… To the empty screen and the type. (with apologies to John Masefield’s “Sea-Fever”).
But – really – it has been far, far too long since i posted anything. That, of course, was not my intention when i first added a blog to my web site. Back then i was a pretty voracious chronicler of whatever whim and whimsy came my way and wanted to share every thought and observation. But i am also easily distracted by shiny objects – SQUIRREL!!! – and definitely at the mercy of the Creative Writing Muse, who has long been absent.
Of course the other (probably bigger) reason i’ve been away from the blog is the fact that i am a technological dinosaur and only know how to do a very few things on the computer. If some new skill is required, or a troubleshooting problem develops, i am at the mercy of the Cyborg, Cylon, Droid, Cybermen, Borg, and Dahlek Powers That Be (who, as those familiar with nefarious artificial intelligence know, tend to enjoy frakking things up – when they aren’t trying to take over the world or enslave humankind). When the Nestene Consciousness takes over, i am out of my league, and wouldn’t you know – my Sonic Screwdriver is in the shop. My particular techno-glitch was being unable to download an illustration to my last post (even tho i had managed to do it quite easily several times before) and i didn’t know what to do or how to fix it. Fortunately my computer savvy daughter happened to be home at the time and made the necessary adjustments. The crops (or, in this case, illustration) was saved and downloaded. But she is not always here. And i was afraid to try again on my own, just in case i couldn’t get art on the page (because what is an art blog after all without art!?!).
In my defense i was also pretty busy – finishing the illustrations for my newest book, “Solar System Forecast” (just released this month), that were supposed to be done last December but took until January to complete. Then i had to wrap up all the other projects that were put on hold while i struggled with the solar weather pictures (“Solar System Forecast” is about weather on other planets). And next thing you know, i had another book to illustrate (“Balloon Trees”, about how balloons are made. It comes out in 2013) that took up the Summer, followed by a big rush sea turtle poster project that took up the first couple weeks of September. Nine months passed in a frenzied blur and only recently have i emerged from under the debris, cleared my drawing table, and now suddenly have a renewed interest in writing.
And there has been (and still is) soooooo much to write about. I want to explain all the Who’s Who and What’s What in the art of “Meet the Planets” (the blog series i fully expected to start back in January) which, in turn, makes for a lovely segue into the trials and tribulations (and interesting background stories) of illustrating a book about space weather. And after that i would like to describe “Balloon Trees” – hopefully before the thing is published and on the shelves (but i’m not making any promises). I also have several Book Talks, Library Visits, a Book Signing, and a big Presentation (with the terrific author, Marianne Berkes) for the FRA and FAME conferences coming up this Fall that i want to describe. At length. In minute detail.
So this is the start. And if my Bluetooth keyboard will stop losing it’s connection to my computer, and the Creative Writing Muse hangs around for a little while, and i can get future illustrations to attach, and i don’t get distracted by – SQUIRREL!!! – just maybe i’ll get some of these stories finished. We can only hope. Fasten your seatbelts – it’s gonna be a bumpy write.