I Love DIY So Much (DIY Religion?)

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

I love DIY so much. For me, it is not just about arts n crafts, I do and teach DIY religion. (Okay, now that I’ve said that, you know some sleazy publisher or author is gonna steal the line, and there’ll be a book called “DIY Spirituality” within a few months. And it will be the same ol’ quickly written junk, argh. Okay, end of tirade.) Anyway, I love DIY, so I wish I had time to blog about all the stuff I do, bc I love sharing the journey, but, heh, then I would not have time to do it, LOL. Good grief, I was only going to post pics of the wreaths I just finished. But got off on a tangent re DIY. (Can you tell i am a bit manic? Was trying to do a quick post, nothing about religion or sleaze, just two pics and a few sentences about them, but I got overrun by my own brain! To quote Buffy, “You have too many thoughts!” Someone should tell me that!) Now to my originally intended post:

I harvested grape vine from my yard a few months back, and made 5 wreaths and 5 swags. I also dried hot peppers. This weekend, i made tiny wreaths with some of them. (Note how tiny by comparing to penny.) I feel so good to have done this. For one thing, it helps my   homesickness for California, where hot pepper wreaths are common. If it is useful info for ya, i used a glue gun to attach the peppers, and used thin wire to hold the wreaths themselves together. I have two more wreaths and four swags left to ornament. Happy DIY to ya!

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Beloved Fellow Seeker, Thank you for your spiritual journey, because I can’t grow spiritually alone.

I wrote a book, out of gratitude for you and love for you: “Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast: A Daily Reader for Busy Parents and Their Children . . . and for Any Way-Busy Person.”

Spiritual reading that fits into your day and supports travelers of any spiritual path.

Only available from the author. Buy it here: http://etsy.me/W5GJs4 Thank you again!

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Haiku

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

Picture Poem, Francesca De Grandis

Into the winter,
I lack words for my feelings.
But I do trust them.

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Beloved Fellow Seeker, Thank you for your spiritual journey, because I can’t grow spiritually alone.

I wrote a book, out of gratitude for you and love for you: “Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast: A Daily Reader for Busy Parents and Their Children . . . and for Any Way-Busy Person.”

Spiritual reading that fits into your day and supports travelers of any spiritual path.

Only available from the author. Buy it here: http://etsy.me/W5GJs4 Thank you again!

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Writer’s Silly Gratitude Moment . . . with Cat

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

Scroll down for a silly gratitude moment: me waving proofed index pages around (good grief! But I was happy, plus I like sharing my writing process) after I finally finished proofing galleys. My cat helped!

And the book is available now! Click here.

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Revised Back Cover and Cute Kitty Pic

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

Hiya, ok, I created more white space. It took finagling, so most of the changes are subtle. But they made a huge difference, at least to me; the overall visual flow seems to evoke magic, though maybe I am deluded after all the hours I’ve spent on this. And if that flow is there, maybe I didn’t notice it before, objectivity is so hard.

I also fixed the paragraph that I was worried might seem bio instead of book description (it starts “Mystic and poet,”) and fixed a few other things. Still need to proof it against the original text file. I wish I could put the blurbs in a different font but all the ones I tried did not work.

I put up this newer version below in case anyone still wants to give feedback, which I would love. Old publishing saw: The more eyes looking at it, the better.  Below the cover is your reward: Another pic of my cute kitty.

Oh, the back might not make sense if you haven’t seen the front, which is here.

Unproofed back cover. The cover does not have a gray border, I put that there to distinguish it from the rest of the blog.


 And I am now going to eat lunch, woohoo! Thanks!

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Updates re My Book, the Fundraiser, and My “Authorly” Life

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

Hiya, the fundraiser brought in a total of $675, for which I am crazy-grateful. I feel such love for and from everyone who helped! I hope the gratitude I expressed to each of them (privately) conveyed my enormous appreciation. I’ll enjoy makings the talismanic art promised to donors of $100 or more, though I have no time for that til the book is back from the printer—I want to do the talismanic work really well for them.

Help proofing galleys (yes, she is sitting on top of
them, completely covering them).

