Red Lemon Club: Online Self Promotion for Creatives.

I am still working hard on the final illustrations for Smoky and the Feast of Mabon by Catherynne M. Valente. The book is now up on both the publisher’s web site and amazon for pre-order which really puts the pressure on me because people are ORDERING the book already. LOL

After I finish up with the book, the next big project on my to-do list is to make this site fully functional and work harder at bring me paying illustration jobs. I am learning all about marketing and SEO specifically geared toward creatives. The link above is my newest find.

Of course, having the info and taking it and implementing it are two entirely different animals. I have yet to figure out a good way to go about the implementing part where I actually follow through before another project distracts me. I have been on Twitter for a few months now (@lyonmartin) and the community I have found there tells me this is a common failing among my fellow artists. Seems we are all easily distracted.

I am itching to get back to my daily doodle. And my daily exercise routine. I don’t know why, but the stuff I do to keep myself sane the rest of the time slips away when I am finishing a book. The drug of choice this book has been cheese doodles. Go figure.

While trawling the internet for reference for my book art I came across this little gem of a video. I just wish there was more of the speech instead of excerpts.

I have been hard at work with the book art spreads for Smoky and the Feast of Mabon. It is official. I have “book brain.” This is the place I go when in the final throws of book illustration before the deadline and final art goes out. I call it book brain because my characters take over my head. I think of nothing else and even dream my characters. I wander around the house in a blur and I am amazed I have not managed to injure myself while cooking.

Tomorrow, I have to drive my DD into the city. I have two fears. The first is that I will space the trip entirely. And the second is I will be so immersed in book brain hi-jinx, I won’t remember to stop at red lights or look before merging.

Hopefully my characters are happy with all the attention I paid to them today and will let me get a good night’s sleep without demanding I attend to them at 4 am in the morning in a repeat of this morning. I can only hope.

You may have noticed a distinct lack of daily daily doodles. Between the kitchen renovation, the holiday festivities and having a book art deadline looming I find myself in a place where something had to give. Since the point of daily doodles is to make sure I draw everyday, no matter what, and I am busy on “real” art for the upcoming book. The doodles have been relegated to the back burner. (Kitchen pun intended.)

I will post rather sporadically over the next couple of months as the final push for the book art is in full throttle. No matter how well I plan time in advance of my deadlines, it seems as if there is always something to throw a monkey wrench into the works. At least I am getting better at forging forward when said wrench appears to muck up the works.

I recently received a copy (free – in exchange for my feedback and editing help) of Tara Reed’s Goal Wheel for Artists. She is a friend of mine who licenses art internationally and uses her marketing know how to help other creatives get a foot in. I was able to read through her very well crafted goal setting guide and use the knowledge gleaned from it in the production of my book art. I highly recommend the e-book download to other illustrators and writers who have trouble breaking down their goals and projects into do-able bites. Thanks Tara, you totally rock!

My drafting table is growling at me so I had better go and sharpen those pencils, kneed those erasers and make magic on paper. I’ll see you when I see you. Good energy and thoughts for deep creative well springs and accomplishment are always welcome and appreciated.

Halloween seemed to race by this year. It was a lazy day spent with my favorite person, my dear husband. We puttered around the house for most of the day. I made French toast for brunch and he took me out to the local diner for lunch. He had a craving for chili. I’ve never eaten theirs but it does smell of yum.

About 5 in the evening he remembered we needed to do something about our phones. The contract period is over and it’s time to renew and upgrade. So off to the phone store we went. He got the newest basic model with no extras, while I decided to splurge a little bit and got a phone with GPS navigation on it. It was bundled along with web browsing, so now I have that, too. We also removed Son-the-younger’s phone from our account as he went off and got a new service. He’s out of college, gainfully employed and engaged to be married. All-in-all, even with my whizz-bang phone, we’ll save some $ in our monthly billing over our last contract.

NaNoWriMo started at midnight on November 1st. Or maybe it started at 11pm or 1am, I’m not sure since we move the clocks back today. In any case, it is now in full throttle and people all over the world will be trying to complete a first draft of a 50,000 word novel by November 30th. In a way, that novel is why I am up at this before dawn hour on a Sunday morning. My novel, which I have yet to start, was invading my dreams. And since the opening scene is rather dark and intense, I was giving myself nightmares reliving it over and over again in my sleep.

PiBoIdMo also started today. Slightly different challenge, but I accepted that one as well. PiBoIdMo stands for Picture Book Idea Month. The basic premise is to come up with one picture book idea a day for the entire month of November. The reasoning behind this is picture book writers need to be prolific and have a number of books waiting in the wings. I find generating ideas to be harder than taking one I already have and writing about it, so it will be a super challenge for me to make the 30 ideas.

Aside from writing a novel and coming up with 30 picture book ideas, I also will be working on the art for my upcoming book ‘Smoky and the Feast of Mabon.’ Written by the talented Catherynne M. Valente, it’s another Magical Child story. I am very excited to be working on the text from this award winning author.

Of course, now that I have more planned than I can possible accomplish and remain sane, the edits I am waiting on from my agent for the non-fiction book she is repping will probably show up and need to be done in November as well. Plus, somewhere in there I will have to draw the next two coloring pages for the ABC Lesser Know Goddesses series. That would be the letters ‘S’ and ‘T.’ Least I’ll be too busy to get into any trouble.

I was trying to do a young boy with this grumpy face, but it turned into an old woman. She looks like how I feel when I wake up to start my day on these dark mornings. I can’t seem to get my eyes opened for want of trying.

I’ll be glad when the time change happens this weekend. At least the sun will have a half a chance to be up when we are. I say half, because it hasn’t stopped raining for any length of time all month.

Last night my DH asked if I wanted to go hiking with him in the woods. I said okay even though I am afraid it will be cold and wet and not at all pleasant. But he wants to be out in the fall colors and I want to be with him. So there you have it.

I have to put on my CASA cape this afternoon. I am going with my GAL lawyer out to visit my child in the new foster home. Seems the cases I get assigned are anything but ordinary. Still, I have to remind myself I am doing a good thing and I will be getting brownie points for helping the child to be safe and happy.

Next week I have to jump full throttle into the art for my next book. Sadly, I am still awaiting final edits. I will forge ahead any way and hope the edits don’t change too much of the book, I am running into crunch time and don’t want to miss my deadline. Already my family is teasing me about working 27 hours a day 8 days a week. I wonder if this is the norm in publishing or only with my house.