tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42112268425521878982024-03-05T02:15:48.626-06:00Julie WilliamsJulie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-61665616548084008582014-09-20T15:50:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:17:05.539-05:00SinC-Up Blog Hop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was tagged for the September <a href="http://sistersincrime.org/BlogHop">Sisters in Crime SinC-Up for Bloggers</a> by my dear friend, <a href="http://lindatownsdin.com/">Linda Townsdin</a>, who is an active member of <a href="http://sistersincrime.org/">Sisters in Crime</a> (SinC) in the Sacramento, California area. I, too, have been a member of SinC for many years -- uh oh, I wonder if I remembered to renew this year -- and have learned a great deal from the online resources of this national mystery writers' organization. Though my publishing credits are in young adult (YA) fiction, I've been working on adult mystery novels a lot longer than YA. Finishing them and getting them published -- well, that's a different story! I've been an avid reader of mysteries, especially those by women authors, ever since I discovered Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers in my early twenties. A long time ago. <br />
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The Blog Hop invites us to answer questions about ourselves as an author. Here are the ones I chose:<br />
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<b>Which authors have inspired you?</b><br />
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I remember checking my first Agatha Christie novel out of the library and getting so excited I ended up reading all of her books, and then when I could afford to buy them, reading them all again and again. And then, when someone suggested I try Dorothy Sayers and her Lord Peter Whimsy series, I was blown away and did the same thing with them. I was very young and all I was writing at the time was poetry. Suddenly all I wanted to read were murder mysteries. My strong preference has always been for the female voice in this genre. At the moment, I'm gob-smacked by Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series. I've read and re-read the series more times than I want to admit trying to figure out how she does that seamless switching of POV. And also, just because I want to hang out in Three Pines with those characters. I've recently done the same thing with Laurie R. King's series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. In middle grade and young adult fiction, the authors that have had the most influence on me are Madeleine L'Engle, E.L. Konigsburg, Laure Halse Anderson, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Cynthia Rylant, Sharon Creech, Jacqueline Woodson, and Linda Sue Park. And poets whose work keeps me going are: Diane Glancy, Lucille Clifton, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joy Harjo, Mary Oliver, William Stafford . . . the list goes on and on.<br />
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<b>What's the best part of the writing process for you? And what's the most challenging?</b><br />
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I love almost everything about the writing process, so let me just get the challenging part out of the way first. Wanting to start something new but feeling paralyzed sucks. The enormous gap between what's in my head and what comes out on paper (or the computer screen) can be terribly frustrating. Fortunately, I enjoy rewriting. And I've noticed that my favorite authors write about many of the same things over and over and over again, so I'm assuming that means even they are still trying to "get it right." The best part of the process for me is when a brand new character starts talking in my head (and talking and talking and talking) and suddenly I can't wait to get the words down. I love the way that part of the process flows, how consuming it is, yet how energizing it can be. The puzzle of a novel (compared to the much briefer form of a poem) taps into a different set of problem-solving skills and I have a really good time tracking threads through the story, making sure all the details make sense and work the way they must.<br />
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<b>What books are on your nightstand right now?</b><br />
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<b style="font-style: italic;">Hope's Edge: The Next Diet For a Small Planet </b>by Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe. This is the 2003 follow-up to <i>Diet for a Small Planet, </i>still timely and a fascinating look at the many ways committed people around the world are challenging the status quo of food production and consumption. I'm enjoying it a lot.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Long Way Home</i> by Louise Penny. I am in love with Penny's characters and setting in her Armand Gamache series and have already read this most recent one twice.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax </i>by Dorothy Gilman. I've recently started re-reading some of the mysteries that I enjoyed many years ago. Let me just say that I'm appreciating Emily Pollifax in a brand new way now that I'm nearly her age. Enough said.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1849 </i>edited by Kenneth L. Holmes. One of my favorite birthday presents this year -- the first two volumes in this series. This period of women's history in our country has always fascinated me.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Chopper! Chopper! Poetry from Bordered Lives </i>by Veronica Reyes. Another fav birthday gift. An amazing voice from East LA. I'm loving her.<br />
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<i><b>Skirt Full of Black </b>by Sun Yung Shin. </i>My first reading of this Korean American woman's poetry. She grew up in Chicago and now lives and teaches here in Minnesota. The way she pushes linguistic boundaries and form reminds me a little of my hero, Native American poet, Diane Glancy. Powerful work.<br />
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<b>In my Kindle queue:</b><br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Brown Girl Dreaming </i>by Jacqueline Woodson<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Monogram Murders </i>by Sophie Hannah; Agatha Christie (a new Hercule Poirot)<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple #1) </i>by Agatha Christie<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot #1) </i>by Agatha Christie<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Lucky Us: A Novel </i>by Amy Bloom<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Writing Wild: Forming a Creative Partnership with Nature </i>by Tina Welling<br />
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<br />Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-65712671601315725162014-05-06T12:55:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:16:31.619-05:00THIS WEEK'S DRAMA QUEEN ACTIVITIES<div style="text-align: left;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">DRAMA QUEENS IN THE HOUSE </span></b>celebrated its one-month mark last week with a book launch party hosted by dear friends, Patricia Ewer and David Mangen. It was a terrific evening and I enjoyed every minute. Great friends, food, conversation. Fun reunions and unexpected connections. B<span style="text-align: center;">ook sales, book signing. . . great fun! </span><span style="text-align: center;">Patricia and I have been friends since the 1970s when we worked together at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><b>BOOK LAUNCH PHOTOS:</b></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Book sales & signing</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEUQOVtbXyENTf9BfgRWjemrfIf-GZn5EgkP9vdHZGpMfwL9ShBcDorbzXtm9ftHtRPChYaJry8aTjOlFtqgwutTc7HLR7I23j958VGnvkZflXOJZGYkXMMqtT12zKV-R_oS1Mm_b1SH4/s1600/JW+GH+CDD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEUQOVtbXyENTf9BfgRWjemrfIf-GZn5EgkP9vdHZGpMfwL9ShBcDorbzXtm9ftHtRPChYaJry8aTjOlFtqgwutTc7HLR7I23j958VGnvkZflXOJZGYkXMMqtT12zKV-R_oS1Mm_b1SH4/s1600/JW+GH+CDD.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old friends from UWW</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigjYsJU_LYilwosfabSKaI-y80ONMVeuqs7KiD4t2-OhZkNqd2OmHSEkmkjiliBRbjEZMEhK-iH5-sUHd1VNYVXMXsnb5DZpObao3jNyJ13mxzaG0d8tI_CebVU6sl7WBJjuy2cnteIjE/s1600/JW+reading+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigjYsJU_LYilwosfabSKaI-y80ONMVeuqs7KiD4t2-OhZkNqd2OmHSEkmkjiliBRbjEZMEhK-iH5-sUHd1VNYVXMXsnb5DZpObao3jNyJ13mxzaG0d8tI_CebVU6sl7WBJjuy2cnteIjE/s1600/JW+reading+2.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reading a chapter</td></tr>
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In the middle picture, Gorden Hedahl (one of my professors from UW-Whitewater in the early 1970s) catches up with Chery Davies Day. Back then Gorden was Professor Hedahl, and he directed LOOK BACK IN ANGER during his first year at UWW. The production featured Chery and yours truly. Julie Weaver (not pictured) and I met when we were both actresses at Theatre L'Homme Dieu in Alexandria, Minnesota. I missed the photo-op when she and Chery were sitting in the kitchen eating burritos and discovering they know each other's sons (who were in a band together) though the two of them had never met. It was that kind of evening.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZfOIrkBnKagiibZIeIxf_NXn7_ULodo-rqRA28pbj9ZYvWeUAxPQbNHASlwv2LBGd-tlUrG-LSvA5ykEzm4a4khSObZoKsOvZksJYVgDa3fqrdzx_FTAw4y8MF87OD4oGKDUZ0JGJmg/s1600/We+need+diversity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZfOIrkBnKagiibZIeIxf_NXn7_ULodo-rqRA28pbj9ZYvWeUAxPQbNHASlwv2LBGd-tlUrG-LSvA5ykEzm4a4khSObZoKsOvZksJYVgDa3fqrdzx_FTAw4y8MF87OD4oGKDUZ0JGJmg/s1600/We+need+diversity.jpg" width="284" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My submission to #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">On May 1st, </span></b>Ellen Oh (<a href="http://www.ellenoh.com/">www.EllenOh.com</a>), along with Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo from the wonderful <a href="http://diversityinya.com/">DiversityinYA.com</a> website kicked off their #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign on twitter, tumblr and FB. The campaign was launched in response to BookCon's all-white male panel on kid's lit and immediately went wild across all platforms. The first day of the campaign, people were asked to hand-print a sign and post pictures demonstrating their commitment to diversity in books. This was my submission. Thanks to Ken Williams, daughter Jennifer Williams, and husband Gordon Nakagawa for allowing themselves to be visual aids for the cause (and for my book promotion). </div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">Q&A on Linda Townsdin's blog</b></h3>
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Last and definitely not least, yesterday the Q&A exchange I had with my best friend, Linda Townsdin, was complete when she posted my answers to the questions we picked on her fabulous blog, A Writer's Journey. </div>
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Check it out here: <a href="http://lindatownsdin.com/2014/05/05/julie-williams-drama-queens-in-the-house/">http://lindatownsdin.com/2014/05/05/julie-williams-drama-queens-in-the-house/</a></div>
