One week left before Halloween.

What’s scary to me this week is how much work I’ve got coming up in November.

A lot of it has to do with actually finishing things I started at the beginning of the year. With a little over 60 days left, that doesn’t leave much wiggle room.

I’ve decided not to do National Novel Writing Month again this year. The very idea of any book 50,000 words long makes me shiver. Trying to write that many words in a holiday month is tatamount to insane. So, no new novel for me.

However, I have not let myself off scott free for November. There is another challenge called Picture Book Idea Month, where participants come up with 30 picture book ideas in the 30 days of November. I’ve done this challenge the last two years and “won.” In addition to being a participant this year, I will also be a guest blogger. My post will be online on November 14. In it, I will talk about the picture book challenge and give away a finish signed, original painting created just for the event.

And, as an off shoot to this, several of my writer friends and I are working toward having November designated as a worldwide celebration of picture book and literacy. The web site is almost live. I will send out more detailed information as soon as it’s available.

There are several other personal book related projects in the works, and I opened an Etsy shop last month. I sell Hardened Leather Masks, Amigurumi Plushies and an assortment of beaded items. I’ll be adding quilts of my own designs soon.

Have a wonderful week.

Do you have a special request for a coloring page? Let me know either via an email or through one of my social networking sites. I’m on Twitter and Facebook.

Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and/or click here to view more coloring pages!

Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Email your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpage (at) handcraftedpagan (dot) com and I’ll post it to my blog!

I send out coloring pages to let people know about me, my art and my children’s books. Help support my efforts by spreading the word or buying any of my books. Please stop by any of my social networking sites to leave me a message (here is good too!) and let me know how you like the coloring pages. Remember, I provide these pages free of charge for your own personal use. Do not reproduce them or use them for any other purpose without my written permission.

My washer has gone on the fritz. Just got off the phone with the repair man. The soonest they can get out here is tomorrow afternoon. Sometime between noon and 4. *sigh* What else can go south?

The SCBWI-MO Confluence was wonderful on Saturday. The college moved us into a new building with much bigger rooms which was nice. We had plenty of space to spread out. The only complaint I could make was that we had to eat our lunch in the lounge area instead of sitting comfortably at dining tables. However, the food was spectacular.

I got confused on the schedule and the one class I really, really wanted to attend, I missed. It was on marketing to schools and libraries, which is something I would very much like to get better at. The other sessions I attended were well taught and informative, but I get very little new out of either of the breakout sessions I attended.

The day was not a total loss, I connected with the visiting illustrator, Floyd Cooper, and he has graciously agreed to be the January interviewee. He is so funny. He kept repeating how he can’t really draw. Several of the more experienced illustrators in the room gave him grief for that. People aspire to not be able to draw as well as he can’t. LOL.

His technique is one of subtraction. He covers illustration board with a thin layer of 0il paint and lets it dry to the touch, then he takes a kneaded eraser and puts in the highlights in forms of shapes. He created a Native American face in front of us as he gave his keynote address. Truly amazing.

There was an agent and an editor there as well. The house the editor is from isn’t interested in the kind of projects I currently have on my plate, but the agent sounds perfect. I approached her after her address and asked her about author/illustrator submissions. She is interested in completed manuscripts with one or two pieces of finished art to show style. I will definitely whip my current PB into shape to submit to her.

It was nice seeing old friends again and everybody was very pleased to see how well I was doing. The last time anyone form this group saw me, I had only just gotten out of the hospital a few weeks before.

I topped the 10,000 word count mark in NaNoWriMo last night. I am only a few thousand words behind but if I have another few days like the one I had yesterday, I should be caught up by the end of the week. 15,000 is the word count suggested for today. I am just too busy with other projects to type out a total of 5,000 words in one day.

PiBoIdMo is moving along as well. My ideas are becoming more strange, but the practice of thinking about new book plots everyday is good for me.

I still have a bunch of phone calls to make and then I can settle in for a good afternoon’s drawing session. With luck, I’ll catch up on the back log of work I have there as well. I think the issue is I have so many projects with similar deadlines, I am having trouble prioritizing. Probably have to do as the Nike slogan says and just do it. Stop spinning my wheels moving from fire to fire, so to speak.

Ta!

It’s been a couple of days. I know. I have been busy dealing with children. I spent most of Wednesday in court trying to deal with lawyers and family members and such. By the time I got home it was hours past lunchtime and I had a migraine threatening. So I ate and took medication and fell asleep on the couch all afternoon. The migraine never became full blown, but the pain was enough to keep me from being able to be creative. It’s near impossible to make the brain work when it’s in throws of OW.

Thursday morning was spent organizing all the legal paperwork and contacting people attached to the case in one way or another. Of the four people on the list to contact, I have been able to mark off two. I am saving the rest for Monday.

In the midst of all this I got an email from my kid’s math teacher. She’s pulling her bad habit of not handing in homework. She hadn’t handed in any since the end of last quarter. A flurry of texts back and forth between us ensued and she assured me she was on top of it and I was being a nag. I reminded her again this morning that she needed to hand in all the missing assignments or she’d be grounded. Long story short, she handed in most of the papers, not all of them and of the ones she handed in, some of them were incomplete. The kid wants to go to college. Average grades aren’t going to cut it. If that was all she was capable of, fine and dandy, but she is capable of so much more. So I expect it of her. I mean all she needs to do is hand in the darn homework. So – grounded. For how long is the question. I think until she starts handing her homework in when it’s due. And this is only one class.

I did get about 1,000 words done on my NaNoWriMo novel last night. And then I got stuck. The story is so dismally depressing. It needs a lighter note so readers won’t put it down because they can’t bear to read any more. During my morning exercises inspiration struck. I’ll have to noodle my outline a bit since a character slated for death has now been brought back to life, but I think I am again on the road of a workable story.

Tomorrow is the MO-SCBWI Fall Confluence. I am really looking forward to it this year. It plans to be stress-free, for me at least. I will need to bake a loaf of bread tonight so I can substitute out the bread they provide with lunch. I settled for a salad last year and I was famished before the conference was over.

That’s about it. I have a novel and  coloring page calling my name from the other room. And I am 99% sure my kid will argue against her grounding. Which means I will have to deal with that when she gets home instead of continuing to work on my projects. Oh well, she was warned.

Bad news from several friends yesterday derailed my creative impulses. So no new Nan words or picture book ideas. I did, however, continue with the research for my Nano project and for the upcoming coloring page.

First thing Wednesday morning it’s off to court for my CASA child. Went to visit her last week and she’s so happy and healthy. Hopefully, court proceedings will go smoothly and I can get back to the studio and back to work being creative.

Above is my “Wild Thing” for this week’s prompt over at Watercolor Wednesdays. A group of 25 watercolor artists focusing on the children’s markets post to this blog inspired by the weekly prompts. Check it out.

My NaNoWriMo word count for yesterday was 2229. I haven’t stopped long enough today to sit down and write more. It’s early yet, I usually lose steam at about 25,000 words. I have a feeling this year will  be different. I am better prepared, both with hardware and with a story line. We’ll see.

Had to hire a plumber today. We’ve been in the house a little over 9 years, things are starting to need repair again. Hopefully, this will be the last unexpected expense for the year. Mama needs some new clothes!