A few weeks ago I attended to reception at Child at Heart Gallery for the Robert's Snow display. I met up with old friends Ilene Richard and Mary Newell DePalma. Here they are chatting outside the gallery. Both are very talented and ironically (or not), they both created 3D snowflakes as well. Ilene and I had lunch where she shared with me her latest pb dummy.

Meeting up with old friends is great, but so is meeting new ones. Do you remember my post a few years ago when I said I wanted to grow up to be Alissa Imre Geis? Of course you don't, but I did, and I still do. Even more so now that I've met her. Here she is holding her snowflake. Notice all the other snowflakes in the background.

This piece is new for me at the gallery. I hung it the other day in their new Holiday section. It's a piece I did a few years ago for a paper company. They sent me a box full of their shiny, fuzzy, bumpy, see-through, glittery paper and asked me to make them something Christmasy. Oh, and the background is made from their wood paper. It's actual thin slices of wood encased within a thin veneer of plastic.

It's that time of year again. Based on National Novel Writing Month, JoNoWriMo+1.5 is a little less intense and a lot more fun. It's run by the very clever Jo Knowles. Head on over there if you're ready to commit to completing your writing for children goals in 2.5 months!

Here's mine: to finish the first draft of my so-called cemetery WIP. It's a MG novel about a girl that wants to help her dying Grammy, so she sets out to discover what it's like to die. She 'haunts' the caretaker at the cemetery, the under-taker, the grave digger and the monument people, only to find out that it's not how you die, but how you live that matters. Stay tuned for more adventures of Lily!!!!!!!!

This is cool—I signed up to be a beta-tester for the copyright office's new electronic registration system. After I input my login name and password, I was directed to a series of screens asking for the typical information. When I was done, I added the registration to a shopping cart, and had the option to register another image, or pay. It even lets you save your registration as a template for future use. I paid easily through a government website, then uploaded the image. Voila! It was that easy.

Those of you that know me, know I am a big proponent of copyright registration. Here's why I think this is a great leap forward:

1. Uploading your image electronically will help to make sure it will be included in any searchable online image database (if one ever becomes available.)

2. Registering online provides your most recent contact information to the copyright office, including email, fax and alternate phone number (cell). These items are not on the current paper registration forms. The more contact information you include, the easier it will be for possible licensors to find you (alternately, harder for possible infringers to say they couldn't find you.) This is important especially if you've moved and have your old address on previous registrations.

3. You save money! The fee is $35 for online registration versus the $45 fee for paper registration. You also save money on courier fees.

4. You save time. You are protected from infringements the moment your registration reaches the copyright office. Before, I sent them overnight by FedEx and they were received the next day. Now they are received immediately and I'm protected immediately.

5. More money saving—a new feature that is being considered is allowing you to enter the titles of each item on your group registration for a fee—$1 each title electronically or $3 each title traditionally. Currently individual titles from group registrations are not searchable, so this in itself would be big step forward.

6. This will make it harder for those Orphan Works people to *claim* they can't find you, and thus use your artwork without your consent, with no penalty to them.

If you want to sign up too, go the the Copyright Office's webpage and click on the left where it says "Beta Testers Sought for Online Services."

If you want more information on the Orphan Works issue, go to Illustrator's Partnership or Graphic Artists Guild websites.

And if you can't get enough of this geeky copyright talk, then head on over the Pamela Parker's BLOG called, what else, Copyright Talk!

Robert's Snow

The auction will be especially poignant this year because of Robert Mercer's passing. If you don't know the story, check it out at Robert's Snow. The auction will take place in November and December, and be displayed at the Child at Heart Gallery, in Newburyport, MA. An opening will be held there on October 6, 2007, 2-7 pm, with many of the local snowflake artists in attendance, myself included. Hope to see you there.

My new over-the-garage studio is almost done and I hope to post pictures soon.

Last week, my family and I visited Washington, DC. We had never been before so it was truly a treat. We gave our legs a workout that they have not had in a looooong time!

We visited most of the sites—Jefferson Memorial to the left (kind of looks like it's sliding into the river, doesn't it?), Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial (really beautiful!), Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Ford's Theater, National Zoo and Aquarium, National Archives (loved National Treasure!), Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Museum of Natural History, Air and Space Museum, Museum of American History, the Capitol and the International Spy Museum (okay, didn't really go in, just went to the gift shop!)

Yet, there was so much we missed, like the White House. My youngest son liked the subways the best of all. If you'd like to see a slide show my older son made of our trip, click here if you have a fast connection (it's a bit long.) Keep in mind that it's from his perspective. While the boys were looking at the guns in the history museum, I was upstairs looking at the first ladies! I have to admit that my favorite souvenir we brought home was Krispie Kremes!