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As a writer, the writing itself comes first. Second to that for me is thinking about, reading about, talking with others about, and writing about the writing process. After that (way after that) comes the marketing and promotion. This interview is a happy convergence for me (and I hope for you). I had a lot of fun doing it (usually a good sign) and learned something about myself and my process.</div>
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It's been a busy week. I think it's time to grab the rake and head for the garden before it rains again.</div>
Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-27382253593286895182014-04-17T13:45:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:15:28.354-05:00LINDA TOWNSDIN -- FOCUSED ON MURDER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Linda Townsdin</b>, <span style="font-size: x-small;">the author of FOCUSED ON MURDER (published in February), has been a dear friend and constant inspiration for many years. We grew up together in small towns in Northern Minnesota where we attended the same junior-senior high school. For years we’ve visited as often as we’re able, sometimes taking long road trips from our homes in California back to Minnesota. And in between visits we kept up a written correspondence that has now morphed into daily emails. She’s my first and last reader (of everything I write). And although our work paths appear somewhat different on the surface, our creative lives have run parallel, intersected, and hop-scotched in the most delightful ways for all these many (many) years. FOCUSED ON MURDER is a fast-paced, exciting mystery with an engaging protagonist, the first in a series featuring the adventures of photojournalist Britt Johansson. I’m pleased to have Linda as a guest blogger this week.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda and Julie on a road trip</td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><b>What drew you to writing and publishing murder mysteries? </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I love reading stories about Northern Minnesota. I’m attracted to the small communities, lakes, weather and American Indian spiritual philosophy. I wanted to create my own story world and now that I’ve done it, I love it. It’s like reading a book and writing it at the same time. So satisfying!</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>What is your process?</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I’m writing a mystery series and my primary cast of characters will always make an appearance. My story idea is usually based on a social issue that haunts me, and then I have a rough idea of what’s going to happen. The first scene often comes to me in a flash, and sometimes the end materializes the same way. But I never know which new characters will pop up, or what twists and turns are coming, and that discovery is the most fun.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Is your protagonist like you?</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">When I first imagined Britt, I thought I was creating someone almost the opposite of me. She’s 34, tall and athletic, a photojournalist willing to make people uncomfortable to get her photos, blurts out whatever she’s feeling or thinking, and doesn’t like to delve too deeply into her own psyche.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I would have made a terrible journalist because I wouldn’t be able to ask hard questions and put people on the spot. I’m deliberate where’s she’s spontaneous, and I’m a ruminator. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And yet, I wonder if there isn’t a shadow side of me that harbors some of those characteristics. Why <i>do </i>writers choose a certain type of protagonist and subject matter?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In addition to following the murder of a local coed, and getting involved in a dangerous high-stakes crime that requires every ounce of her strength and skill to make it out alive, at the core of my story is Britt’s decision whether to stay in Spirit Lake or go.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I’ve moved quite a bit in my life—my grandmother used to say I had wandering feet. I don’t wander that much anymore, but the desire is still there, and I still feel the loss that happens when you give up something to get something else. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">So I created a character who longs to go and longs to stay and through following her adventures, I get to explore some of my own feelings about what that has meant to my own life.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And, since writing about Britt, I’ve become much more physically active, and I take more risks. Not Britt’s kind of risks, but the kind that build confidence in small ways every day. Is there a connection? Has my inspiration inspired me? I hope so. I look forward to how else Britt might inspire me in her next adventure.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Thanks to Donald Maass, <a href="http://writerunboxed.com/"><span class="s2">http://writerunboxed.com/</span></a> for his thoughtful blog post on April 2, 2014 that prompted me to think about why I chose certain characteristics for Britt Johansson, my protagonist in <i>Focused on Murder—A Spirit Lake Mystery.</i>]</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Linda Townsdin <span style="font-size: x-small;">worked for years in communications for nonprofit and corporate organizations, most recently as writer/editor for a national criminal justice consortium. Her work included editorial and marketing assistance in projects involving cybercrime, tribal justice and other public safety issues. Her short fiction has been published in several anthologies, including the 2013 Capitol Crimes Anthology. She lives in California with her husband, and wouldn’t trade her childhood in Northern Minnesota for anything.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">You can get a copy of FOCUSED ON MURDER on Amazon.com at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/nkmh2xe"><span class="s3">http://tinyurl.com/nkmh2xe</span></a>.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To keep informed on Linda’s work, check out her blog at <a href="http://www.lindatownsdin.com/"><span class="s3">http://www.lindatownsdin.com</span></a> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">And/or you can follow her on her Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/LindaTownsdinAuthor</span></span></div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-23587265949959016352014-03-25T15:07:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:14:45.535-05:00Publication Day for DRAMA QUEENS in the house<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcuRUy2Tk00_EBWOp6jnGBS9R2tNFzRj8arXBsLOD9G-e1VhgvNlJebUdCGXeaTSr6TeAgRCgbYOfguCIq6wUpjsjqkAz7G6PtPuWwA9hP7tgWmfqAsb80NRFdPSu496NlclHsq5xmDo/s1600/DramaQueens+cover+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcuRUy2Tk00_EBWOp6jnGBS9R2tNFzRj8arXBsLOD9G-e1VhgvNlJebUdCGXeaTSr6TeAgRCgbYOfguCIq6wUpjsjqkAz7G6PtPuWwA9hP7tgWmfqAsb80NRFdPSu496NlclHsq5xmDo/s1600/DramaQueens+cover+1.jpg" width="443" /></a></div>
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The dedication in my book reads, "To my daughter, Jennifer, and our jumble of a chosen family." Here's a picture of Jennifer at 16 accepting bouquets of flowers after a fabulous dance concert. Like the book's main character, my daughter is biracial. She's also tall and beautiful, smart and funny (with a huge laugh), deeply perceptive and good at anything she does. It's accurate to say that along with my many years in the theatre, she and the other members of our diverse and nontraditional family are the inspiration for this novel. That's what I love to write about -- family ties, relationships, all the ways we struggle to discover who we are and find the right path for ourselves in life.<br />
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Of course, in the act of writing, Jessie took off on her own (the way characters do) and became someone different from both my daughter and myself. Still, it was a relief to me when Jennifer read the final version of the book and gave it (and Jessie) her stamp of approval. I'll share more later about the other people who inspired this story.<br />
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Today we are celebrating a long writing, rewriting, editing, and publication process that has finally come to fruition. Today you can buy the book (online at B&N, amazon.com, many other sites, as well as in bookstores). And you can find it in libraries, too. I hope you get your hands on a copy. I hope you read it and fall in love with Jessie and her crazy jumble of a chosen family. I hope you'll let me know if you do!<br />
<br />Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-20917760789166144902014-03-18T16:00:00.002-05:002019-03-21T15:13:56.485-05:00One Week Until My Book Comes Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_2HitcCVaiLD1VwMc1buV8datL_231rXaC09rIfTwWrSu5NDuw2_41_0G1P6JArzmu8Fj9b4H9Y-WE9dlDSco1PAFVmVLI_vXt4LlxObZtcSCU9GhGcBptd76y1ZELtPIstxtespA4U/s1600/Julie+in+high+school+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_2HitcCVaiLD1VwMc1buV8datL_231rXaC09rIfTwWrSu5NDuw2_41_0G1P6JArzmu8Fj9b4H9Y-WE9dlDSco1PAFVmVLI_vXt4LlxObZtcSCU9GhGcBptd76y1ZELtPIstxtespA4U/s1600/Julie+in+high+school+cropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My new book, DRAMA QUEENS IN THE HOUSE (Roaring Brook/Macmillan) comes out next week. Tuesday, March 25, 2014 to be exact. I've been working on this particular book for nearly 10 years. The most intense work, of course, took place in the last three years since I signed my contract and went to work with my editor at Macmillan. The book has morphed and shape-shifted more than once during that time! And now, finally, here we are. Book launch ready. The book. And me. With only a week to go, I'm doing the things I know to do like: finalizing lists of all the people I want to share my excitement with, checking to see that local bookstores have ordered it, talking with their event coordinators to find out what I can do to help sell the book, agreeing to do some guest blogs and book give-aways -- those kinds of things. But am I ready?</div>
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Yes. And no. Excited. And terrified. I love my main character, Jessie, and her crazy nontraditional family. I'm so glad I got to go along with Jessie during a really important year in her life -- one where she has to deal with a lot of change and where she discovers some really cool things about herself and her place in the dramatic world of her family's theatre company. Jessie and I share a sense of humor, but she's a lot more outgoing than I am. And her family? Uh, yeah. A LOT more outgoing than I ever dreamed of being.</div>
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So as I sit here, crossing to-do items off a long list, I find myself feeling like the girl in the picture above. That picture of me was taken when I was Jessie's age -- 15, about to turn 16. Pretty smart, a reader, an artist, more introverted than extroverted except when I was performing. Then a miracle happened. All my self-consciousness disappeared and I became whatever character I was playing (from head cheerleader on pep rally days to my first dramatic onstage role as Tessie Hutchinson, the wife and mother who is stoned to death in Shirley Jackson's THE LOTTERY). When I defied my mother and the rules of my mother's religion and played that role (which, incidentally, won a best actress award at a regional competition), I had never even been to see a live theatrical production. That was about to change dramatically -- let's just say from then on the theatre was in my blood and nothing was ever the same again. Did I stop being introverted when I wasn't onstage? No. Not then, not in all the years since.</div>
