Какая прелесть!!! Такие добрые милые игрушки!!!

Congrats on your new opportunity, and sale of your painting. I love visiting your blog because you are so talented! You inspire me.

The painting is beautiful, it makes me feel calm and peaceful. What a very lucky new owner. :)
I saw your Gisela designs on Pinterest and didn't realise at first they were yours. They're absolutely beautiful and I want them all!
Jess xx

The disguised Horse Girl is so sweet - she dreams of adventures in fairy lands, but is looking sad, because she thinks this will never happen!...
It's so nice to hear about your new project, Gretel! I'm looking forward to see your creations! The cards are wonderful! By the way, your "Sophy higher than the Moon" is next to me on my desk and I look at it whenever I want...
Happy expecting for the Spring!x

Excellent news, Gretel! I love Gisela Graham designs, and now I can start spotting your work amongst them!

Glad to read a new posting. I wondered what you were doing. As a new reader, I am backtracking through your blog archives and enjoying your walks and rides particularly. I so miss the English countryside, whether in snow or sun.

Hello my friend,

I see a new collection in my future.....Gretel Parker ornaments!!!!

LOVE these...OmGosh..will we in the USA be able to purchase them?

You are such a creative soul...we will meet someday...we will meet someday...my new mantra!!!!

janet xox
The Empty Nest

How great to be designing for Gisela Graham, I shall look for them in the autumn. I finally posted the package to Zimbabwe this morning by the way.

just love the work...it makes me feel happy!

They are gorgeous Gretel, I love toys like these, they make me feel the world is still a good place with special things in it. Something I am in sore need of reminding sometimes. Thank you for making me smile.

Gretel, good to hear that your computer issues, aka problems in real speech, have been mended.

That wistful watercolor painting is lovely. Somehow, I think that you will be creating many future watercolors. Your photographs and videos of the landscape that surrounds you surely indicate where you might already being putting brush, water and color to paper?

I do like those wooden decorations, too. It's interesting to see your design sensability translated to three dimensional little beings, that have solid, not soft, edges.

xo

I love the mouse fairy on the horse - I'll be looking out for when Christmas shopping time comes round :)

Well done Gretel - very well deserved!!

Insanely creative, you are.

good luck from Portugal on your deadline...hate them!

love the little toys..... so cute....

Excellent post.
cheers
mood
Moody Writing

So much easier said than done too! I love seeing it done well so I have to go back and reread to find all the plants.

Important point--and a helpful example. One more use for unicorns. They are so versatile. Great post, as always!

Laura's right, so much easier said than done! Good advice for sure. I'm spending a lot of time working out right now how to speckle this kind of info through my WIP. Hard work!

Great advice, thanks Lisa!

Ooooooh, you used a unicorn example. I love you.

'kay, trying to figure this out though. So you put the hoofprints in and the character notices them but just briefly, she's doesn't expound on them because she's busier expounding on the dragon. So the reader picks up that there's something besides the dragon, but the dragon is so in-the-face that they don't process the hoofprints until whamo, when you reveal your twist.

Did I get that right? This sounds like an important tip, want to make sure I understand, Obi-Wan. :)

This is such a hard thing to pull of well though, you know? :) Great advice though!

Great comments! :D Yay!

Margo - my young Padawan - YES! The only thing I'd add is that you make it appear that perhaps the prints belong to the dragon, but we find out in a wholly different scene, through description, that the dragon's feet look completely different than the unicorn's. So if we're thinking enough we see there's a different animal involved, but we don't point out the feet being different, just notice them. Capiche? :D

Perhaps I shall expand on this in a future post...

What unicorn? I didn't see a thing. I'm too distracted by Lisa Green's brilliant post!

This is something you and Leslie have helped me out with. Dropping little clues along the way, without being obvious.

Julie - psst.. you already got the job of awesome writer/BFF so you can stop saying I'm brilliant. Wait. Scratch that. Keep saying it. :D

Love this... you magician, you!

Great post, Lisa! I've always felt like my not so noticeable clues are IN YOUR FACE. This is yet another reason why critique partners rock. They tell you when it's good.

