happiness is a new book

The first proof copy arrived today. I had a few alignment changes to make, and I tweaked the cover a little. But overall I was thrilled with the quality of the book. The colours are great, the look is professional (as it should be) and I liked my illustrations more in the book form than in the sketching and painting stages. I think a little distance from them has helped.

I suppose it is inevitable that some little errors will slip through, but I think I have done as well as I can proof reading this.

Recently I was disappointed to find a typing error in the chapter heading of a book from a publisher I hold in high regard. Perhaps it was a lesson to me. My biggest problem is not "letting go" and moving on to the next book. I can always see one more thing that I think I can improve.

I tested my new book in a bookshelf of assorted children's books today and was proud of the way it held its own there. I then came home and found several things to improve on.

It's late. Sleep calls. The order for more copies has been sent. Enough is enough, and if there are imperfections that have escaped me this time then my grandchildren will have flawed versions. I don't think that will be the case though. She said. Weakly.

Rolls off couch and staggers upstairs.

Today I am grateful for efficiency. 

coming soon to a link near you

One of the reasons I have been invisible - or should I say three of the reasons?

When Mum Fell Asleep in the Bath, Michelle and the Bumblebee, and The Lost Happy

When Mum Fell Asleep in the Bath is, of course, a mixture of truth and fiction. I wrote it for my children over thirty years ago, and it seemed timely to publish it in a form that my grandchildren might enjoy. 

Michelle and the Bumblebee is a true story with a conservation theme. It began its life as a comment on a Facebook page, where an avid gardener described her adventure. Someone else said "that would make a great children's story" - so of course I quickly said "I'll write it". I did. And then I illustrated it in watercolour. 

The Lost Happy was one of those elusive "a ha!" moments that grabbed my attention and demanded to be written, pushing its way in ahead of my main project which still waits patiently for me. 

I am waiting for the proof copies to arrive, and then will make these books available online. Little Goat Books was, fortuitously and without knowledge of the Chinese calendar, launched in the Year of the Goat. It feels right. 

Today I am grateful for three little emails that announce "book published". 

confession time and an update

Confession time:

1. I changed computers and found myself locked out of my blog
2. I I really didn't mind not blogging for a while.
3. I don't feel the slightest bit guilty...

because

I have been working incredibly hard and have completed the illustrations for three of my books for children, and have written another book which is very close to my heart and will be illustrated lovingly in watercolour with a release date later this year.

So, watch this space for direction to my new children's literature blogs (not this month though!)


Today I am grateful for new found confidence.



What you have missed:


The trial "working to a deadline" illustrations. The story is a true story retold by moi, and illustrated in watercolour.

A few of the  illustrations for a children's book I wrote over 30 years ago (photographed partially completed). The story has been expanded from the original and there are 27 new illustrations ready for the book. I have a few more kittens to paint for the text-only pages, and some details to add now that I have seen which pictures my young readers prefer. The story is written largely in rhyming couplets for the early reader.

 And one from the third picture book to be completed (colour illustrated and black and white workbook versions will be available):

Book number four will remain a secret until the illustrations are well underway. 

There are another nine books in the pipeline after that one. 

Keats, I think of your wonderful line regularly! "Until my pen has gleaned my teeming brain..." 

Today I am also grateful for practical tips from a professional illustrator. 

ooops again!

Where did the last couple of weeks go?

I have been reading about blogging instead of blogging, planning my projects instead of actioning them, and generally taking a bit of time out. My wrist is now almost recovered so I guess I should put it to action again :)

Here is an afternoon photo (no, the valley doesn't look like that today, but I am flicking through my recently downloaded photos - I seem to be taking fewer and fewer photographs these days - and this one appealed).

I still say that the shadows are on the wrong side of the trees.

Today I am grateful for news of travellers safely returned to their homes.

70 years of hope

I wanted to record this day on my blog mainly for myself. I "should" (I don't use that word, remember?) be writing a post for the Monte Cassino Foundation for Remembrance and Reconciliation, or for Legato, but that requires a little more time and thought than I can give at the end of the day.

Today we remembered the civilian victims of the battle of Cassino and the wider region. The actual front line was here for five months, but the war was in this zone, with bombings and casualties, for 9 months. And after that came three years of malaria. So many of my friends were children then. They have welcomed me into their homes and hearts as the daughter of an Allied soldier.