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But the theatre gave me a voice. Maybe I should say -- gave me many voices to choose from. And the performance of those voices led me to writing poetry and stories and novels. And that led me to teaching and directing, which led me back to performance and writing and publishing . . . </div>
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There's a lot to be excited about. Next week my book comes out. It's the first I've written that draws its inspiration from my many years in the theatre and I hope it won't be the last. </div>
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Macmillan: <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/dramaqueensinthehouse/JulieWilliams">us.macmillan.com/dramaqueensinthehouse/JulieWilliams</a></div>
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Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Drama-Queens-House-Julie-Williams/dp/1596437359/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1395176055&sr=8-1">http://www.amazon.com/Drama-Queens-House-Julie-Williams/dp/1596437359/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1395176055&sr=8-1</a></div>
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Barnes & Noble: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drama-queens-in-the-house-julie-williams/1115382352?ean=9781596437357">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drama-queens-in-the-house-julie-williams/1115382352?ean=9781596437357</a></div>
Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-91925074470869304812013-09-01T11:47:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:13:03.400-05:00Got Cover Art!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GRHkzWpszOidxq6ozh_ulW0ytaJMmUYobNtGV6uBiO9E1B7lGw-m2kquydd5t2xonkTAXS-LnoS6p0pplQpKacjk2z7o5thjhwJI6PD3l-AvLNffUneUkxVTNDCwVQAvasuaABnTmNA/s1600/front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GRHkzWpszOidxq6ozh_ulW0ytaJMmUYobNtGV6uBiO9E1B7lGw-m2kquydd5t2xonkTAXS-LnoS6p0pplQpKacjk2z7o5thjhwJI6PD3l-AvLNffUneUkxVTNDCwVQAvasuaABnTmNA/s640/front+cover.jpg" width="443" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>All of Jessie's world is a stage, and she's determined </b></span></div>
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A lot has happened on the "book front" since I last posted. The title has gone from the original, <i>It's Not the End of the World </i>to <i>All the World's A Jumble, </i>and has finally been nailed down as DRAMA QUEENS IN THE HOUSE! It's been edited and copyedited and revised and revised and revised. And now the ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies or bound galleys) are done and making their way out to all the places publishers send them. </div>
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Here's what the book is about:</div>
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Sixteen-year-old Jessie Jasper Lewis doesn't remember a time in her life when she wasn't surrounded by method actors, bright spotlights, and feather boas. Her parents started the Jumble Players theater, and theater is the glue that holds her crazy family together. But when she discovers her father is cheating on her mother with a man, Jessie feels like her world is toppling over. And then, on top of everything else, there's the delusional aunt who is predicting the end of the world. Jessie certainly doesn't feel ready to be center stage in the production that is her family. But where does she belong in all of this chaos?</div>
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I'm really happy with the new title and the cover art. The process of writing and selling and rewriting (and rewriting and rewriting) a book is such a long and intensive one, it's almost anticlimactic to have it suddenly done. But then the ARCs arrive and it's an enormous thrill to hold the bound copy in my hands and know that in a few months the actual hardbound book will be coming out! (March 2014 from Roaring Brook/Macmillan) </div>
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<br />Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-21809604333805136222013-04-16T09:42:00.000-05:002013-04-18T11:37:27.502-05:00Blog-o-Sphere Featuring: Nina Kidd<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Beier and Celia with F7, May 1989</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“The Next Big Thing” or Blog-o-sphere Project, is a fun way for writers all over the world to connect and share information about their current writing project or upcoming book. One of the writers I tagged to participate in Blog-o-sphere is a dear friend of mine from Southern California, Nina Kidd. I'm most familiar with Nina's fiction writing (which is fabulous) so am excited to learn more about her current project, a work of nonfiction, and to post it here. Thanks, Nina!</span></i><br />
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<b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Nina Kidd</b></h2>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the Blog-o-sphere Project, one writer tags another writer who answers a set of interview questions and then tags five more writers. I was tagged by a Renaissance woman: poet and actor, teacher and visual artist as well as generous friend, Julie Williams. I used a bit from Julie’s wonderful YA novel in verse <i>Escaping Tornado Season</i>, to illustrate Vividly Visual writing for my writing MFA lecture at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Julie has been kind enough to allow me to guest blog my answers on her blog site. Thank you so much, Julie!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Paul Beier: A Scientist Speaks Up</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I began nosing around about what was wrong with the group of mountain lions that live in the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, repeatedly people sent me to one mountain lion expert. I soon found out that Dr. Paul Beier is more than a mountain lion man. By the time I met him Dr. Beier had became a world expert on wild lands conservation. Even better, he is a master at partnering with and persuading stake holders across the board to take positive action to save threatened wild species by conserving their travel routes, mile by mile. His strategies for building and conserving wildlife corridors have given a hopeful face to 21</span><span style="font-size: 8.7px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><sup>st</sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> century wildlife conservation worldwide.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I had to tell Beier’s story to kids for its adventure and grit, but also in hopes they will eagerly join in the adventure of exploring the wild and helping it survive wherever they are.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Narrative nonfiction for readers 9 to 12.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hmmm… Bearded, sinewy, with shifting colors of: the wide eyed idealist, cornball charmer, the Sherlock Holmes logician, Atticus Finch in <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i> in the courtroom, but with a spitball streak of devilment: Ewan MacGregor, or Aussie Simon Baker (plays Patrick Jane, in TV’s <i>The Mentalist)</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Again and again the important people shoved biologist Paul Beier aside when he explained how to save the mountain lions and other animals slowly dying in the shrinking wild lands among California’s suburbs; but Paul’s idea was more powerful than any of the big guys and now it is saving struggling species around the world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll represent myself to trade publishers, starting with the editor who suggested it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>How long will it take you to write the first draft?</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I should have a first draft done by the end of this year.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>What titles would you name for a comparison to yours?</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Pamela Turner’s <i>A Life in the Wild: George Schaller’s Struggle to Save the Last Great Beasts; Charles and Emma</i> by Deborah Heiligman; <i>The Elephant Scientist</i> by Caitlin O’Connell, Donna M. Jackson and Timothy Rodwell</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Who or what inspired you to write this book?</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">An idea: Instead of the old Conservationists Fighting Builders and Developers scenario, wildlife corridors for animals, birds, insects (and even plants) is a proactive specific plan that local communities can put into action with the assistance of scientists. Paul Beier’s plans are showing us that humans and the wild can be good and respectful neighbors. We <i>can</i> slow, even stop many of the animal extinctions that we are causing. Once young readers catch on they can look at their own hometowns in a new way. Kids can see animals, and even plants, on the move beyond their own back fences or even in their own garden. As Paul Beier says of finding and preserving wildlife corridors, “It’s exciting because it connects people to the land.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> <b>What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mountain lions! How can a mountain lion, the size of a St. Bernard dog, kill a moose -- an animal five times its size? How does a scientist find one and put on a radio collar to follow it? What do you think of a person who crawls on his belly in thick underbrush, alone and unarmed, to reach a female mountain lion and examine her newborn kittens?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’m tagging ---</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Leda Siskind at <a href="http://www.throughthetollbooth.com/">http://www.throughthetollbooth.com</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">Gretchen Woelfle at <a href="http://www.inkrethink.blogspot.com/">http://www.inkrethink.blogspot.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">Nancy Bo Flood at <a href="http://www.kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com/">http://www.kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com</a></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">Keri Dearborn at </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"> </span><a href="http://animalbytes.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-next-big-thing.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">http://animalbytes.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-next-big-thing.html</a></div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-50097144932166622362013-04-11T12:05:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:11:41.243-05:00FABULOUS ONLINE WORKSHOP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgehYBiByOxcnaxajSC6pQ3niimFS6-QBhDJI-CQKvkvd2AQq38RtQimwyaB3YdbKUpofM4T8dqPZgN_E4ekjerz1FjcFxEkolJZpKUh1WmzfUgH-Gr4bZqPgFz3QrsQHn6A3kTPZ6Or7M/s1600/Mermaid-Circus-advt-150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgehYBiByOxcnaxajSC6pQ3niimFS6-QBhDJI-CQKvkvd2AQq38RtQimwyaB3YdbKUpofM4T8dqPZgN_E4ekjerz1FjcFxEkolJZpKUh1WmzfUgH-Gr4bZqPgFz3QrsQHn6A3kTPZ6Or7M/s400/Mermaid-Circus-advt-150.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