And that is a very pretty unicorn.

I'm in a writers course right now on pyschotic characters (you know, like serial killers), and the instructor talked about the trick magicians use to distract you from what's happening. It's the same trick pick pockets and serial killers use. Great trick for writers too.

I think you know where this link is going. :D

Chris - Watch me pull a unicorn out of my hat!! Ouch.

Lacey - Pretty... And yes! Critique partners are golden!

Stina - Yay!! That makes me feel special. And not cuz it reminds you of how I think like a serial killer. Hmm... that's slightly disturbing...

Excellent post! I've been blindsided while reading novels a few times, and it's always more fun when little clues are laid ahead of time. That way, I especially enjoy reading it again and catching everything.

Jess - Yes! Another great reasons to do this.

I'm the same as Laura, when this is done really well I have to go back and re-read. Great post!

Juliana - Thank you :D

This is excellent reading for me right now! I'm just getting into the part of my WIP where unicorns are going to start coming into play. It's good to remind myself to ask the question, "What will the reader see? What should the reader see?" I won't get it right the first few drafts (assuming I'm lucky ;), but asking the question will help getting me closer to that, faster.

Deb - It sounds to me like you have the best approach possible, and a good outlook. Good luck with your WIP! And have fun with planting unicorns. Um I mean clues.

Wow, you got a pic of a real live unicorn? How did you do that?

LOL, but you make a good point. It's all about sprinkling clues and having the characters work it out before the reader does. Sometimes I think 'oh, that might make readers think it's a continuity mistake' when it's there fora really good reason. But I don't want to be too obvious about it.

Ebony - I doubt they'd see it as a continuity mistake. In your case they'd be laughing and enjoying themselves so much they'd let it go until the resolution when they find out it was important after all. ;D

I love those "Aha" moments when you finally see the unicorn, and you remember something about footprints earlier. It makes me feel wise when I put the puzzle pieces together.

Leslie - See? We want to make the reader feel good.

Great tip (as always)!

Ghenet - :D

Drop little hints, I like that! What a great way to put it. As a reader and writer I completely agree! Blindsiding feels like cheating to a reader when it isn't done right. Little hints are the way to do it right! Great post!

This is exactly what I like to do. I always try to have some twist right there in front of the reader, but I make it seem unimportant and then it's only later they see how critical the piece of information was. :)

Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

Oh, this is hilarious! It is def hard to get the right mix of obvious and genius clues. Like I'm saying "Do you get it yet?" but "NO- don't get it yet! It will be ruined!"

Angela - Tough to pull off, but worth it!!

Heather - Thanks!

Bekah - LOL, no throttling the reader allowed!

Wise post! Wise Lisa! Wise Friend! :D

Monica - Awww, you're so sweet! Careful or my head will turn into a blimp and that could get awkward. ;D

Great point! I need to make due I've done this with my WIP!

PK - Thanks!

Lisa, Love the picture! And you are so right about building a relationship. I sprinkle clues throughout and also toss in the proverbial red herrings! Good post.

Catherine - Thanks! I've always loved unicorns. Red herrings are in interesting point. Perhaps I shall think on that and do another post...

beautiful!

This is absolutely awesome!!!

Marie K, brought me here and I'm dazzled by this painting...

Actually, I have been humming all day the song, Unicornio Azul, which I have recently heard at a live concert.

I wonder if I can use it to illustrate one of my posts.
I'll give you all due credits.
Please let e know!

Congratulations.
Hugs
Ná

I loved the unicorns in Spell Fall. It's pretty cool that you have one for a Muse.

Mine is female, has a very large wardrobe, is a few inches tall, with manga/anime style features. She is very vocal, likes to prod, poke, jump up and down when I'm either not doing enough or when her ideas are spilling out faster than I can write them. She's hilarious, and when we cooperate, good work gets done. She can be bribed with chocolate, or video games. She prefers to wear kimonos, but is known to wear skirts and dresses.

Your muse sounds amazing. His likes are my likes. His dislikes are mine... except for mobile phones. I do need to be in touch. I wish I had a muse like your unicorn. Maybe I have but I've not yet connected with him... or her. You've given me much to think about now.