After the event this morning there was a march through town to the memorial for the civilians. I walked alongside, in support but not in the column. It wouldn't have felt quite right to join in, but it was right to be there. Instead of standing in the hot sun at the ceremony at the monument I returned to my little town and visited one of the unsung "vittime civili di guerra". With no visible scars, you would never guess what this lovely lady endured during the war. Seven and a half at the time, she has vivid images still of things no child should ever have to see or remember. Tomorrow I will visit another who survived in a cave by eating grass, terrified that the baby in the family might cry and alert the soldiers to their presence. These victims need to be heard, and a visit, a cup of coffee, a listening ear and a few hours of my time is not a lot to give but is an important part of my work here.

Remembering opens wounds, but also allows healing. The speakers from Cassino became very emotional and lost for words as they held the microphone and told what they had experienced.

Equally important today was the focus on youth, and their future. I really hope that the students present could relate the images they watched today to their grandparents and great grandparents. When I watch them in the audience I wonder if they really appreciate what happened only 70 years ago in what is now a bustling, busy, and on a day like today in glorious sunshine, very peaceful city. Certainly the older folk in the audience were remembering, and messages from those unable to attend couldn't be delivered without the readers stopping to recover from the emotions they felt.

I have had another "hat" popped gently on my head, that of delegate from Cassino to NZ to form links between NZ schools and Cassino (and other schools in other countries). This is an initiative (largely online) to bring better understanding of peace so that we can, as speakers urged today, eliminate the word war from our vocabulary. Peace is not the absence of war, it is a different state completely. "Educating for a culture of peace" is one of my much used phrases.

This new initiative is, in loose translation from the Italian title, the Anne Frank International Youth Centre (Cassino). I am very pleased to be included in this group - appointed (in true Italian style without invitation or consultation!) because of my work with the MCFRR and Legato.

Thinking caps on, friends out there in education, I will be calling on you for help with this project.

Now to take a break, and get back some energy for tomorrow's writing and visits.

Today I am grateful for passionate peace workers.

whew! (with emphasis)

Today I received a wonderful phone call. The clients were thrilled, the recipients of the gift were emotional and elated, and the artist - she's just plain relieved!

The painting that I had completed under duress, forcing myself to meet a tight deadline and doing more damage to my wrist in the process, was unveiled at a 50th wedding anniversary dinner. Apparently the 140 guests were suitably wowed, the friends giving the gift were thrilled at the response and the recipients were so moved by it that they wanted to thank me themselves.

You can peek at it in miniature, but because it is of a personal nature I don't think I should make it too accessible here.

Now at last I can relax and maybe see some of the good parts of it (I think I did the steam train rather well). It is probably one of the most difficult commissions I have ever been given, with four separate landscapes, a townscape and a double portrait all in one painting.

The genuine pleasure in the voice of the organiser almost made up for the stress it caused me.

And while I am really, really pleased that they are all so happy, I am more pleased that I have been able to buy myself a good quality weed-eater with the proceeds.

Today I am grateful for happy clients. Whew! 

no such thing

How often do we say that there is no such thing as a coincidence, and that our apparently random encounters are all part of what is "meant to be?"

I have recently had some rather special encounters with delightful people. With each encounter I feel that my life is richer, my "friend base" wider. I feel supported, cared for, and am feeling nurtured and warm as the temperatures begin to fall.

What will this European winter bring, I wonder? I suspect that the "corner" I have been turning for the last ten years will continue to stretch out for a while yet, but it is so lovely to feel that I am perhaps doing something worthwhile and that my ups and downs might smooth a little in the future.

Yesterday I sold a painting, and tomorrow I deliver a commissioned work. This morning special guests left, but next week more lovely people return. Life is interesting, and life is good. There has been much laughter around the table in the garden recently.

Today's departing guests arrived as perfect strangers, sent my way by a mutual friend, but they leave as wonderful friends and have left with me some lovely memories and warm hugs. I have enjoyed their company enormously and really hope that they too return.

Boomerang guests are good, and like-minded people allow me to relax freely. Perhaps I really am in the right place, doing what I should be doing. I hope so.

And are all these just amazing links between us just random coincidences in our lives? I am sure that there is no such thing.

Today I am grateful for new friends.