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I'm taking an eight-week online workshop with artists, Jane Davenport and Teesha Moore. I can't say that mermaids or circuses are big images (or inspiration) in my own artwork or writing. But when I saw the announcement I knew I had to do it. And I've learned to trust that kind of "knowing." You know, where your head feels like it's going to fly off and be its own balloon. </div>
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It's the first week and I don't want to do anything else. Never mind that it's snowing in mid-April. Never mind that today is tax preparation day. Never mind that I'm in another "stage of waiting" in the book publication process. I'm surrounded by art supplies. And I'm watching and listening to two of my favorite creative people share their process with us.</div>
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Not only that, but the "us" happens to be several hundred wildly creative artists (and that means a whole bunch of interesting new blogs to explore). There's so much inspiration going on here, my fingers are tingling!</div>
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And THEN, wouldn't you know -- as soon as I began to work with the shapes and journal-making process I knew where my own inspiration was coming from. So now I'm digging through old (really old) manuscript piles to find a collection of poems I started about 25 years ago. I called them my <i>Fat Lady At the Circus </i>poems. It was one of those projects that started with a bang and then I let it slip away. Of course it's about all those things that ring my artistic chimes. Family, body image, theatre, gypsies, carnival trailers, gender identity . . . ahhhhh, my own take on Mermaid Circus. Yipppeeeee!</div>
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Best antidote to a late spring EVER!!!</div>
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Happy creating! Whether it's collage or painting or writing or cooking or (gulp) gardening or . . . you name it, throw yourself into the process, and enjoy!</div>
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Side note: My intention was to add this image as a blog button, but I am a little technically challenged at the moment, so that will have to wait until I receive further instructions.</div>
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<a href="http://www.janedavenport.com/workshops/mermaid-circus">http://www.janedavenport.com/workshops/mermaid-circus</a></div>
<br />Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-17292022650766546792013-04-07T16:53:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:11:12.520-05:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzU5yQzHE2puqlTt_2st0R7hN95maukI7Zri-NxaDrfehD5pJWgTEDVCvF1CAkcsLh9fnr0FbdKwxVq7SuEcEITYCLPMoXgXiY4P5v2aprX6Fb5R24ujrR1gVZSrRytpqB1G5GAVCHCXs/s1600/Bird+Home+altered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzU5yQzHE2puqlTt_2st0R7hN95maukI7Zri-NxaDrfehD5pJWgTEDVCvF1CAkcsLh9fnr0FbdKwxVq7SuEcEITYCLPMoXgXiY4P5v2aprX6Fb5R24ujrR1gVZSrRytpqB1G5GAVCHCXs/s400/Bird+Home+altered.jpg" width="390" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BIRD HOME (digitally altered image of 24X24" mixed media collage)</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;"><b>An Almost Spring Celebration . . .</b></span><br />
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It's almost spring here in Minnesota. I know the birds are acting as if it is. The chipmunks just came out of their winter hibernation and are going at our bird feeders like they're starving (my guess is they probably are). I am so impatient to get into the gardens and start mucking about. More than that even, I want to be able to throw the doors and windows wide open, to turn our thermostats down a few degrees, and wear anything other than the sweats I live in all winter long.<br />
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When you live in a cold climate like this, even the HINT of spring is a cause for celebration!</div>
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I'm happy to say that my upcoming novel has finally found a title: ALL THE WORLD'S A JUMBLE. And, after going through a number of rewrites with back and forth communications between me and my editor at Roaring Brook/Macmillan, it's gone on to the copy editor. (Hallelujah!) There will be more tweaking in a few weeks. And by this time next year, it should be out! More cause for celebration.</div>
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And here's some more! This week I was invited by my fabulous poet friend, Diane Kendig, to participate in "The Next Big Thing," a fun blog-o-sphere project that links writers all over the world. Diane posted my interview on her blog today. I hope you'll take a minute to read about ALL THE WORLD'S A JUMBLE on <a href="http://www.dianekendig.blogspot.com/">Diane Kendig's blog</a>. I've tagged writer friends, Linda Townsdin, Nina Kidd, and Sandra Martin and will be posting their interviews and links next week. </div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-45313071664811223202013-01-03T09:55:00.000-06:002019-03-21T15:10:31.226-05:00<h2>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Happy New Year 2013!</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpclYGDR3MxNU4yUfnDoJTtbCTRhjb_edohuLb8dc1WVrNUUp1lT0uHuwdtUhyqGwHZCWPaDOELL0HOVOaSFoboPw-3LTbGizWyl6f7OOZmqMjrWi9CfJrVtjkRgGZDgtrelWYG-LNdwI/s1600/Trees+and+sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpclYGDR3MxNU4yUfnDoJTtbCTRhjb_edohuLb8dc1WVrNUUp1lT0uHuwdtUhyqGwHZCWPaDOELL0HOVOaSFoboPw-3LTbGizWyl6f7OOZmqMjrWi9CfJrVtjkRgGZDgtrelWYG-LNdwI/s400/Trees+and+sky.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">H</span>ow is the new year treating you? My wish for you is that it's getting off to a fabulous start!<br />
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I'm just coming up out of the deep hibernation of what I hope is the last big rewrite of my upcoming book. Let's just say, the holidays slid by in a blur of words, words, words. Even without the pressure of a writing project, it's easy for me to hibernate this time of year. As I look out my window right now, snow is starting to fall again. It's warmer today than it's been (it's all the way up to 15 degrees)! My cozy basement studio with its wall of windows is a pleasant place to hole up and create.<br />
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So, is the rewrite done, you ask? Uh, no. Not quite. But I'm so close I can taste it. And so absorbed and obsessed I am even dreaming about it. My morning journaling is now always about the story. More problem-solving happens in that journal than anywhere else. Even my massive story board (see below) takes a back seat to the journal.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTVYn2Ab1b350mDPdI61qtycEFoUXh3BORl34P4fVfN-ZsXZx9a9YYE_Iaz9cT3n69vudNC-Pe60ZvwOROb-6A4y9fRX7Ncf4J2lAxDcGzNmnlrGDYP_e-Uf-h2Hxw9vPvRrJCTvGH5A/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTVYn2Ab1b350mDPdI61qtycEFoUXh3BORl34P4fVfN-ZsXZx9a9YYE_Iaz9cT3n69vudNC-Pe60ZvwOROb-6A4y9fRX7Ncf4J2lAxDcGzNmnlrGDYP_e-Uf-h2Hxw9vPvRrJCTvGH5A/s400/photo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
It seemed like a good idea to take a little break this morning and open this blog back up after a year hiatus. Who knew a year could fly by like that?<br />
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The book is IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD, a YA novel due out sometime soon from Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press. My editor, Nancy Mercado, is coming back from a delightful hiatus of her own, and I'm looking forward to moving into the next stages of this project with her.<br />
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Here's what I do most days after the words have dried up. Lately I've been finding ways to incorporate some of my poems into my visual artwork. In this one, titled "Spring Morning," the poem is written in white and silver ink on the blue sky. There's nothing like dreaming of spring and new boots and gardening when the entire visible landscape is white and shades of grey.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRgQQ9KpXfmPXSMZooCcr52QGaqRThV6F4zNeiYYkKl0DD5kzuswH_-mXTqTZEzvu6WGXLlzlyDod5cKv9OFbPwfsyrhLLKK8i0kqGx2pRYPKa7RZFiFCPXMOsPU1C_6JDznYbaYFEO6k/s1600/photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRgQQ9KpXfmPXSMZooCcr52QGaqRThV6F4zNeiYYkKl0DD5kzuswH_-mXTqTZEzvu6WGXLlzlyDod5cKv9OFbPwfsyrhLLKK8i0kqGx2pRYPKa7RZFiFCPXMOsPU1C_6JDznYbaYFEO6k/s400/photo+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SPRING MORNING (acrylic on stretched canvas 20X20")</td></tr>
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What are you up to these early days of this first month of this new year? Are you finishing up a creative project you began in 2012 (or 2011 or 2010 or 2009 or . . .)? Are you starting something brand, spanking new? Whatever it is, I wish you all the best with it!<br />
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What is it and how is it going? Write and tell me about it. I want to know!<br />
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<br />Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-9056791265593818022011-10-26T10:26:00.001-05:002019-03-21T15:09:51.057-05:00MN WOMEN'S PRESS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-54uXvbiIifP4eisWMzvK8VsWvY69144550evCImC-4vJ8zUSNTkxmXpOFiriEUzmGwlg2SZziuOBr-yfymIDnrM1EEYPB-SlA1vbkHcKomPbmTmXGHmwJJMBxjqwhyphenhyphenbQpMyC5Gldv4/s1600/page1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-54uXvbiIifP4eisWMzvK8VsWvY69144550evCImC-4vJ8zUSNTkxmXpOFiriEUzmGwlg2SZziuOBr-yfymIDnrM1EEYPB-SlA1vbkHcKomPbmTmXGHmwJJMBxjqwhyphenhyphenbQpMyC5Gldv4/s320/page1.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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Yup, that's my artwork on the cover of the November issue of Minnesota Women's Press! How cool is that?!!!<br />
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Norma Smith Olson (co-editor with Kathy Magnuson) and I had a very enjoyable phone conversation and she wrote the Cover Artist article, "Masked and Unmasked." I've been a long-time admirer of this free mag (published for 25 years, originally as a newspaper and more recently evolved into a newsprint magazine with an e-edition as well.) I love the focus on "Changing the Universe through Women's Stories." It's an honor to be included.<br />
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You can check it out at: http://eedition.womenspress.com/SiteImages/SpecialSection/72/p1c1.html<br />
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There's a certain irony about being on the cover of the issue where the theme is, "showing up." That's always been one of the big challenges in my life. Never knowing quite how to do it, when it's more important to "show up" for myself or for others. Let's just say that sometimes I do it <i>smashingly well </i>and other times, well, you know . . . <i>not so good</i>. Let me also say that I'm working on it!<br />
