Kickstarter Update #2:

Dear Fans of Out For Souls and Cookies,

Can you believe it? In one weekend, we’re over halfway to funded! I am so grateful to all of you.

Taste Edmonds was a quiet show, but I gave out all but five of my remaining original pamphlets, hoping to find more fans of the series.

Over the weekend, one of the backers asked me about the REAL ROSIE AND TYCHO! In particular, they wanted to know why I tended to speak about Rosie.

No, I don’t have a favorite. However, Rosie’s actions are closer to a normal intelligent, albeit lazy, dog. I have often said if the real Rosie had the initiative to match her intelligence, we’d all live in Rosietown, not Seattle, Washington, USA, or Earth. It’d all be Rosietown.

Wait, you’re thinking. Not everyone likes dogs. Doesn’t matter. Rosie brings everyone to the dogside. She is eight pounds of hedonistic cuteness with the full knowledge of Jedi-mindtricks. If she thinks you don’t like dogs, she’ll sit and stare at you until you pick her up. (And people always do.) The biggest toughest men melt under her gaze and start speaking to her in babytalk. She had one of my hiking buddies carry her for eight miles. Tycho rings the bell when Rosie needs to go out. This is why in the comic, she is the leader.

When I tell stories about Tycho, the stories just get weird. This weirdness inspired parts of the comic in the first place. Lord Fluffcakes is inspired by the Hide-a-squirreldog puzzle which Tycho loved as a puppy. (Follow the link if you want to see a non-creepy dog toy.)

Though Tycho enjoys a day at the beach or quiet hike, he is the ultimate lover of home, hearth, and his puzzle toys. He loves Rosie, my husband and I with an undying devotion and we love him. He wants us all to be safe. Preferably in the same room. He also wants the people and dogs he has adopted in the same room with him. One of his little quirks is Tycho leaves maddening elusive messages in shapes around the house. Here is one of them.

What does it mean? 3 or M or W? Or could it mean: Three monsters invading from the west?

This strange message is close to his dish, but sometimes he carries his messages into the living room or spread across the kitchen floor. Does the change of location mean anything? I don’t know. When Rosie gets hungry she will eat the messages which Tycho has left. Are they hiding something? 

This inspired the use of the dog dish to speak to the big boss.

Issue 2, Page 17

 

Tycho, the furry enigma

 If you are wondering if you should give to the Kickstarter, please do! We are only $187 away from funding.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/129641212/out-for-souls-and-cookies-graphic-novel/

Love Out For Souls & Cookies? Help Fund the Graphic Novel!

I am running a Kickstarter for the long awaited Out For Souls & Cookies Graphic Novel which will include the 5 original issues plus an exclusive brand new story inside! It will be a 136 page, full color graphic novel. My goals are really just to presell the graphic novel and make it the best it can be.

Cover for Graphic Novel!

Out for Souls and Cookies is an ALL AGES comic series about two demons who tire of stealing souls. However, Hell has no retirement plan. So they disguise themselves as poodles and move to Seattle where people will take care of them.

The first goal of $500 is to just pre-sell as many copies as I can, but I do have stretch goals …

Stretch Goal of $5000 ???

For more informaiton, click on the cover or the link is below: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/129641212/out-for-souls-and-cookies-graphic-novel

Common Author Question Time: I’d like to be an author, but I can’t deal with speaking to groups…

(Note: Sorry that some of you might have gotten an email about this post early. That was a mistake. Now its live and it has a video attached!)  Common Author Question Time is about questions I get all the time when I am out and about at speaking engagements and conventions.

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Okay, this time the question is technically not a question, but a statement. “I’d like to be an author, but I can’t deal with speaking to groups…” “Or to strangers.” “Or in public”

I always reply, “I’m actually rather shy. It’s something I had to learn.”

There are two basic answers for this. Sometimes they will say nicely, “You don’t show it.”

And I’ll answer with “Thanks, I’ve worked hard to overcome it. So many of us, authors, suffer from self doubt.” After that we may have a nice conversation.

The other answer is not quite as nice. Sometimes they answer: “You’re not shy, I’m shy.” “Or I’m a true introvert, you can’t understand.”

At that point, I’m thinking, “Dude, its not a contest.” I say something to the effect: “Being a public speaker is part of the job. So is accounting, understanding basic copyright laws, understanding contracts, marketing and a host of other non-creative activities that I have learned how to do.”

Sometimes they go away, sometimes they keep telling me why I am wrong and they can’t do it. Sigh. So I made this 12 minute video speaking about how to overcome it.