Worked on the back cover til 1 a.m. yesterday. It is the weekend now, and I worked on it more today. But hopefully it is finished. What you see below is unproofed. Tomorrow, I’ll proof it against the text file, plus have someone check it for problems I might have missed re text, art, layout, or anything else—so if you see a glitch of any kind, please speak up. If you see no glitches after looking carefully at it, please speak up! Also have to proof galleys, etc., tomorrow, so the book can go to the printer Tuesday, yes! I do not know why I continue to think that someday publishing a book will be easy, LOL, but I love musing with my Muse, despite all. And I won’t have to work full-time this weekend, which is good.

Sitting on galleys, but is too cute for me to move her. So I have to take a break. Kittens are good teachers.

Okay, scroll down to see back cover, I worked hard so want to share it, and would love feedback—good, bad, or indifferent about any aspect of it.

Oh, the back might not make sense if you haven’t seen the front, which is here.

 

 

 

Unproofed back cover. The cover does not have a gray border, I put that there to distinguish it from the rest of the blog.

Woohoo, reserve your copy, this is a limited edition. And now I’m gonna go make a hamburger for dinner. Yes!

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A Self-Publishing Author’s Life

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

Hiya, Everything will be ready to go the printer within a week or two. Right now, I’m proofing galleys. How’s this for crazy: Write a book, create graphics, have graphics for almost every page, do the book cover, do the layout, all yourself? Yes, crazy, but I am loving doing this project anyway.

Still, I’m exhausted. Yesterday, proofing galleys, I found an error that took me two hours to fix. Argh! Anybody who thinks being an author—even if self-published—frees you from constant deadlines, crazy amounts of  pressure, and overwhelming, mind-numbing minutia, never went the whole nine yards of writing and publishing a book. As someone once said, “Publishing a book is like doing your taxes 100 times.” But I really think it’s worth it.

The error that took two hours to fix was 15 lines of text missing, and I could not add page count to fix the error. I had to finagle 9 pages, everything from graphics, to font size, to language. The upside: tightened language. I didn’t cut any ideas, but I was able to tighten language in about ten places that I’d tried to tighten earlier but could not think of a way to do so until yesterday. That’s exciting to me.

Being an OCD perfectionist makes me a good proofer.

I am delighted that, this time, I am managing to proof galleys without becoming insane. In the past, I usually did it in a frenzied state of terror, because I know that any mistakes I miss will be the subject of a vicious attack by some hater online. But this time I realize that if I get crazy while proofing, those haters have won. So I’m proofing in a fairly serene manner. Which probably, LOL, makes me more likely to spot any mistakes.

Presales start today, woohoo, reserve your copy, this is a limited edition.

Okay, back to proofing. Sigh. But it is worth it, I do believe, I do believe in Faeries! Oh, the following graphic is hopefully the final cover, finished it yesterday. If you spot a mistake, lemme know!

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Update #2 Re Fundraiser

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

There’s still time to donate. I’m almost done with layout, then I finish the index, we proof galleys, I make the cover, and then the book gets printed (about two weeks from now). I put a couple of the book’s graphics into this post.

The fundraiser to cover the cost of producing this book has thus far raised $475, which is not near the money needed. I don’t care. For one thing, I feel so loved by and connected to the folks who made financial contributions. They believed in me. Another reason I don’t care is that the reason most people don’t donate (aside from not having any money) is that they don’t realize publishing entails a whole slew of costs, and that authors are lucky to break even on a project. The final reason I don’t care about how little money has been raised thus far is that I believe in the importance of this book regardless. If need be, I’ll go into debt to cover the major portion of its costs. That is “crazy,” given my meager finances. But I trust my Gods’ll take care of me financially if I do the work that They inspire in me.

But I would prefer this community project be community financed. Please donate. See below.