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Like I am now going to work (yet again) on showing up for this blog! I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted. It's been a year of pretty intense ups and downs. But, hey -- I've got some new artwork to share, some news about my book, and some other musings I don't want to keep to myself.Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-5536092387620548252010-06-17T19:47:00.000-05:002019-03-21T15:09:23.109-05:00Tangled up in Hues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl3w8SLW6XTk7-SmBcBDU77k5HVzL5oDcQ0H0OtMaU1Vr0IujZocryBqQtncgGnlUHjwgDucbnDklXbCE4IVPYV1_NQcRv9W_gTugdh7FxPgaL6IUhoh_npMuUSM61X7GeoHu6GVOTnoI/s1600/Brown+tangle+1b+alt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl3w8SLW6XTk7-SmBcBDU77k5HVzL5oDcQ0H0OtMaU1Vr0IujZocryBqQtncgGnlUHjwgDucbnDklXbCE4IVPYV1_NQcRv9W_gTugdh7FxPgaL6IUhoh_npMuUSM61X7GeoHu6GVOTnoI/s400/Brown+tangle+1b+alt.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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I wanted to see what the Zentangles® would look like using color, so I started "tangling" in an art journal where I had already created backgrounds. The journal is a recycled publisher's catalog -- one of those thin ones with very shiny, slick pages. I gessoed first, then added color with water soluble pastel crayons, blended using baby wipes. I used the shapes on the page as the "strings" or guidelines. It was great fun to do and I'm liking the look of the color in the background.<br />
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There still wasn't enough tooth to the surface, so I scanned the tangles and altered them digitally to bring out the shading and sharpen the lines.<br />
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Here's a completely different page, one where I kept some of the printing that was in the catalog:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLg_O2jcUtHB-pfL72Osm9WYbfXAIS65u_8RQkLI6zN4C0uRFiryOdd6jPP0H8oD4IuXFiXIVyGSogMiiJ6nSWOC-jo0u_I3dHDD9fB_8hYZSRhxgudlETOFIfhyciMLaFGkjBINrl5rU/s1600/Blue+tangle+1b-alt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLg_O2jcUtHB-pfL72Osm9WYbfXAIS65u_8RQkLI6zN4C0uRFiryOdd6jPP0H8oD4IuXFiXIVyGSogMiiJ6nSWOC-jo0u_I3dHDD9fB_8hYZSRhxgudlETOFIfhyciMLaFGkjBINrl5rU/s400/Blue+tangle+1b-alt.jpg" width="390" /></a></div>
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This one was digitally altered, too. I'm still pretty rough at this, but am I ever having fun!Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-33732601613416886802010-06-12T10:33:00.007-05:002019-03-21T15:08:41.605-05:00Tangled Up in Zen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvOvQAqA3yVbU4Y5v5j09zYIB4BjMhzYz98aQiKZzMqoVrtNNNOjGUuSTovf4PvKkkFK4Mu9zWQBn4WBILtBefxYAqtdZMeRcgeKkS2nkr9Y8RuLL3Gw2gXZFAgKIuB1L_gueGPj33HM/s1600/Tangled+hills+grey+2a+alt.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481911117961734162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvOvQAqA3yVbU4Y5v5j09zYIB4BjMhzYz98aQiKZzMqoVrtNNNOjGUuSTovf4PvKkkFK4Mu9zWQBn4WBILtBefxYAqtdZMeRcgeKkS2nkr9Y8RuLL3Gw2gXZFAgKIuB1L_gueGPj33HM/s400/Tangled+hills+grey+2a+alt.jpg" style="float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 284px;" /></a>The claim of the author of ZENTANGLE® BASICS (Suzanne McNeill, a certified Zentangle teacher) is that Zentangle "turns drawings into artistic design while reducing stress and improving focus." Traditional Zentangle was developed by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas and is used as a learning tool for school children, stress reduction for adults, and it helps develop dexterity. Cool! <br />
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I don't know about you, but I can use all the stress reduction and focus improvement I can wrap my frenzied brain (and hands and eyes) around. Not that my life is particularly stressful at the moment. It isn't. But I can create stress for myself out of . . . well . . . anything. And I've got to admit, I have a hard time focusing when the world outside my window is turning greener and greener and greener. <i>Focus on the weeds</i>, I mutter to myself as I'm trying to draft my daily poem. <i>As in PULLING them. </i>Yeah, right.<br />
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It's SUMMER in Minnesota! Hallelujah and pass the BBQ ribs. Grilled steak. Corn on the cob. Not to mention the Weed&Feed fertilizer stuff for the yard. And all the gardening equipment. <i>Curse the fact that I was too unfocused to start plants from seed and dropped all that cash at local nurseries . . . yeah, they probably need the $$ given the economy but so do we so maybe next year I'll . . . Ahhhh</i>. </div>
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We've already had three sets of spring/summer visitors. Our friends Rose & Rick were here from Illinois, our daughter, Jennifer, popped up from Chicago for a long weekend of art-making and talk (wonderful), and most recently, my friend, Marilyn, made a pilgrimage by train from L.A. It was Marilyn who got me thinking about doing Zentangles (or as they say in the jargon I read: "tangling" -- I love that). As usual, I assumed my interest in it was for HER. <i>You'd love this! </i>I said, sincerely believing myself. Well, actually, I think she would. But it wasn't until after she'd headed back home that I realized the designs looked a lot like doodling I used to do when I was in boring classes in high school and college, and even more like doodling I did later in boring meetings at boring jobs, doodling that I've lost since I don't sit in classes and meetings any more and if I do, I make danged sure they aren't boring ones! So I ordered the book. Okay, okay, I ordered both of McNeill's books (ZENTANGLE BASICS and ZENTANGLE 2). Yeah, all right, I also ordered TOTALLY TANGLED by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. (I am single-handedly trying to right the economy.) </div>
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Long story even longer: I am hooked. Took me back a bunch of years. Brought me forward. Yup, it's relaxing. And it's so much fun to do. It's kind of addictive but in a good way. After I did a bunch of the patterns in little squares like they tell you to do, I started venturing out. I filled in a sketch I'd done for one of my "Woman at a Crossroads" mixed media pieces (that's the one above). And, inspired by the cover of Sandy's book, I <i>tangled </i>one of the girls I frequently draw. Here she is.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxFnKn8p64B1ggmQiHQHSKJ8hTfmi-EreVMRh5DTRgPq2JCxyAY_KDYjHyKa3RdcQWKmzr44YNZYt2jpb4kEs3jTTufN9uwMA_VuYr3-t-iWDMpTTtOQUGkXJpAC3fNIv3RYsPSq9UZE/s1600/Tangled+girl+1-alt.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481921281185840482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxFnKn8p64B1ggmQiHQHSKJ8hTfmi-EreVMRh5DTRgPq2JCxyAY_KDYjHyKa3RdcQWKmzr44YNZYt2jpb4kEs3jTTufN9uwMA_VuYr3-t-iWDMpTTtOQUGkXJpAC3fNIv3RYsPSq9UZE/s320/Tangled+girl+1-alt.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 288px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
I'm fairly smitten with her now that she's all patterned up, where before I had been known to wonder out loud as I doodle, <i>Why do I keep drawing these faces???</i></div>
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If you were wondering, no, tangling is NOT the reason I'm not working on a writing project. Tangling is what's keeping me from chewing my nails to the quick as my completed YA novel makes the rounds looking for an editorial home. On that basis alone, I recommend it. </div>
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Now, if it were winter (or even fall or early spring), I'd be working on novel # 2 or novel # 3. But did I mention? It's summer in Minnesota, I finished a novel (hallelujah and pass the black-eyed peas) and my agent's doing her magic with it, we counted 26 goslings sailing across the pond with their adoring parents (geese can be annoying, but they are the BEST parents), the red-winged blackbirds must have babies in the reeds because they keep attacking the egrets as they come to fish in the shallows, the weeds in our gardens are waving at me, the deck needs painting, and next month more welcome visitors are coming! <i> </i></div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-78194623234774822432010-05-18T11:58:00.007-05:002019-03-21T15:08:06.602-05:00Woman At a Crossroads<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-4leRtY6nk0fwIVO_7lx6TNcCd3coHjyJEwqx1yIf4VpuL6pXHArsNNknTI4VgM2mEosgz__ixsdUotyl7atpSnpsdPMMA1R6LvhjbczCnoEnm0WmkxjqyT4VE-Se7Wp_1sQqBvFnUc/s1600/Your+bday+present.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472658238254873922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-4leRtY6nk0fwIVO_7lx6TNcCd3coHjyJEwqx1yIf4VpuL6pXHArsNNknTI4VgM2mEosgz__ixsdUotyl7atpSnpsdPMMA1R6LvhjbczCnoEnm0WmkxjqyT4VE-Se7Wp_1sQqBvFnUc/s400/Your+bday+present.jpg" style="float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 328px;" /></a>Aren't we always? At a crossroads, on a journey, in the flow, at a threshold . . . and hopefully fully present in the right now. Something to aim for anyway. I think I'm "most present" when I'm doing artwork. There's something about standing at the table, letting the materials I'm using drive the decisions about what to do next that makes me feel very grounded and HERE. <br />
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Writing is different for me. What I love most about it is the way the characters and the story take over. I sit down to write for an hour and the next thing I know, three hours have passed and I haven't stretched or done my floor exercises, not to mention how I completely forgot about the laundry or the weeding that needed to be done TODAY. You know the feeling -- where time does that weird stretch and contract thing. </div>
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Time alters when I'm doing artwork, too. But it's a different experience. Like flying with your feet firmly planted on the ground (or in my case, the concrete floor covered with a too-thin for comfort carpet and -- by my paint table -- two "cow mats" -- yup, what cows stand on in the barn to be milked). Purchased at your local (if you have one) farm supply store, cow mats are about 1/10 of the cost of gel mats and you don't have to worry about spilling paint on them. They're so ugly they benefit from spilled paint. But they WORK.</div>
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Am I at a crossroads? I'm not at one of those huge, life-changing ones like friends who are moving or retiring or changing jobs. But still . . . I recently completed one of the young adult novels I've been working on ever since my first book (ESCAPING TORNADO SEASON, HarperCollins) came out. I sent it off to my fabulous agent and now it is out there "looking for love." I have two other YA novels and an adult murder mystery in process but I needed a break after finishing my Jumble story. That's when I'm so glad I have the artwork. Right now it's a series of mixed media collages called "Woman at a crossroads" -- they are on stretched canvas (using vintage maps, acrylic paint, graphite pencil, marker, wire, beads, ribbon, fabric, decorative paper, hand made paper). The one above (20X24") was a birthday gift to my friend of so many years I hesitate to put the number down. Let's just say, since we were 13! On the collage posted below (20X20"), the woman is attached so that she can be turned to face any direction on the compass. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOlVOm0GjuOCfUGfFyKZM34na3iTrqOsGfOjqVFu7Ksgamym-7qsUskohREqhPE6vZoTJ6gErVNHEzVly8QOYB9mVmPg3uLlDHhb5nd2aX1BADFJ2sNRLEm6DsiXhyphenhyphenXSyZG9clXchQ3_E/s1600/Woman+at+a+crossroads+1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472662876026753106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOlVOm0GjuOCfUGfFyKZM34na3iTrqOsGfOjqVFu7Ksgamym-7qsUskohREqhPE6vZoTJ6gErVNHEzVly8QOYB9mVmPg3uLlDHhb5nd2aX1BADFJ2sNRLEm6DsiXhyphenhyphenXSyZG9clXchQ3_E/s400/Woman+at+a+crossroads+1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 392px;" /></a>I have two others partly completed, not quite ready to be posted.</div>