Yunaleska, I love the idea of your muse's large wardrobe! I don't think my unicorn has a wardrobe yet, but on the poster of him as a young unicorn I can see he's wearing a strange symbol around his neck... I must try to find out what it means.

Rosalind, I do hope you get in touch with your muse soon. (Maybe he/she needs a mobile phone to communicate with you...?)

Katherine, I think I've already told you my muse is called Bernard and is constantly skiving. She's such a lazy git I haven't seen her for weeks. Yours is better - get your unicorn to give Bernard a good kicking!

A book about muses would be fantastic - seriously, pitch it!

My Muse? Now you've done it! I know I won't be able to do anything else until I find her, him or it.
I may just worry it out into view or scare it into hiding deeper in the darker corners of 'Tuscany', my shed... Oh dear, what a delightful problem.

I'm off to explore... if you don't hear from me for a while, send in the marines..especially if they are tall, dark and handsome and have large, strong wings.

ps Meanwhile I hope no one minds my mentioning my new blog http://writingthebookwords.blogspot.com - I may be hiding there.

I don't think I have one - which might be the problem : (

You mean not everyone has a cat as a Muse? :-)

No, catdownunder ... some of us have whippets!

Stroppy, I have sent my unicorn after Bernard... when he finds her, he'll march her back to you at the point of his horn.

Linda, your muse is obviously busy writing the book words!

catdownunder... how do you ever persuade your muse to do anything? My real cat (Tara, the black one) totally ignores me most of the time, and only appears when she wants food.

madwippit... a whippet sounds fast.

Nicky... keep looking... when I pitch my muse book, I'll be in touch to see if you've found him/her/it!

Yes...my mews IS purrplexingly independent!

It must be exhausting being a unicorn muse.
Wippitts are only fast in short and enthusiastic bursts ... the rest of the time they are to be found doing under a duvet or fleece. But please don't ask your unicorn to give them a little nudge with his horn to wake them ... they need their power naps in preparation for the next little burst of energy!

Wonderful details

X..... hmmmmm.....

This is classic and delightfully illustrated! Wonderful.

This is great (and it must have taken you a LONG time to do)!

I love how everyone is all squished together with the letters, yet there's enough space for all of them so it reads really well. The colors are great too.

It's quite a challenge to figure out what to do with the x. I've played w/a few alphabet ideas and x seems to be the hang-up. Wonderful job though. It would make a great poster in a classroom.

so nice characters - especially love your zebra!

This is just delicious... look at all those details and the different postures of the animals. Would love to see this one up close. Thanks for sharing.

That's so pretty, Gretel. :-D I love the whimsy of your works. Your imagination is just gorgeous. I have finally gotten around to linking Middle of Nowhere to both of my blogsites. Hope you don't mind. :-D

Cheers,
Marianne

Lovely work G - especially beautiful bluey green wash in the sky, and the fried egg flowers made me laugh!
P.x

Wonderful, Gretel. I love the colours and sense of movement. It's simple and delightful but seems to have rich meanings.

Very magical and lovely!

I have a feeling that I'd better stay away from needlefelting ... I've got a bad scarf-knitting habit and don't need to add another! I love your Unicorn Nocturne. (I'll have to stop buying wool so I can afford some art!)

When are you going to *post* some of your felting creations??? (enquiring minds, you know?)

Don't tell me how good needlefelting is, I can't take up yet another craft, the house will implode! Hurry up and show us what you've made! (love the dreamy feel to your painting..)

Beautiful!
Carolyn
http://willowhouse.typepad.com

Show us yer felt, missus!
There will be an online riot if you don't, methinks!

Such a wonderful piece!
I can't wait to see your stabbing (felted)creations!

Love the unicorn it reminds me of our moon lit walk on saturday. Would love to see your felted creations!

You have a beautiful way with wash colors.

And your thought for the day is so true here, too! ;-)

It's not fair, I keep getting glimpses of your felting on the studio cam but it's not big enough to see properly!