The highlights of the video are:

If you are on panels: Have a few things prepared to your topic. Keep smiling. Respect the other panelists.

If you are tabling: You should know your introduction and book pitch from top to bottom and have a few basic answers prepared to common questions about your project such as:

• genre and age categories adult content issues
• your inspiration
• Your biography
• when did you know you wanted to be an author

And armed with that knowledge you are ready to conquer the world!

Does anyone else have tips to get over convention fright?

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 If you like sorcerers deciding the fate of humanity, garden gnomes and ancient sleeping gods, check out my latest book.

 

Common Author Question: What does it feel like to hold your book in your hand?

 

Short Answer: Good. If you like rollercoasters.

Long Answer: My emotions go up and down and up again. Then down again.

When I hold my book the first time, I always feel giddy anticipation. I feel I could skip down the street. I want to spin on the sandy beach and frolic with my dogs.

I feel even more excitement as I send it to the Library of Congress and Copyright Office and put aside a copy for my own library. I feel pride. This thing that I have created over the course of eighteen months has grown into a book.

I start sending out review copies and making marketing materials.  No matter how sublime I thought my prose is, no matter how much I love the illustrations, a tiny hole grows in my heart. My art has left my personal sphere and has grown into a product.

I am thrilled when my first reviews start coming in. It doesn’t matter if the reader loves it or hates it. I’m skipping with joy. Someone is reading this thing I am created. (I will admit, however, that during Other Systems and The Light Side of the Moon my feelings went up and down with every review. Now I am happy to get ANY review.)

The night before the release date, my heart races as I write any last minute blog posts and schedule Facebook Posts. For The Grove’s release I was able to sleep, because Ibooks and Barnes&Noble went live around 10:30 pm PST. That is not always the case. (When The Light Side of the Moon came out, I was in a panic because no one had it on its actual release date.)

Then my book is no longer mine at all. At this moment, it is the world’s book. Readers will read it and make it their own. In the morning, because of the social media push I feel happy and excited. I have done it! I have created a world for people to enjoy! Woot!

I do my best to not check out sales every couple hours. I try not to check if I have any more reviews.Though there is social media stuff and I have a to-do list of small emails and jobs I must finish, I am not as productive as I normally am. I know though I have done the best I can, my words no longer matter, only the reader’s perception of my words. I feel a sense of loss, melancholy and listlessness.  But that too passes.

My first live event for The Grove is September 28th. Every time I think about it I get giddy again. Like I said it’s a roller coaster.

I know there are other authors out there, did I miss anything? How do you feel when you release a book? Comment below!

 

Summer Reading Program Library Appearances in King County

I have some great news that I hope local folks will add to your calendars. I have my schedule for summer workshops for King County Library System.

Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes for ages 9+

I will show students how to draw aliens and their environments using basic shapes. Drawing, perspective, and observation techniques are covered. Other topics of discussion may include planets and moons within our solar system and planetary systems outside our solar system, both fictional and real.

STREAM Science & Arts

Audience: Elementary 9+, but we welcome everyone!

Drawing Aliens and Superheroes is part of the 2015 King County Library Summer Reading Program “Every Hero Has a Story”

and Designing Concept Space Ships for Science Fiction and Comics for teens

In this workshop, we will discuss plausible spaceships and show students how to draw them using basic shapes. Drawing, perspective, and observation techniques are covered. Discussion includes the myths of space travel in popular media and exciting current or soon to be tech. Depending on audience, other topics may include time dilation, multiple universe theory, oxygen gardens, radiation shielding, aliens, and where to find inspiration.

Spaceship Concept by Elizabeth Guizzetti

STREAM Science Technology Engineering Arts

Target Audience:  Teen (ages 13-18) but all are welcome!

June 17: Designing Concept Space Ships for Science Fiction and Comics – Greenbridge Library 1:30 – 3:30 pm

June 18: Designing Concept Space Ships for Science Fiction and Comics – Fairwood Library 7 PM – 9 pm

June 29: Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Enumclaw Library 4 – 5 pm

July 8: Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Covington Library 1 -2 pm

July 8: Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Kirkland Library 7-8 pm

July 9 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes– Snoqualmie Library 3 -4 pm

July 11 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Maple Valley Library 2 -3 pm

July 12 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes– Sammamish Library 3 -4 pm

July 14 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Woodinville Library 2 -3 pm

July 20 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Foster Library 7 -8 pm

July 21 Designing Concept Space Ships for Science Fiction and Comics – Auburn Library 1:30 – 3:30 pm

July 27 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Kenmore Library 7 – 8 pm

July 28 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Greenbridge Library 3 -4 pm