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Of course, daily writing practice goes on regardless. To kick things up a notch, I decided to try drafting a poem a day at the end of my morning journaling. Inspiration: all the people who were doing that to celebrate Poetry Month. I'm a little slow on the uptake, so it took me until April 20th to get going! I'm happy to report that I have 37 drafts waiting to be worked on (yes, some days I wrote more than one). Seeing through the eyes of a poem is a great way to start the day, so my hope is to keep this as a part of my morning routine as long as I can. </div>
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Do any of you flip-flop back and forth between writing and visual artwork like I do? I'd love to hear from you about how that works for you and what challenges arise from doing both!</div>
Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-2792695505397264112010-05-02T13:43:00.002-05:002019-03-21T15:07:17.213-05:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAeuAOzu_MExjM64QrOgNmT597tZtr7Y1X1oKN2bKYO04QidzqOGd7JGHGsqxoCuM6F2wDChK44Hht4TWa9izpQ9I4qvHCMirBlpHCDplVckoY18LvguuUhd83ikVdZFvOtSpU_O5bGg/s1600/Striped+bkgrnd+w+box+art+1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466745634953162146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAeuAOzu_MExjM64QrOgNmT597tZtr7Y1X1oKN2bKYO04QidzqOGd7JGHGsqxoCuM6F2wDChK44Hht4TWa9izpQ9I4qvHCMirBlpHCDplVckoY18LvguuUhd83ikVdZFvOtSpU_O5bGg/s400/Striped+bkgrnd+w+box+art+1.jpg" style="float: left; height: 304px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px;" /></a>Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-80530318310747534432010-02-12T13:34:00.004-06:002019-03-21T15:05:39.266-05:00Happy Valentine's Day<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5puVzl2lI-oZaqS-sbQLOZg6gKQ-s1s6U2f_B77B9uLjiaxRIf5Lf5X56cJqHMUl8GCFXUM1W9csCJOgxmZ1C7et0ngzjGZv4srd_uPsSTnDQnfAgCGHeOTVm9paB7RT6BQpwtDoSIQ/s1600-h/Young+at+Art+1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437442765951502610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5puVzl2lI-oZaqS-sbQLOZg6gKQ-s1s6U2f_B77B9uLjiaxRIf5Lf5X56cJqHMUl8GCFXUM1W9csCJOgxmZ1C7et0ngzjGZv4srd_uPsSTnDQnfAgCGHeOTVm9paB7RT6BQpwtDoSIQ/s320/Young+at+Art+1.jpg" style="float: left; height: 306px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
I've never gotten over my love of valentines, especially ones hand-made with paper hearts and lace. Or how about the decorated shoe boxes made in grade school and left on the corner of our desks, waiting to receive all the cards meant just for us? <br />
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In the spirit of those long-ago valentines, here's one of my recent assemblages. It is titled, "Young at Art" and created on 12X12" stretched canvas, using acrylics, paper mesh, vintage crocheted lace, digitally altered vintage photo, wire, beads, branches. </div>
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Let this be my valentine to you -- may you always be young at heart and young at art.</div>
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Happy Valentine's Day!</div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-25735370672885687252010-01-16T11:08:00.007-06:002019-03-21T15:05:02.617-05:00Time Travel in the New Year<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmyKIUV2lylT9vTHJ1fsh7GCYSKKkF9Oq2nV4xeOJPFYNJb1-Jyz3wscw08w1fW5dZ4zJTOxrDgMT_apHGYP9gWGDzjso0v95KxbYlcCDTlR5efZpybnME-QAr-0yJf6nQKo78wRJSpIA/s1600-h/Time+Travel+w+comments.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427398906597459218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmyKIUV2lylT9vTHJ1fsh7GCYSKKkF9Oq2nV4xeOJPFYNJb1-Jyz3wscw08w1fW5dZ4zJTOxrDgMT_apHGYP9gWGDzjso0v95KxbYlcCDTlR5efZpybnME-QAr-0yJf6nQKo78wRJSpIA/s320/Time+Travel+w+comments.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 318px;" /></a><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330000;">Happy New Year! </span></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330000;">This morning when I wrote down the date in my journal -- my goodness, January 16th! -- I felt as if I'd time-travelled. The move from New Year's Day to the middle of the longest month of winter happened in the blink of an eye. (Hey, not a bad way to move through January in Minnesota.)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330000;">One of my favorite books ever is Madeleine L'Engle's Newbery Award winning, A WRINKLE IN TIME. I wish I'd read it when I was a kid (but of course it hadn't been written yet). Still, reading it in my late thirties was magical. How I wanted to be able to climb into that "wrinkle" and travel through time and space with Meg. And I loved Meg because she was so flawed (just like me), yet so lovable (just like . . . me?). I read the book over and over for a few years and then let it gather dust on the shelf. Recently I picked it up as I was clearing books for donation and sat down with it, and there was the magic all over again. A book written in the 1960s that was still so fresh and real and compelling in the 21st century that it could turn my 60-something self into a young teen again. If that isn't time travel what is?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330000;">I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, but this year I decided that my routine needed a little shaking up. The one piece of it that works for me (and has worked for me for many years) is my journal writing first thing every morning. So I asked myself -- couldn't I extend that writing time by clearing my morning slate of appointments, you know -- just in case? I'm happy to report that this is working and I am now making excellent progress on two of my young adult novels. Some mornings I go to the art table instead. Some mornings I end up doing both. But all mornings I'm doing something creative and those pesky appointments and tasks and errands can just wait until after lunch! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #330000;">That's not time travel, but it does shift time in a way that puts my real work first. When I manage to do that, sometimes the whole day becomes one big creative project.</span></div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-10581516917964619032009-12-20T16:49:00.006-06:002019-03-21T15:02:55.376-05:00Happy Holidays<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tf5yQhyphenhyphenhRZSfCN-DIMlnpcgTRO4bXvIcfXFxbxhqm8bLSZDwoD6XzRjr2rXoIb8qIzOta5peWDclZuHYXi01kFYOiJqz5PjMSFd7R-sm_BKVeym-DE7ZMYRC2Pv0mAnWv8k_vcMhu_E/s1600-h/Pines+cropped.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417456818026383218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tf5yQhyphenhyphenhRZSfCN-DIMlnpcgTRO4bXvIcfXFxbxhqm8bLSZDwoD6XzRjr2rXoIb8qIzOta5peWDclZuHYXi01kFYOiJqz5PjMSFd7R-sm_BKVeym-DE7ZMYRC2Pv0mAnWv8k_vcMhu_E/s320/Pines+cropped.jpg" style="float: left; height: 242px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I</span>t snowed for a couple hours this morning, leaving maybe an inch of the white fluffy stuff. Still recovering from a back injury, not yet allowed to shovel, I did go out there with the stiff bristled broom, mobile enough once more (thank goodness) to sweep the sidewalk clear and breathe in the intoxicating clean, cold air. <br />
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It was hard to stay focused on my morning writing with so many distractions. House finches, chickadees and juncos finally figured out that the new heated birdbath was installed so they could drink! One of our neighbors made a sled run down their hill with a jump at the end. Every time I looked up an orange or lime green toboggan was sailing off the jump and onto the ice. That same neighbor and his grandsons worked for hours clearing a skating rink out in the middle of the pond. At one point the kids were running through the snow from the snow blower like it was summer and they were running through the sprinkler. All I could think was:<br />
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<b><i>Ho</i></b><b><i>w did we get from July to the end of December so FAST?</i></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm not really sure, but my vow to post more often got lost in the rush. Here are a few of the highlights:</span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In late August I attended a poetry workshop, WRITING ON WATER, sponsored by Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais. Minnesota poets, Phebe Hanson and Cary Waterman were perfect workshop leaders. The five days sped by, culminating in a reading at the bookstore. It was a great week; I wrote a lot, made new friends, and came back eager to write and submit my work.</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yesterday I received word that two of my poems have been accepted for publication in this year's issue of DUST & FIRE (an anthology of women's voices published at Bemidji State University)! I'm hoping to make it up there for the publication reading and reception at the end of February -- weather permitting. This is, after all, MINNESOTA!</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My back injury prevented me from going to Chicago the see a production of my book, ESCAPING TORNADO SEASON (directed by Gary Balfantz of Lake Superior State University, Michigan at the National Communication Association Conference in November). This was a major disappointment, as Gary does incredible work and I had so looked forward to meeting the cast and seeing his interpretation of my book. It also meant I didn't get to see my daughter and her family or our dear friends who were at the conference. They did give me full reports on the performance, though!</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Another very cool thing happened this week -- Mary Ann Dames (friend and writing colleague) created a wild rice pancake recipe inspired by that same book! It's posted on her blog -- I can't wait to try it, it sounds so yummy! (Check it out at: http://www.maryanndames.com) It's nice to know that even though the book is out of print, it's still alive in other ways. And it can still be purchased through online booksellers, or by contacting me.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not being able to do a lot of the things I usually do over the last couple months gave me a good opportunity to get back on track with my young adult writing. Now I'm working on two of the novels at once and glad that it's the start of "hibernation time" (at least it will be once the holidays are over).