your house where you keep getting caught up in stuff.

Want to bloom?  Get real about your work to find good success. Let me know how it is going! I will be back next week with more blooming.

http://kellyraeroberts.com/flying-lessons

Artists live a life of wonder. At times, it’s wondering what to do next. I will not lie, I have been wondering this for the last few months. I am looking for the sweet spot! It’s my favorite place to be in Art. It’s the place where you are working and you don’t want to stop. I think it’s a divine place where God kisses your life with ideas that flow out in a steady stream.

A lot of things can bar you from this place. Looking in the wrong direction, self doubt, self pity, self self self. Ha! Get the point? You have to get rid of the”self” part. If the sweet spot is divine, then you have to seek out the divine.

A few nights ago I had a dream. My dad was in the dream. Someone had driven him to my house. He slowly came up the steps to my house and said to me, ” Bloom“. In a small whisper he said, “bloom where you are planted”.
Then he was gone.
I woke up knowing the “divine” had spoken to me.
No grinding out ideas, just let the divine IN me out… to make the art I was born to make.

A flower does not worry about the bloom. All the coding for that bloom is IN the seed. It simply drinks up moisture from above and the roots go down and the bloom comes.

So… BLOOM today! You were meant to be like none other.

Pardon the plug, the promotion and pimpery ..but I've got something coming out on the comic book stands today.
Actually...it's my very first published comic book style adventure! Pretty cool huh?

It's a short story titled "Bloom", in Vol. 2 of the Image Comics anthology series "Popgun". All sorts of cool folks have contributed art and stories to it...Heck, it's even got a cover by Paul Pope!

In a nutshell, my story is about a super-powered girl shipwrecked on a hostile alien planet populated by killer robots....
Think Planet of the Apes meets The Terminator...uh...with superpowers... Yeah. :)

I've previously talked about it here and on my blog, showing process sketches, etc.. I finished it over a year ago, and 'am looking forward to finally seeing it in print. WooHoo!

Here's the official website for the book: Popgun 2

Look for that snazzy PP cover at your local comics shop & bookseller...or you can get it on amazon here.


'Nuff Said!

I dislike beginning my reviews with the word "I." So forgive me for introducing this review with one. It would be unfair if I didn't get my biases as a reviewer out in the open before discussing Maria Van Lieshout's Bloom: A Little Book About Finding Love. Here's the deal: I am not a romantic. Valentine's Day, and hearts, and flowers, and pink simply do not appeal to me. Needless to say, when Bloom: A Little Book About Finding Love found its way into my mailbox, I was reluctant to crack open the cover. All that pink! And the flowers! Fortified by a triple espresso and the fact that I'm wearing black today, I began to read...

and...

was pleasantly surprised.

The hero of Bloom, a charming young pig, does indeed fall in love. With flowers. And a flying, dancing flower, "the most beautiful thing [she's] ever seen!" Bloom wants to dance and fly and enjoy the beauty in life. But then the mean old flying flower leaves her and she's bereft. It's a sad tale of love found and love lost until we realize Bloom has the attention span of your average three year old. Another pig comes along, sees through the drama with the cheekiest expression on his/her face, and attracts Bloom away from her misery and into a field of flowers.

Visually, Bloom: A Little Book About Finding Love is a treat. Maria Van Lieshout's line drawings are expressive and funny, and the book's design (by Molly Leach) reminds me of Annette Simon's work in its play with type and layout. I especially appreciate Van Lieshout's rendering of Pig #2. This pig--the white one--could be a parent or a friend who sees through Bloom's diva moments and has the patience and love to distract her from the pathos. Bloom is ideally suited for children ages three to six, be they the drama king (or queen) or the friend who brings each dramatic moment down a notch or two.

Happy Valentine's Day!
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Don't miss these two reviews:

A Fuse #8
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

You can find a trailer for Bloom at the Bloom website.

*****Lauren is a perfect but stagnant seed of a girl, content but not really happy. The story of her attraction to the new boy at school, who turns out to the son of one of her father's previous girlfriends, unfurls like a rose   

Bloom and Onedotzero are having a creative writing/film making design contest. Check out the page for the contest...just the page is worth a look.