July 29 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Black Diamond Library 2 – 3pm

July 31 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Woodmont Library 1 -2 pm

August 4 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Valley View Library 2 -3 pm

August 5 Designing Concept Space Ships for Science Fiction and Comics – Newcastle Library 6:30 – 8:30

August 6 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Bellevue Library 1 -2 pm

August 8 Drawing Comic Books Aliens and Superheroes – Algona Pacific Library 11am – 12 pm

August 11 Designing Concept Space Ships for Science Fiction and Comics – Kent Library 3:30 – 5:30 pm

ECCC here we come…

We will be at Booth 505 at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend. ECCC is the premier comic book and pop culture convention in the pacific northwest!  If you are looking for us, we are exhibiting under my name: Elizabeth Guizzetti.

 

Here is what you will fine at our booth:

Out for Souls & Cookies 5 will debut this weekend and we have copies of all the back issues including the Christmas Special.

We also have paperback copies of Other Systems and all three issues of Faminelands.

We will be giving away swag. We will be having a huge giveaway at our booth.  You can win everything from sketches to postcard sets to books.

Aubry Andersen will be in my booth representing Fuzzy Hedgehog Press selling paperback copies of  The Winter and The Spring as well as Zachary Bonelli’s novel Voyage: Embarkation

We hope to see you there!

What I like best about being an author…

Lady Mira with pistolI have always been an avid reader of any genre of speculative fiction, but I became a lover of  non-fiction after I became became an author. Both short essays and longer books.

I have always been an avid reader of any genre of speculative fiction, but I became a lover of  non-fiction after I became became an author. Both short essays and longer books.

An author has to often be a dilettante. They must learn about something enough to write about it convincingly. I get a lot of joy from encountering the BIG Idea for a manuscript then figuring out what I need to research. As I previously wrote about in this blog post back in ’12: I do not believe in general research, I believe in specific targeted research.

I love the fact that this research builds upon itself with each story. In Other Systems, I learned about astronomy, nautical terms and what flight lessons are like and difficulties that astronauts go through in low gravity. Later, I used some of this knowledge for Unintentional Colonists and even a bit when I described the Expanse in The Martlet. And I am currently working on a short ghost story about orbital clutter that is also using some of the same research.

This is even true with the graphic novels. In Lure, I learned about a stampeder’s journey and hardships during the Yukon Goldrush and in Faminelands, I learned about archery and swordsmanship. All of that knowledge was used  again in the The Martlet‘s manuscript.

Even so my research got really focused when I was working on The Martlet. So much so that my husband said it was creepy to come in our apartment and find Cause of Death : A Writer’s Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine on the the bathroom counter and On Killing and Poisons (Howdunit Series) on the kitchen table. Now there is a shelf full of books about killing, poisons, and early medical research.

 So that’s my favorite part of being an author: freaking my husband out with strange facts that I have learned.

2013: #ECCC Confessions from Booth 1006

Okay I started this on Facebook, but then realized this was really a blog post. So some of these are repeats from this morning. These are things I actually said over the course of this weekend and thoughts going on in my head.

2013: #ECCC Confessions from Booth 1006: Exhibiting as Elizabeth Guizzetti

Maria and I in the booth!

How does it feel to be a woman in a man’s field?

In my head: huh? Man’s field? What do you think this is 1950?

Spoken answers:

• When I started Faminelands six years ago, I didn’t know comics were a “male-dominated” industry. I just thought it would be fun to try to write a graphic novel. I have been doing indie comics and when I look around, I see plenty of other ladies. So I didn’t really break the “rules” as much as no one told me I could or couldn’t do what I do. More and more women write books all the time.
• I have never been discriminated against as a woman–or if I have– I was simply too dense to notice. Sometimes being thick is good. 😉
• I did not know Other Systems was hard scifi when I wrote it. I did not know I was breaking into a man’s genre. I didn’t even consider my audience. I wrote a book I liked and listened to when and where Dennis groaned when he watched StarTrek.

HERE IS MORE TRUTH. Not a single thing has to do with me being a woman. I want to be considered a great author, not a great “woman author.” My reproductive organs have nothing to do with writing! Here is some stuff that matters:

• I spent six months researching the gold rush to make Lure as real as possible. 
•  I am a good dog-mom/alpha-dog/whatever to Rosie and Tycho so they continually feed me inspiration for Out for Souls&Cookies.
• I wrote three graphic novels in the Faminelands Universe in a way that made me feel I never ruined the story.
• I am damn (a stronger 4-letter word is more appropriate, but don’t want to embarrass my folks) proud that my worst reviews of Other Systems is there is too much science, exploring and not enough romance. I spent three months researching scientific theory alone, so of course there was a lot of science! Come on people! 

