Since Shelly has been promoting me so much lately, I thought I'd post a picture of her in front of the "Perpetual Portrait", which looks like it might get done sometime soon. We also put some of her work up on her site.

Well, I started my children's book, but so far I have destroyed every image. While it was my artwork that I took issue with, it also spurred me to pull a book off my shelves and read it. The book is titled, "How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books- And get them published" Duh! I am going through it now section by section and I have come to realize that if I am serious about this, then I must change my approach and plan it better. And I thought this was going to be all fun and play! It is going to be a lot of hard work, but I am determined. I really want to do this!

I am also working on (for over a year now)a manuscript. It is a work of fiction. I have to tell you something a little eerie. The central character, Yvonne, has two adult children, one of whom commits suicide. I wrote this over a year ago, and then my own son committed suicide this year. Needless to say my experience made me go back and rewrite great portions of Yvonne's feelings and reactions to the event. I have about 42,000 words completed; or a third of the book. Painting distracts me, and now I want to start another project? Oh well, I have plenty of time on my hands.