New Month, New Word-Art Drawings ✒️

I have a penchant for doodling everyday things. Things people kind of hurry past. Things that are utilitarian but that are integral and, well, handy.

I bought these scissors before Christmas a few years ago at a discount store; they were around $3. I stood before the display for way too long, comparing and contrasting the red-and-white chevron pairs to the green-and-white chevron pairs. In the end, green won out by a slim margin. Like my ‘90s film cameras, they have a nice heft to them and are neither too clunky nor too crowded in my grip. I most often use them for cutting the little shipping label before sending away my film to be developed. Now and again, I pull them from the drawer and find a little something that just has to be trimmed for the satisfaction of using them.

I picked this daisy dress online during the first months of Covid, during quarantine. I noticed it because I wanted the happiest possible design I could find. It’s a Kelly green with white daisies with yellow centers. The last time I had a dress with daisies on it, I was 22 and getting ready to walk across a graduation platform. That dress was black-and-white checked and mostly covered with my graduation gown. This dress I put on during days when it’s gray as a crayon and raining. Or days when I want a spring in my step. Or just days where the green pops out at me as I stand before my closet. Green has always felt a color of calm strength, renewal, and hope to me. There needs to be very little reason for a daisy pattern. This is the first time I’ve drawn a hanger or the drape of this dress. I got the proportions of the sleeves a little too long, but the daisy chain on my joy’s -y was a spark of last-minute inspiration and great fun.

For more versions of these drawings, check out my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/writepath99/ .

Words and Doodles: A Multimedia Experiment 🌞

A little something I’m giving a whirl recently. I’ve long wanted to scan some of my sketches and make new ones that incorporated word art and simple doodles. It’s good to shake it up and try new ways of approaching ideas in art, and the process of putting pen to paper to color in is very meditative and relaxing. Here’s a recent one I made and scanned this week.

To me, next means: not perfect, but moving forward nonetheless. Next is a place of hope and discovery. Next is a no-pressure zone; it’s taking what you have and seeing what good you can make of it.

I made the first letter lowercase to show how shaky and tentative some first efforts can be, and then as we gain our strength and clarify our vision, the rest of the letters (and steps) get easier and surer. I also left the slightly askew bottom bar on the X and the slightly shorter bar across the right of the T as I’d first penciled them before tracing with my felt pen. Plus, it’s drawn by a human hand, so there’s a kind of nice authenticity to these quirks.

Next also means a contentment in each moment, because bigger things are on the horizon. The cherry blossoms matched nicely with that thought and were super relaxing to draw—I could feel myself get into a writer-like zone where time felt slowed with each blossom, petal, and branch.

Truthfully, I know I’m not at all the best or even a good sketcher. I have a long way to grow. I have a horrible time drawing figures of animals and people who look like themselves (I’m not great at drawing anything to scale), although I like drawing a caricature of myself waving on cards and in signed copies of my books sometimes. Flowers, I can sometimes do, and I’m going to give people a whirl again, maybe as silhouettes or stick outlines or in my own way, because why not? These are for the joy of making them and, perhaps, sharing some, too.

After scanning and uploading this word art, I headed off to my software to begin the computerized portion of the project. So many hues, filters, and options to be had! I’ll include a few of the transformed file options below, too.

Exciting Update: Interview😀🎊

Recently, I had the great joy to share my thoughts with multitalented author and editor Roz Morris about writing, publishing, books, persistence, a fulfilling artistic life, and so much more: clicky here to dive into the fun.

Be sure to check out Roz’s excellent books, from her riveting, prize-winning novel, Ever Rest, and the many stellar reviews it has gleaned to her wonderful craft books sure to encourage novelists on this writing path.

Also, Roz has a meaningful newsletter, insightful interviews with fellow creatives, and more at her site to motivate and to bring out the very best in your writing.

"Ekphrastic Magic" Exhibition at Revela'T Analog Photography Festival 📄🖊📸

Super excited to have poetry in the awesome collaborative "Ekphrastic Magic" photo-poetry project curated by the fabulous @amyjasek @filmshooterscollective in the international Revela'T Analog Photography Festival, currently running in Barcelona! Check out the festival website for excerpts of the excellent work in the "Ekphrastic Magic" exhibit as well as a listing of other fine photographers/photographic exhibits now on view in Spain and on their Instagram @revelatfestival .

More details about the exhibit: “The Film Shooters Collective is proud to present ‘Ekphrastic Magic’: an interdisciplinary project bringing together thirty FSC members and thirty writers. In it / Ekphrastic Magic, the private world of the photographer becomes the solitary walk of a poet, and together they create a new, unique universe, welcoming in the viewer to bring their own experiences to their personal interpretation of the work. The photographs range from 35mm and 120 film to instant film and even tintype; the images and words are as diverse as the artists who made them.”

To celebrate, I thought I'd post this film photo I took this summer on #kodak #kodakfilm with my #35mmfilm Canon camera. Can't resist glasses, violets, and reflections.

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My Poems Set to Music and Voice! 🎶🎼

I’m super excited to announce that selected poems from my collection, This Passing Fever, have been set to music and voice by the incredibly talented composer and musician Jodi Goble and will be performed by an array of professional vocalists and musicians at Iowa State University on Friday, September 17th at 7:30 pm (Central)/ 8:30 pm (EST).

Through the magic of the interwebs, there will be a livestream which I will link closer to the date. Mark your calendars now—I’ve heard clips and these folks are amazing and first-rate! It’s an honor to have them perform my work.

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Portable Muse Cards: Relaunch! 📓🖊

One of my fun summer projects has been this box redesign of my Portable Muse cards. This time, I used my own photography for the box front and back and chose another, clearer font. Ta-da! The Portable Muse.

Same great prompts to get your Muse moving! The perfect gift for you and the writers in your life.

More deets below:

“Are you a creative writer whose Muse has gone into a sputter? Wondering: "What should I write about today?" Or are you a teacher with a classroom or workshop filled with eager scribes who need fresh prompts? Wonder no more!


What are they?
• A series of 30 prompts on handy-dandy, beautiful cards. One varied prompt per card. Some include quotations, some situations, others a title or a setting.
• Sure to inspire fiction, essays, poetry, and more!
• Very portable! Slip into your pocket, purse, backpack, or tote and carry them with you to write in cafes, waiting rooms, on your commute, or wherever the day takes you!”

Check out these and other fine products at my Etsy store: WritePathProductions.

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My Photo in J. Mane Gallery's Current Show 📸

Marvelous news: my photo, “Flew the Nest,” won an Honorable Mention place in the current “Extraordinarily Ordinary” show at J. Mane Gallery that started today and runs through August 8th.

Check out the amazing art in several media, including sculpture and paintings, as well as scroll through to see a few of my other shots that I submitted for the theme.

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My Photo Published, "Moment Series--Wish and Shadow" 😎

Thrilled to say that my photo, “Moment Series—Wish and Shadow,” was published today in the art gallery of Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.

Check out a few reflections I made about my photo as well as the work of the amazing poets, such as my dear friend Charles A. Swanson, and artists featured in this Summer 2021 Love Issue.

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📸 My Photography Featured in Fatal Flaw 📸

Super excited that three of my photos have been published today as part of Fatal Flaw’s Ritual-themed Issue #4, among many talented writers and artists.

Please check out the issue as well as my film photograph (included here) as well as two digital compositions.

I used Kodak Gold 200 film on a ‘90s Canon to make this photo; I love that grainy film feeling and the way this film plays soft with light. 🤩📸

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