When is the sequel to Other Systems etc?

• I am working on one now.

But when?

• I don’t just push out books to get them out on the market. Sorry, you have to wait, but good sequels take time. Don’t worry, I always announce my sequels early.

A follow up to #5: Do you want to know how to make [Insert title] better?

In my head: Oh my god, did they see Malak’s jacket on page 41 in Mareton’s Curse? It was not rendered with as much care as every other piece of an image and if that wasn’t bad enough, the crappy looking coat makes his head looks pasted on!!! NOOOOOO!

• No thank you, once a book is out, it is what it is. No one is more critical than I am, but I know better than to keep obsessing over it.

How is it to work with your bff?

• I love Maria, but we do sometimes disagree. That is a fact in any friendship, but how do we stay friends? We have had a business contract since the beginning of all of this.

Why did you write Faminelands?

• Because I like elves. I admit it. Now that the trilogy is complete, I am working on The Martlet for the same reason.

Hey There…

• No, you can’t buy me a drink later, I am married.

Follow up to Question 8: then where is your ring?

• See this tattoo? (On my ring finger on my left hand.)

Where is your husband?  (Actually this year he had the flu, but this question is asked every year and even if he wasn’t sick, it is not Dennis’ job to man the booth.)

• Well it’s [insert day] so he’s probably home playing computer games, but he might have gone to a movie or something. Dennis does not have to hang out in my booth for me to know he loves me. I don’t hang out in his office. What you think that’s different? You are wrong, because this is my job. And no, you still can’t buy me that drink.

I want to do indie comics or write books or…. ?

Most days I say: Well it’s hard work but I love it. I write or draw every day and by the end of the year I have a novel. I love the work. 🙂

It’s the truth, but somedays I wish I could say to an attendee: Look, I work 40-60 hour work weeks with very little financial reward. But to me it’s not about the money. Sure I would love to have the money. I would build a big pool of gold like Scrooge McDuck and swim in it. However I think writing and drawing comics and novels are worth it even if I don’t ever have a commercial hit. I’m not even trying to have a commercial success in the way most people consider it.

Seriously if I wanted money, I would write porn–oh sorry I mean “erotica” or go back to painting baby room murals. That’s where the money is, however, that is not who I am. I write stories that my mother will not be ashamed to show her friends, I can be proud of that I paste my name all over it and hopefully makes the reader see beyond themselves. I love to do the research, I love to stretch my skills and to see myself getting better and better every year. That’s my reward. IF and ONLY IF that reward will be enough, then stop making excuses and get off your sorry butt and get to work…. 

But if I ever said that I think Maria would kill me or at least push me out of the booth and tell me to go buy us cookies.

Faminelands #3 Mareton’s Curse has been released into the big wide world

Faminelands Mareton’s Curse is available starting today! You can buy it in our store.

Sequalization of the Webcomic has started!  From today until sometime next year, each Friday by noon PST, I will be updating Faminelands.com with a single page of the story. Page 2 is up now. If anyone wants to get caught up The Carp’s Eye and Living Stone are also there, just hit double back and you can go to the beginning.

Note: I use the physical page numbers on the webcomic. Also though I know I am doing it backwards, I actually finish and release the book prior to the webcomic since I never write anything in order.

If anyone is in Seattle, Maria and I will be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend at Booth 1006. Stop on By! We will be raffling off the original inked image of Lark to the left and continuing our Like to Win ZB Publications Facebook Page giveaway until March 3rd at the close of the Con. We hope to see you there!

Emerald City Comic Con–Here we come!

So I am heading out to pick up our badges today for Emerald City Comic Con the largest comic book and pop culture convention in the pacific northwest! I also will bring one suitcase of display items and banners so I can do the basic table set up. Maria and I will haul the inventory together tomorrow. She gets here at 10 am and the con opens at 2pm so we have plenty of time for finishing set up and lunch.

Maria and I will be at Booth 1006 this year. The con is bigger than ever before.  We will also have some help from my niece, Jessica. We wil be “elfing-out” to celebrate the release of Faminelands #3. Come by for free postcard sets, bookmarks and other goodies. We have a special prize for anyone who buys the entire set. We also will be having a raffle with a hand drawn image of Lark and you can get your photo taken with people who dress up as elves to sell you a series of books.

We will be handing out buttons, postcards and excerpts for Other Systems. We also have news on The Martlet and Out for Souls&Cookies to share.

There will be plenty of celebrities, media guests, artists and authors. If you are in Seattle, come check it out!