</span></div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-90639488007631834812009-07-20T11:39:00.004-05:002019-03-21T15:02:18.190-05:00Summer, summer, summer<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Udo3z4NfLvWHfji_57WZ9Uh0Dl4i_5gkATMvqcz7T8Mn64GB3fk5QjkE8Trj6puYvw1TSruhU1dYGqiBmD5CqdqKm_BQU9dvJZ9i58u_yD46m3PE3Q6O8Ck1tFVXcr7U6apFwSHX9YE/s1600-h/Masked+Woman.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360583400300348386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Udo3z4NfLvWHfji_57WZ9Uh0Dl4i_5gkATMvqcz7T8Mn64GB3fk5QjkE8Trj6puYvw1TSruhU1dYGqiBmD5CqdqKm_BQU9dvJZ9i58u_yD46m3PE3Q6O8Ck1tFVXcr7U6apFwSHX9YE/s320/Masked+Woman.jpg" style="float: left; height: 251px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What can I say?</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Spring arrived and we flung doors and windows wide and no matter how hard I try, I cannot stay inside. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Right before the weather made its magical turn from icy winter to spring to . . . well, okay, we're breaking 70-year records for how cold it is, but it's STILL summer . . . right before that, I was making major progress on my YA novel and working on this collage. I finally finished the commissioned Story Storage cabinet (yeah!) and a major overhaul of my studio space. (I think it counts as "spring cleaning" when the temperatures are still in the 50s even though it's JULY, don't you?)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hoarse as a crow <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">(mixed media collage on stretched</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">canvas; 30"X40")</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So far, I haven't taken my artwork outside, unless you count the container vegetable garden gracing our decks or the flower gardens in our back yard. I am happy to report, however, that I have been able to take my writing outdoors. So there's still hope of getting a draft of the YA manuscript I'm working on done by the end of the summer. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I promise to be better about posting! Whoa . . . I have to go . . . there's a rabbit munching on the mock orange . . . </span></div>
Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-84484538586131048582009-04-16T20:19:00.010-05:002019-03-21T15:01:45.857-05:00Very exciting news . . .<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RGHeAQfJ3HYCfpIVhY7i6ZqtHwNd7YAsb2sqor3AlW50AUvwNZTRPn5GMGEt93STHijirEMTgTF0UExjZ09IuOo4ZaHF1OT4I5dq89fVKc62YtaPUewOjxRScMW_pXLLXvZbq-5bu5s/s1600-h/Herman+Agency.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325471169468960898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RGHeAQfJ3HYCfpIVhY7i6ZqtHwNd7YAsb2sqor3AlW50AUvwNZTRPn5GMGEt93STHijirEMTgTF0UExjZ09IuOo4ZaHF1OT4I5dq89fVKc62YtaPUewOjxRScMW_pXLLXvZbq-5bu5s/s200/Herman+Agency.png" style="float: left; height: 86px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 149px;" /></a><br />
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I just signed with agent Jill Corcoran and I couldn't be happier! In addition to being the new Associate Agent for MG and YA at the Herman Agency, Inc., Jill is an amazing poet, teacher, marketing guru, blogger . . . and did I mention she's an all-around dynamo with a wild and wacky sense of humor? (Check out her blog at: www.jillcorcoran.blogspot.com and the agency at: www.HermanAgencyInc.com). </div>
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That's it for now. I've got new artwork to post tomorrow. This wouldn't keep!<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-92084654914717528542009-02-24T16:09:00.011-06:002019-03-21T15:00:57.305-05:00When Time Disappears<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCFgjwbTyXIWthumtrgMvyo-xllPTEblW_yd6h8IEr1obwhukqOO7RlcPOrgIE_U3MFnIkMVtTime4qdHy9NiUnvKWkvfdeHC0SuNzb8ThmdPvEJrwYkQ31_4z-lcuxKAKD6GILuasuA/s1600-h/Fat+Tuesday+girl.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306489952688164338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCFgjwbTyXIWthumtrgMvyo-xllPTEblW_yd6h8IEr1obwhukqOO7RlcPOrgIE_U3MFnIkMVtTime4qdHy9NiUnvKWkvfdeHC0SuNzb8ThmdPvEJrwYkQ31_4z-lcuxKAKD6GILuasuA/s320/Fat+Tuesday+girl.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 215px;" /></a>What makes time disappear for you? What makes it stretch out and out and out until one afternoon feels as if it's a week long and then -- snap! -- a whole day has gone by and it felt like five minutes? Nothing does that quite so deeply for me as creative work, the work of my heart and hands.<br />
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Lately I've been juggling half a dozen or more projects at once. That's not all that unusual for me, as I'm almost always working on multiple pieces, but right now I'm also taking an online class (more about that in a minute), working through all the visual journal exercises in an incredible book (THE CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR by Lisa Sonora Beam, Quarry Books, 2008), and trying to get better at using Photoshop. Add in several textile art pieces and I think it's safe to say "half a dozen" was a low estimate.</div>
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For "Carnival Girl" I digitally altered a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">failed </span>9X12 mixed media collage, creating several different versions and learning a few things in the process. Is today Fat Tuesday? She looks like she's ready and wishes herself on Bourbon Street, doesn't she? Whichever century she ends up hailing from.</div>
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<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306495128105854034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyq1O9On6oGECwTZSVyZTni-_LMyVdUwux84uQVfupm_nbG1NTnJv2EEewNOFe74eUdmmnfw1QjUpfXCGCXg_MOK9S34POw0QjTNs39U0iU07g0HE-pzWgUJ6KARuJZE5AUZwrf32Ldbw/s320/She+says+no.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 237px;" /></div>
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"She Says No" is another digitally altered mixed media collage. The vintage photo of the sulky girl standing by a small table is an image that finds its way into my work over and over again. The girl happens to be my mother, and I'd give a lot to be able to ask her what was making her so cranky that day. Since that window of opportunity closed 30 years ago, instead I use the image to make up all the "What if . . ." stories that flow from putting that image into different contexts. Was she saying no? Probably not. But if she WAS . . . I wonder what she was saying no to . . . I wonder who . . .</div>
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What's kept me busiest the past couple weeks has been an online class I'm taking, Transformative Doll-Making, taught by Pamela Hastings (www.pamelahastings.com). The class, now in it's fourth session of five, is offered at one of my favorite online stores: www.joggles.com, where I spend way too much money on art supplies and books (and now CLASSES). Check out Pamela's website to see her incredible work and read about her process. I'm posting two examples of the dolls I've done in her workshop so far, one a paper doll, the other fabric and twigs.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbRa8aCrWGOOUB8HOY0KJyfzbvN5vVC3FhDBhXf0r5ACWtmnBn-3sXcud6ZXOVXB5z9vwBHIFyAUade2NnE17uXAwxMEJ2gDlp4xTUK7tkc0lkM26Hf41cfwrzQY436G6Ep24RxT9xnU/s1600-h/Paper+doll+altered.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306498077298902706" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbRa8aCrWGOOUB8HOY0KJyfzbvN5vVC3FhDBhXf0r5ACWtmnBn-3sXcud6ZXOVXB5z9vwBHIFyAUade2NnE17uXAwxMEJ2gDlp4xTUK7tkc0lkM26Hf41cfwrzQY436G6Ep24RxT9xnU/s320/Paper+doll+altered.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 265px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vRK_AsjUbRhcMQlREd24KCdzOg7_522whVvsXVALcRpA6Sz-buBycL7V1N6YgXg1ZRPY0_I-pjc67wMs-lfXA877IpTTiVOmZ92Z-zarHd68qnrvdsnxQEeUaEFLLCkA6MgR5DzVxyo/s1600-h/Doll+fabric+4th.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306503926697459138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vRK_AsjUbRhcMQlREd24KCdzOg7_522whVvsXVALcRpA6Sz-buBycL7V1N6YgXg1ZRPY0_I-pjc67wMs-lfXA877IpTTiVOmZ92Z-zarHd68qnrvdsnxQEeUaEFLLCkA6MgR5DzVxyo/s320/Doll+fabric+4th.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 227px;" /></a><br />
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I would be embarrassed about them both being self-portraits but as it turns out, I can use that to tell you about another book I'm enjoying right now (MIXED MEDIA SELF-PORTRAITS by Cate Coulacos Prato, Interweave, 2008). It's a gorgeous book filled from cover to cover with inspiring ideas and techniques.<br />
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As our third Minnesota winter begins ever-so-gently to shift gears in preparation for its end, I'm realizing that this hibernation thing is turning out to be a great time for learning and experimentation, for writing and playing with all the art stuff I gathered at yard sales and thrift stores, for researching and exploring the scary world of marketing and art as a business. That said, I also know I'm going to be ready to fling doors and windows open at the first real sign of spring!<br />
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-69034827221405186282009-02-09T13:03:00.007-06:002019-03-21T14:59:17.815-05:00Gathering Branches<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IJydqxbnyWb8FcNoVGqi-xeQ22jarWiNXRuuqXFWyKkLYImiexcTouo3VeRA0fnpGb8xeP_96eoZSLiHwhHB5aMK6QKctJbalfa0ebnMEFfXr4c7hfECvbYsXqMk9QJ6IUNRxv4DExE/s1600-h/What+she+said+what+she+did+1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300876093988519538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IJydqxbnyWb8FcNoVGqi-xeQ22jarWiNXRuuqXFWyKkLYImiexcTouo3VeRA0fnpGb8xeP_96eoZSLiHwhHB5aMK6QKctJbalfa0ebnMEFfXr4c7hfECvbYsXqMk9QJ6IUNRxv4DExE/s400/What+she+said+what+she+did+1.jpg" style="float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 270px;" /></a><br />
I've become obsessed with branches. It started harmlessly enough in a couple of small mixed media pieces I did using old family photos adding sticks and wire as a means of hanging them. The next thing I knew I was doing another and another, each one larger and more complex (and using more branches). Maybe I should say it's an obsession with wood, because I've added in driftwood and bamboo and big old sheets of plywood. I even took apart an old shelf unit and nailed it to this one. And don't get me started about how much I love the bark of trees. (Don't worry -- I don't strip the bark from the tree. I only pick up dead wood!)<br />
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I'm sure this will run its course, but in the meantime, I'm working on a series of Family Tree collages, searching as always for the stories hidden in familiar photos and behind the surface in other people's family pictures.<br />
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This one is titled: What She Said, What She Did</div>
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It's 2ftX3ft (plywood, canvas board, repurposed shelving, branches, wire, beads, vintage hardware, vintage lace, ribbons, digitally altered vintage photos, acrylic paint, handmade and decorative papers).<br />