For you who like hearing about creative process, my latest on this book is: LOL, layout is hard and time intensive. Extra so, because most of this book’s pages have to be laid out individually. Each ornamentation is a different size and shape, and I am usually placing the text along its contours, which requires its page be laid out specifically for it. But I’m proud of the work I’m doing. I think it is gonna look great! Another challenge I feel good about is that, after I laid out the first 10 pages or so, I realized the maximum page count I cld afford to print wld not allow ornamentations to increase page numbers. So what I’ve done is see how each individual page’s words lay out, then fit a graphic to that. (There are a handful of pages with no graphics but most have them.) Sometimes this requires creating ornamentation to fit that space, or building one right there on the page. It is a lot of work but I want this book to be nice to hold and to feel good to look at as you read. This is my first time using a layout program, so next time will be easier. But developing each page is a trip, I’ve even used some of the graphics behind the print, like a watermark. Sometimes, that meant doing a page over and over til the print was still easy to read. Eg, I’d keep moving and/or resizing a graphic til its more dense parts were not behind any words. I’m enjoying making the text, ornamentations, and the bit of calligraphy all work together. Creating is the bomb!

About the Final Project:

There will be a limited 1st edition printing—each copy numbered —of about 300 copies. (I doubt I’ll manage a second printing.)

I’m happy to return to my roots and produce a chapbook again, though it is an unusual format: a saddle-stitched (center-stapled) spiritual text of (approximately) 72 pages, with old-fashioned black and white ornamentations, which I painted.

The goal is $1200-2600, for printing and other publishing costs, raised within the next few weeks.

I’ll contact donors about whether they choose to be mentioned on the acknowledgement page.

Please support community by supporting this book:

Donate $50. You reserve a numbered copy of this limited first edition printing. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

Donate $100 to reserve two numbered copies of this limited first edition. Plus, I’ll make a talisman channeled especially for you. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

Donate $250 for two early-numbered copies of this limited first edition. Plus a talisman channeled especially for you. I will also paint a digital fantasy portrait of you, or a pet, or a friend, suitable for online viewing as well as for sending to a printer if you want a hard copy. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

Donate $500. Receive two numbered copies, starting with #1, first come first serve. Plus an amulet, digital fantasy portrait, and a copy of The Ecstatic Goddess with a painted cover. Only ten copies of The Ecstatic Goddess—a self-published limited first edition—are still available. The book has a black and white cover, but I painted the cover of four copies. Two books with painted covers are available. This page will say when two people have donated $500, AKA the painted cover option is no longer available. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

Thank you for your supportive, enchanted cameraderie, Francesca De Grandis

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Why This Anarchist Votes

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

There is so much on the line in our country right now, so I want to share four reasons I voted in the last presidential election (which is when I wrote this piece). They are same reasons I’ll vote this time, too:

Reason 1) I’ll admit that just about the only difference between a Republican and a Democrat is that the latter dresses better. However, my insightful cynicism stops dead in its tracks when I realize another difference: A Democrat in power would help prevent endless numbers of women dying from illegal butcher-job abortions. My anarchist ideology is something to be ashamed of, if I allow a single person to needlessly die just for my rhetoric.

Life before legal abortion was ugly. Finally changing the law banning abortion took an incredibly difficult struggle. Once that hard-won headway is lost, it will take a long time to regain. During that time, many will die.

Reason 2) I’m really an anarchist. So I don’t let ideology (even anarchist ideology!) limit me. Instead, I embrace the power of chaos, which entails using any legal, moral tool that’ll get a job done. Voting is one such tool. To let the poverty of many American citizens continue in the name of anarchy makes a parody of anarchy. I want to live my rhetoric, not just spout it.

Reason 3) I want the power to make a difference. I won’t fall into the trap of thinking, “Since all politicians suck (the government structure sucks, America sucks, the Electoral College idea sucks . . . ), I’ll take a stand by not voting.” That won’t actually give me power. That’s rejecting a power I actually do have. It’s kind of like being four years old and getting so angry and infantile that you pack up your marbles and go home. If I don’t stay in the game, I can’t win. Then Mother Earth dies. Voilá: no home.

Our anger needn’t immobilize us. Healthy, but misapplied, anger can keep people from creating social change. The above is an example: Some Americans, upset by political corruption, feel that not voting is a way to take a stand, a way to say something. As a result, they forsake what power they do have. Unscrupulous politicians are then more likely to win elections and make damaging decisions.

Reason 4) I figured, “Sure, Bush will probably declare some sort of emergency that will necessitate him seated at the oval office desk until his 24-year-old nephew Jeb Bush, Jr. is old enough for the job. Can you say MONARCHY?” However, acting against all odds is the only way any real change has ever happened. Believing in the impossible is a prerequisite for ground-breaking revitalization of a society.

