It’s a nippy day today. A welcome change from the record breaking heat over 100°F for most of last week. I actually have on a light weight hoody. I love this time of year. Come on fall.

It’s also time once again for a promo postcard. This is the new one I am about to send out.

"Playing Doctor" promo card front

"Alone at Last" promo card back

Spring 2011 Postcard mailer

I started this a while ago and have been chipping away at it for several weeks in between other projects.

One of the problems of being a freelance illustrator is that when you are busy with paying work, you don’t have time for self promotion. Since I have taken this year off from book touring for health reasons, I have suddenly found “extra” time I haven’t had in the last 5 years of traveling across the country.

Until you are actually doing it, you have no idea how incredibly draining constant travel can be. But that is another story all together.

Since I now have all kinds of gobs of time (insert maniacal laughter here) I have ramped up my artistic output. Along with moving my coloring page schedule from monthly to weekly, I am also renewing my self promotional efforts. Part two of this plan was (and is) to create and mail a quarterly postcard.

This brave heroine on her trusty steed is the first promo piece to be completed in 2011.

There will be some black and white line work on the reverse side of the postcard. The address side. I just have to decide which of my pieces I want to include.

I had fun with this, I hope it shows!

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.