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/

In search of a good author photo…

Old Author Photo

I admit it. My old author photo was just a vacation shot that I thought I looked really good. It was taken 7 years ago in Italy. It is interesting, but felt dated and also I just don’t look like that anymore. It was time for it to change.

So my friend Rebecca’s brother-in-law has a nice camera and he was willing to loan it to us for the afternoon. Rebecca said she thought she had the skills. We took over 100 images. Some closeups, some far away. Some in the park. One really dark one in my apartment.

Take 1: All the advice says “Be yourself.” So who am I? I’m a hiker.  I am a woman with two poodles. I’m not going to dress like I dress on the trail, but maybe bring in the dogs. There’s one big problem with this. Rosie and Tycho have needs and desires of their own. They never desired to be in an author photo.

Rosie is not amused in this close up.

Tycho wants to come up and be in the picture…except that he doesn’t. He just wants whatever Rosie has. So every time we tried to take a photo. He started wiggling.

Once again trying to get a good shot with the dogs just might not happen, because I got them to look the same way and I’m looking down.

Take 2: I want the photo to look professional, yet still show who I am, but most of the time I am a person who gets the giggles and looks evil.

I love this image of me, but it’s not author photo material. Just as in my old one, I’m laughing. (Also though you can’t see them, Rosie and Tycho are right there)

I might be plotting here. Also the wind is moving my hair around too much.

There’s nothing wrong with this image except I don’t quite look professional. Because I am really smiling, my eyes are squinting shut.

Take 3: Background & Lighting Issues

Okay it wasn’t the gear, but I do live in a ground floor apartment so we had to take photos outside. Outside the light kept changing and the wind likes to blow.

Take 4: I’m simply a goofball.

It’s hard to keep smiling for hours and hours. Eventually things get silly.

Two words: Blue Steel

This is what I like to call the Napoleon

I’m coming for you Seattle! Also I find this shot strangely flattering. My hair looks perfect!

This is the one I liked the best. I didn’t think I would want to be wear my glasses, but I think it looks more professional.

No, I am not unemployed, I was touched by the novel fairy!

The other day, I finished walking the dogs at the arboretum and went to one of my favorite coffee places to grab some breakfast. I go in all the time between 10 and 11. I dress in jeans and a t-shirt. My hair is in a ponytail which I admit is undoubtedly loosened by the wind, but this is Seattle after all. Everyone wears causal dress.

They look cute and cuddly, but really they’re scheming ways to get a bit of my breakfast.

Rosie and Tycho are outside waiting in the car, mournfully staring though the window. They hope I’ll come out soon and that when I do I will give them a taste of whatever I bought.  (Not the espresso–no one wants to see them on espreso–but my breakfast) So I order my croissant and latte. As the barista is pressing my shot, she asks any plans for today. I say something about just walking my dogs at the arboretum and now I am on my way home to work. She says, “Job search?” My first thought is if I didn’t have a job, I wouldn’t have just spent money on breakfast out. “No, I am an author.” I went from impoverished to impressive in a blink of an eye. Did she think I said I was a mystical unicorn? “Wow, you mean you’ve been published?” she asked. “Yes.” I mentioned Other Systems. Then spoke about the other  some science fiction short stories published and self published some comics. Then we talk about her roommate who is an aspiring author. She wanted some advice for him. We write completely different genres. She didn’t really care what I wrote about only that I was an author. As an author, I am automatically: gifted, talented, lucky, articulate, MegaRICH, connected! Most importantly, I was a person who has been blessed by the novel fairy. I handed her a bookmark and told her if her roommate had questions he could always contact me though my book’s website. Wait…you havn’t heard of the novel fairy?
The novel fairy is kind of like the tooth fairy, but  more capacious. She leaves inspiration under the pillow. Sometimes if you were a really good boy or girl, the novel fairy actually leaves a manuscript with a favorable publishing contract attached. I tried to tell the barista my first novel wasn’t published and Other Systems was published by a small press. She did not want to hear it. She certainly didn’t want to hear that I worked fifty hour work weeks. Sadly, hardwork and struggle are not impressive. She would have been disappointed to know I live a comfortable middle class lifestyle is primarily due to my husband’s job. She would have been really disappointed to see my closet/office. She only saw that I was blessed by the novel fairy. I think some people write or want to be an author because they believe it is an easy way to wealth and fame. I wonder how quickly that idea shatters as soon as they realize it is actual work. A while back, Kristen Lamb talked about self discipline on her blog and honestly that’s what got me thinking about this. It is a pet peeve of mine when I hear successful authors say in interviews, “I never set out to be an author…” Ummm. I’m calling BS. “One day, I thought it might be fun…and before I knew it I pooped out a novel. Tee hee…” I’m calling Double BS on that one. Maybe when someone begins writing–it was just a lark, a way to express emotions, or [fill in the blank], however, one day that changed. One day, it became work and the author had to decide to keep going. We sacrifice hobbies, time with friends, a clean house, and sleep to writing a novel. More than that, writing the first draft is not the only piece. Then we rewrite. Then editing. Then another rewrite. More editing. Whether a book is self published, published by a small or traditional press, the author most definitely wanted to be an author at that point. Books don’t magically get published. Books don’t magically get promoted either. It’s a lot of work to bring a book to market. It is a beautiful thing to see a project come to fruition, however it is a lot of hard work. All I can assume is this is an unpopular message, because the myth of the novel fairy is perpetuated. What are some of your favorite or least favorite myths of being an author?

Some days you need a sunbeam

I imagine that my pups are intelligent. They ring a bell to go outside and got the sit and wait commands down. While they are “book smart” and play with dog-genius puzzle toys, sometimes I don’t think they have very much “street smarts.” Because though Rosie left room for her brother in the sun, as you can see, he climbed up on the windowsill to sit in a sunbeam. Oh yeah and then then he started barking because he couldn’t get down. Yep, I am cruel, because I took a picture before I saved him.