When you have two kids that only eat chicken nuggets, finding a restaurant can be challenging. Especially in Washington because we hardly saw any restaurants. I was wondering where all these people eat. I asked at the aquarium and she sent us into the Ronald Reagan Building across the street. Well, lo and behold, there was a food court on the basement floor! So that's where all these people that work in these super-sized buildings eat. Who knew? We also ate at the Hard Rock Café next to Ford's Theater. They have a really cool stained glass window of Chuck Berry, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis that we sat in front of. So as we're leaving town to come home, what did we find just one block behind our hotel? Yes, a Mickey D's! Just goes to show that you have to do your homework before you go on a trip. I have to say that Washington was one of the cleanest places I've visited and the quietest.

While in DC, I took the opportunity to meet with Alden O'Brien, the textile curator at the DAR Museum. They have a piece of the 'Ocean-Born Mary' silk* and we compared it to the pieces that I have photographs of. They were all consistent, but she has her doubts as to the age of the fabric, feeling it was from the 1780's rather than the 1720's (though she couldn't rule out the 1720's.) It was a productive conversation and she finds the whole legend quite plausable, admitting that my evidence was more compelling than some other national legends that shall remain nameless here! (* Ocean-Born Mary is another NH legend that I am researching for a picture book. It has all the drama of the high seas—pirates, a baby's birth, treasure—Arrrgh!)

In preparation for our trip, I read a few children's books on the topic. If the Walls Could Talk has interesting tidbits about the Presidents and their life in the White House. The story of George Washington's Teeth is told in rhyme and is quite cute! When Washington Crossed the Delaware tells of the trials and tribulations of the Revolutionary War as told by Lynne Cheney. Lincoln : A Photobiography was a perfect biography for young readers–succinctly told. This last book–George Washington, Spymaster : How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War–I picked up at the International Spy Museum. It's a wonderfully designed little book–feels good in your hands, pages have deckled edges, uses a font reminiscent of the time, and the jacket is printed in letterpress. I can see where kids, especially boys, would get caught up in the whole spy thing; there are codes to decipher throughout the whole book. Kudos to National Geographic for making history fun!

BON VOYAGE
Today is the day that I send in my "Ocean Mary of Londonderry" manuscript to my publisher. Back on the research trail, I've been traveling around the state to various libraries and historical societies tracking down those elusive pieces of the pirate's silk, to reconcile them with the differing descriptions. What fun! I also have appointments with the Museum of NH History and the DAR Museum in Washington, DC to discuss the silk and get their opinions.

None of this research will change the tale one iota, as I'm fairly confident that I have the facts correct. But I feel it's important to list in the foreward which elements are fact and which are conjecture. Also, if I wait until the research is all done, I will never send it in! Mary Wilson is one elusive character! I have yet to connect Mary specifically to the pirate attack. There is only circumstantial evidence but it's pretty overwhelming. And as far as the silk goes, it will be a leap of faith.

So my little manuscript baby, off you go! I wish you well. Godspeed. Bon Voyage.

MY READING LIST
Winnie Dancing on Her Own by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
A lovely little first chapter book with sweet illustrations by Alissa Imre Geis (love this girl's website! I want to be her when I grow up.) Just perfect!

The Irish Dresser by Cynthia G. Neale
A great novel by a fellow Granite Stater. We met while doing book signing events.

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
I liked the plot well enough but I had problems with the POV. It starts out in 3rd person omnitient. The next 4 chapters are in first person, one chapter for each member of the team, then switches back to omnitient for the rest of the book. Yet Mrs. Olinski didn't get her own chapter, to tell her own story. And Julian's chapter (probably the most interesting character in the book) doesn't ring true to his character that was set up in other chapters. To be honest, most of the book is back story, which can be annoying when you want to get on with the real story. (Okay, I hear my crit group snickering because everything I write is backstory! That point isn't lost on me.)

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Ironically, I read two survival stories in a row. Both were young boys, but in Hatchet the MC was on his own. In Beaver, the MC had an Indian help him out. I thought Hatchet would be boring since there were no other characters, but it wasn't. A plot twist or cliffhanger at the end of each chapter helped. In Beaver, the relationship between the Indian and the boy was interesting to see develop, until the Indian finally respected the growth of the MC. It's the same with Hatchet except it was the MC who finally found pride in what he had accomplished.

The only problem I had was with the ending. I wish it had been treated as part of the story instead of an epilogue. It was mostly telling, not showing. And the big secret was a bit of a let down. I would have preferred the MC about to tell his father, then decide not to because of the maturing he had done while stranded.

COOL WEBSITE
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/
This is just too much fun. It's loads of fun clicking on the words and dragging them around.

If you are like me, you've been wondering why no artwork has appeared on this page for ages. What can I say, I've had a lazy summer! This is a rough layout for a calligraphy course assignment I'm working on. I was not too concerned about making beautiful letters, just the layout. Now I need to find a focus. Click above to see a larger image.