I also felt that I couldn’t risk another president as bad as him just because the odds were good that they’d once again disregard the voters’ choice. We can’t afford to ignore the long shots available. They may be all we have.

And I’ll use any legal, ethical recourse we have–because doing so is the difference between people who just whine and people who save lives.

Why This Anarchist Votes is an excerpt from Share My Insanity: It Improves Everything, available in my online shop, and on Amazon.

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Update Re Fundraiser

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

Hiya, Only raised $200 so far, but I feel so connected to the folks who donated.

 I will self-publish the book whether I raise enough money or not.

I don’t know how many more books I can publish this lifetime. So if I don’t raise enough $, I’ll borrow it to create the best possible book. E.g., instead of letting funds limit the project in any crucial way, I am going to use the page ornamentations I painted.

I complained to a friend about how challenging this fundraising is. I told her that many people think, “Why should I contribute money when the author will make a bundle?” Fact is, an author is lucky to break even on a book. Actually lucky! Movies depict a fictitious publishing world. For example, a new author receives a $25,000 advance? Wrong! Nowadays, advances are about $2,000, with exceptions like Stephen King or being hired by a corporation to write its history. What’s happening to the economy has impacted every business.

I hope for a profit but it will probably be small, if I even break even. Beverly Macy, executive producer of Gravity Summit TV, said, “Crowd funding is important for innovation, disruption, and causes.”

About the Project:

There will be a limited 1st edition printing, each copy numbered. It will be 50-300 copies, depending on how much money I raise. (I don’t know if I’ll manage a second printing.)

My hope and vision is an unusual format: a wee saddle-stitched (center-stapled) spiritual text with old-fashioned black and white ornamentations—which I have already painted—throughout its pages.

The goal is $1200-2600, for printing and other publishing costs, raised within the next few weeks. I planned to stop fundraising by now but rewrites are, of course, taking longer than expected, then comes layout, so I have a few more weeks to raise money.

Finances aside, I want you to be a part of this because money is a form of community support and trust. Writing from the heart and self-publishing—instead of kowtowing to corporate media—are hard and scary; donations mean I am not alone in this. I need my community.

When fundraising ends, I’ll contact donors about whether they choose to be mentioned on the acknowledgement page.

Fellow mystic travelers, please support a book that supports the wild heart:

Donate $50. You reserve a numbered copy of this limited first edition printing. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

 

 

 

Donate $100 to reserve two numbered copies of this limited first edition. Plus, I’ll make a talisman channeled especially for you. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

 

 

Donate $250 for two early-numbered copies of this limited first edition. Plus a talisman channeled especially for you. I will also paint a digital fantasy portrait of you, or a pet, or a friend, suitable for online viewing as well as for sending to a printer if you want a hard copy. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

Donate $500. Receive two numbered copies, starting with #1, first come first serve. Plus an amulet, digital fantasy portrait, and a copy of The Ecstatic Goddess with a painted cover. Only ten copies of The Ecstatic Goddess—a self-published limited first edition—are still available. The book has a black and white cover, but I painted the cover of four copies. Two books with painted covers are available. This page will say when two people have donated $500, AKA the painted cover option is no longer available. Go to www.paypal.com: Use outlawbunny@outlawbunny.com as the Recipients Email.

Thank you for your support, because I cannot serve my community without my community’s support, Francesca De Grandis

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Shut-In—Virtual Tagging

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Francesca De Grandis

A shut-in can do virtual tagging.
 Share this graphic!

These are the times that define us.—Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (of course!)

Heh, tagging by a shut-in. I even had to create a brick wall to tag, LOL. But I loved figuring out how to go about it. I painted 10 layers, bit by bit building a brick effect. (Except for obviously typed words, I paint on the computer screen, the same way one would on canvas, brush stroke by brush stroke.) Being shut-in spurs my creativity.

You can click on the painting to see it large and without the blurring that occurs when WordPress shrinks a pic to fit the page.

My art is on sale at http://etsy.me/6biFY9 : talismanic decorations for your body, home, and spirit.

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