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Family stories are what I write about, too. And they're what I gravitate to in the books I read, whether poetry, fiction, or memoir. Nothing fascinates me as much as the complexity of family relationships and the stories that are either passed from generation to generation or are suppressed until someone with a lot of curiosity (sometimes called being really nosey) comes along to dig them out or make them up as she goes along. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdRpZTvD5Fybqc8XDc7VBvmkISYQwHvmOhrqKOZmdhGiQDqZeQwvbqU8aUp-TTTqt99y-LJy7zmxpRI_wAlBwrRZAb6H8Kb5ZKrItr2HUxRZndD6xGBp7bO0fdG2mQbhGTIHBV3KG0ou0/s1600-h/Leaving+Camp+1b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300879582754440322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdRpZTvD5Fybqc8XDc7VBvmkISYQwHvmOhrqKOZmdhGiQDqZeQwvbqU8aUp-TTTqt99y-LJy7zmxpRI_wAlBwrRZAb6H8Kb5ZKrItr2HUxRZndD6xGBp7bO0fdG2mQbhGTIHBV3KG0ou0/s400/Leaving+Camp+1b.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 302px;" /></a></div>
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This piece, titled "Leaving Camp" uses some of my husband's family photos to explore the experience of the Japanese American internment camps in this country during WWII. </div>
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I don't just gather tree branches. I also love to rescue vintage photos from yard sales and estate sales and thrift stores. At first, it broke my heart to think such a personal thing as a family photo album could end up on a sale table. But after I started working with them, I realized that each photograph of people I've never met has multiple stories to show and tell, a wealth of material I use over and over in my collages and assemblages as well as in my poems and stories.</div>
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I am always deeply grateful when people let me use their family photos in my artwork. It feels risky, even dangerous at times, because unless I'm doing a commissioned work, I'm not really thinking about telling their story. But there are countless stories embedded in the richness of the old photographs, and I always hope to uncover some kind of emotional truth as I work and play with the images.</div>
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Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-21219784054898794482009-01-23T12:40:00.001-06:002009-01-23T12:43:08.940-06:00More Images<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpr2Ps5UNYRAiXIf1Y2eMF1Vmw46mVgN1UtmzOpUVz5sMg8NLmlnUq50ww6oAWanfTx225KwDlVGAwBYF2NI76uWOMaKQny7SzjAaBEmz8DenKxcRcqRNarFcnPPTY78LvyMiHZK4vfI/s1600-h/Melancholia+altered+3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 229px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpr2Ps5UNYRAiXIf1Y2eMF1Vmw46mVgN1UtmzOpUVz5sMg8NLmlnUq50ww6oAWanfTx225KwDlVGAwBYF2NI76uWOMaKQny7SzjAaBEmz8DenKxcRcqRNarFcnPPTY78LvyMiHZK4vfI/s320/Melancholia+altered+3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294561404582402610" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPLIJcKEig2ZqiSTAhDbLkWVBHERtt9qke3YCbo0DaxiC2hbFyzLPHTy1KsLJMYuaVKNqmT7-gHIEFm_NB5Rm_Grr3mUDQI6bU8hCLQANXsn6BD56KptkOqlkkPts9gJrW5qUWZrHPnw/s1600-h/ATC+Adaptability+altered+1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPLIJcKEig2ZqiSTAhDbLkWVBHERtt9qke3YCbo0DaxiC2hbFyzLPHTy1KsLJMYuaVKNqmT7-gHIEFm_NB5Rm_Grr3mUDQI6bU8hCLQANXsn6BD56KptkOqlkkPts9gJrW5qUWZrHPnw/s320/ATC+Adaptability+altered+1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294561394147330674" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-39304999646142481952009-01-23T11:57:00.000-06:002009-01-23T12:40:06.230-06:00Doing It Better<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fJUm8T6Z9B30r8ZkyXDtqM3oJGo6v9brXF9KDI6BNyTxgMgmGvWduOL2lM4loEIZqpWAWwVFl6FflhmoneE-oA27Rq9fGC7mViFttR4n-W3d20Z_7AFQ9gO0GYleUzRtbFHtJ7Lj0b0/s1600-h/ATC+Solo+Act+altered+6.jpg"><span><span></span></span></a><span><span></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_1rkqGlQKohQcG_4rJ8WVbIo2LSZ8QvkHjysm2QjXX9j2lyZmHvhwDGRf9bB9jgC6lDA8zyf1dTWGf1SmVagcvcuCE7AAWkZCvYxt2Hifd4SqtZzqMoYoEL35vFdCrnLUPiyc9vdxZo/s1600-h/ATC+Adaptability+altered+1.jpg"></a><span><span></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRE4tWy50-9rxig91wd8UXNA0D8-rEy6shA4WsAJBWx-q1oC8stfjhc8zFiT6XBK4DvhE-BkisZo9aLxA8gGT7YsW1LarDIFnL-lj3k0bb5Rp_j6p_PkfH2ncovkI0luC4ep1TH6Hsz2s/s1600-h/ATC+Solo+Act+altered+6.jpg"></a><span><span></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiL8QlkQFKRBpNpuQv9cwm2PZl_2Oq-udz04Wqive1wJ2agg6eNABdO8dtGFZgHKU4wxXUFkw260qC4AQ_0cAWAZ3B_MiVSb3OK2D399mM3H5cThNXsUwtRvXdWCkMFQmZLbF918DOTkk/s1600-h/ATC+Adaptability+altered+1.jpg"></a><span><span></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkYM3gZ-eDzp5ynwRYhoQXi1hQnQZFRs01SLc6KZFTjd2koGE0D_LzRi8YfT-hUbOscVQwozZ0x9FfDpA1phjfMAVN-UQdcygnYPXc0dSV-Ieayi45hm3k5reAyBQrw4mQ969D-RASOw/s1600-h/ATC+Art+girl+cut+altered+2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkYM3gZ-eDzp5ynwRYhoQXi1hQnQZFRs01SLc6KZFTjd2koGE0D_LzRi8YfT-hUbOscVQwozZ0x9FfDpA1phjfMAVN-UQdcygnYPXc0dSV-Ieayi45hm3k5reAyBQrw4mQ969D-RASOw/s320/ATC+Art+girl+cut+altered+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294558619226269026" /></a><br />It's too early in this sub-zero winter to be talking about the ice breaking up. But I think some of my own <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">internal ice </span>is starting to shift and move and melt. As far as I can figure, that's as good a thing as the warm winds of spring will feel when they finally arrive. I've always been the kind of person who pauses right before sharing something I've done, allowing enough time for that shifty thought: IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! to creep in. Sometimes the thought arrives even earlier, like just as I get to my art table ready to create something. Or when I'm sitting at my computer prepared to write. And that's when the next thing I know I'm doing email, watching TV, or playing mindless computer games for hours on end. <div><br /></div><div>I've been <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">working</span> at keeping a visual journal for several years now, but something has been preventing me from truly throwing myself into it the way I am able to let myself go with my written journaling. There are always these thoughts bouncing around in my head: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">I'm not doing it right. I need to do it better. It's not good enough! </span>No matter how many times I tell that inner critic to go sit in the corner and keep her mouth shut, I let the voice in and I falter. My work falters. For the past couple weeks I've been <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">PLAYING </span>with some of my "failed" collages and other pieces (like ATCs and postcards), using them to create art journal backgrounds digitally. Okay, this is too much fun for words! And whether they are "good enough" or not, I'm sharing a few of them with you (above and in the next post). </div><div><br /></div><div>On the night of the inauguration I kept hearing people say that our new president made them want to be smarter, to find ways to contribute, to "do it better." President Obama and his beautiful, community-minded, giving family make me feel that way, too. Seen in that light, "doing it better" is a good thing. A place for me to begin is right here in my studio. In a spirit of playfulness. Practicing doing what I love. Finding ways to share it. Because, after all, that's how we get better at anything, isn't it? Today, still basking in the warm glow of Inauguration Day, that feels like spring to me!<br /></div>Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211226842552187898.post-38408398442688892322009-01-08T11:44:00.000-06:002009-01-08T14:53:06.746-06:00Images and Words, Words and Images<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5Gjti-R6UIYj_4jyKh_EseNxIhl1znvP6mlGA_gDZL16BwIVqjhjYiwpq3_p2i_Mc3-pmJZ46IazFRat9xJ8cAQmbGf7YrHdL7-QEu0PQil4s0ZknpiATF7wo_BAizbUxzyB6KfYIAw/s1600-h/Nell+and+Austin.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5Gjti-R6UIYj_4jyKh_EseNxIhl1znvP6mlGA_gDZL16BwIVqjhjYiwpq3_p2i_Mc3-pmJZ46IazFRat9xJ8cAQmbGf7YrHdL7-QEu0PQil4s0ZknpiATF7wo_BAizbUxzyB6KfYIAw/s320/Nell+and+Austin.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288994666471393330" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-_9XbXZtEpb8gtshfalrNIw81njx_bU1POVrLBfD83Zsj0VTH30jtp5YA6EmduTEXZxm12da7lgkgS6dXIyVrysRQVA0jt6LzwzaPD0APZeRKmPrcxVPCZIaI3VCnbf0nHPrBhdTm74/s1600-h/Sunset.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-_9XbXZtEpb8gtshfalrNIw81njx_bU1POVrLBfD83Zsj0VTH30jtp5YA6EmduTEXZxm12da7lgkgS6dXIyVrysRQVA0jt6LzwzaPD0APZeRKmPrcxVPCZIaI3VCnbf0nHPrBhdTm74/s200/Sunset.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288980449393598658" /></a>On evenings like the one in the photograph the winter sunset over the houses across the street knocks me senseless. Deep reds and oranges, densely brilliant hues and tones contrasting with black silhouetted branches and snow on the rooftops. This image is one of many midwestern images that kept showing up in words on paper and then later as pictures pulled from magazines and pasted down on journal pages during many years when the only snow I ever saw was a brief dusting in the foothills above the San Fernando Valley or on TV (and then this kind of orange sunset usually meant something was on fire). My longing for four distinct seasons was what started my first notebooks devoted almost entirely to images (no way was I ready to call them <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">art journals</span> at that point -- they were my <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Dream Books, </span>a place to turn my longings into visual affirmations).<div><br /></div><div>These notebooks were in addition to the morning journaling practice I've had for over 30 years of madly scribbling, dumping anything and everything onto the page, usually while drinking two cups of coffee and often before speaking one word OUT LOUD. (Along the lines of Julia Cameron's "morning pages" from her wonderful book, THE ARTIST'S WAY, or Natalie Goldberg's freewrites from WRITING DOWN THE BONES, this is writing that clears my head and allows me to go on with my day. The writing serves primarily a meditative, prayerful, therapeutic purpose with an end-of-the-year "payoff" -- poems, story and art ideas, character sketches, and other creative jottings ready for me to develop or ignore.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Once my <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Dream Book </span>affirmations worked and we moved back to Minnesota, I let myself begin to explore the amazing world of art journaling. I love the way the form marries words and images, how it obscures at the same time it illuminates. It's a great way to play with different mediums and can take pretty much any shape, size or form. I like to keep several going at once (because I'm impatient and hate to wait for paint and glue to dry) which allows me to work on different surfaces and with different materials. Right now, for instance, I've got two altered book journals going, one index card -- using heavy watercolor paper and a vintage card file, and several fabric (art quilt) pages like the one on the right. </div><div><br /></div><div>For me this work/play is like making the poem or story visual, while keeping meaning veiled in mystery -- left to the observer to discover through their own response.</div>Julie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210112867920440694noreply@blogger.com2