Merry Hi Friends!

I don’t know about all of you, but my November has been quite full. In fact, it’s been so chock full it got away from me when I stopped to regroup. When I came up for air it was already the 24th!

The month started with my leap into trying to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. November is National Novel Writing Month. http://nanowrimo.org Thousands of aspiring (and published) authors from around the world drop everything to attempt writing a 50,000 word novel in a month. I didn’t make it this year, but my word count is double what I managed last year, so I am pretty pleased.

Next up, I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Annual Fall Conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Missouri chapter. I spoke about the process of creating art for picture books from start to finish. See below if you’d like to have me speak at your school, club, group or event. I hold workshops on the publishing process, as well as teaching Pagan centered crafts or workshops.

Right about the same time, I was given my first case as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. http://www.nationalcasa.org/ It’s a volunteer position, but a lot of work. I speak for a child in the foster care system to make sure his/her needs are met and that he/she is placed in a loving, safe and permanent home as soon as possible after being brought into care.

With the recent Thanksgiving holiday just past this week, it only seems fitting to thank each and everyone of you for supporting me in my dreams and career. Without your emails, comments and yes, book purchases, I could not continue to live my dream of writing and illustrating fun and entertaining books for children.

Yule is just around the corner, and many of us are tightening our belts until it hurts. Still, we do want to give gifts to our loved ones. Please consider adding one of my books to the list. Dollar for dollar books are a better investment than most other forms of entertainment. Do your part to help support your local
businesses and buy locally and through independent retailers and booksellers whenever you can. Magical Child Books has made locating your local independent book seller easy. At the bottom of each book’s web page (along side the link to amazon) is an buy Indy link. You click on the link and type in your zip code and the 5 closest book stores to you will be listed with all their contact information.

Below are all my books currently available on the publisher’s web site: http://magicalchildbooks.com, amazon and other online book stores or your favorite book seller.

AN ORDINARY GIRL, A MAGICAL CHILD
Written and illustrated by W. Lyon Martin
Magical Child Books — Trade Picture Book - Available NOW!!!
An Ordinary Girl follows Rabbit, a young Pagan child through the wheel of the Year. Readers follow along with her as she celebrates Wiccan holidays, rituals and spells.

AIDAN’S FIRST FULL MOON CIRCLE
Written and illustrated by W. Lyon Martin
Magical Child Books — Trade Picture Book - Available NOW!!!
An interactive picture book. With hidden pictures in the main story, children get to help a friendly squirrel gather acorns for the coming winter, all the while learning the basics of a Wiccan Full Moon gathering.

WATCHERS
Written and illustrated by W. Lyon Martin
Magical Child Books — Trade Picture Book - Available NOW!!!
Based on a poem by Kelley Magee, this book is a bedtime story filled with subtle Pagan symbols in the illustrations. The hero, Thomas, is worried about the eyes watching him in the dark. He hatches a plan to capture them only to find out what he fears is really there to protect him.

Due for release to booksellers in FEBRUARY 2009
RABBIT’S SONG
Written by S. J. Tucker and Trudy Herring; illustrated by W. Lyon Martin
Magical Child Books — Trade Picture Book
Is currently only available for purchase through the publisher’s web site. A limited number of autographed copies (S.J., Trudy and my signatures are all there for you!) are still available. Buy before December 13th to assure delivery in time for Yule gift giving. Plus, as a special bonus for people placing
pre-orders for Rabbit’s Song, you will receive a MP3 file of Trudy and SJ reading a special story available no where else.. This is a limited time offer and is only available for those placing pre-orders for the book. The MP3 file will be removed from the servers on February 14th, the official release date of the book.

At Magical Child Books you can see inside pages of the books, read reviews and even find teaching guides. You can even leave your own reviews in the publisher’s shopping cart if you want to share your own views on the books.

Freebies:
This month’s coloring page is “L” of the ABC’s of Lesser Know Goddesses. Leucothea is a sea Goddess known for fostering the baby Dionysus. Go to the group’s web site to download this and previous coloring pages. If your budding artist sends me their masterpiece after coloring it in, I’ll post it on my blog. (Please keep files under 1 MG please.) Remember the monthly coloring pages are archived at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magicalchildnews/. Let me know if you have a favorite Goddess who you think will be a good addition to the pages. We are only half way through the alphabet, so any letters we haven’t covered (M-Z) are still open for suggestions.

Visits:
To invite me to speak at your school or event, learn more at
http://magicalchild.handcraftedpagan.com/workshops/ or email me at lyon@handcraftedpagan.com.
To view my current schedule of events, go to http://magicalchild.handcraftedpagan.com/bio/appearances/. NOTE: Due to my current involvement as a CASA, I am limiting appearances in 2009 and 2010.

Note:
Again, I appreciate your continued interest in the milestones in this amazing career of mine and hope you’ll invite your friends and family to learn more about my books and enjoy my free downloads by sending them to the links above. Of course, I don’t want to bug you, so if you’d rather not hear about these things, you can always unsubscribe. But I sure hope you’ll stick around to share
this exciting trip!

Bright Blessings,
Lyon

Children’s Book Writer & Illustrator
http://www.handcraftedpagan.com

August has been quite the month. It was my intention of blogging a new post every few days, and I was doing pretty well for a while. But we all know that life has a way of derailing even the best intentioned plans. I guess some of you who were coming by thought to yourselves, “Now, why don’t she write?” I’ll tell you.

First off, picture book art creation is a very labor intensive activity. Most talented artists I know make it look easy, but, trust me, it’s as easy as pushing a 2 ton boulder up Mt. Everest. Often times, I spend hours staring at a blank piece of paper while my characters yammer on in my head telling me what they want to do and where they think they should be and how they should look when doing it. Before I put the first pencil line to paper, I have to have a really clear vision of what the page will look like when done. Then I have to take that vision and make my hands cooperate in getting it all down on the paper the way I see it in my head. Along the way, some of what I see in my head changes to make for better flow and visual interest. Sometimes, what I end up with on the page is what I first saw in my head, but not often. My preliminary sketches can take hours to get to the point where I am satisfied with them. I get super focused and suffer from a type of tunnel vision where all I can think about is the next page of the book. It’s a kind of madness.

I am in the throws of creative madness currently, and August arrives with a bang.

I was approved for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) training (Voices for Children) which started on August 5th at the court house in St. Louis. My husband had taken some time off from work and was also headed into ST. Louis for his Kokondo classes. So I offered to drive him to his class, go to mine and return to pick him up when it was over. I dropped him off without any trouble, but got lost trying to get back to the highway. No biggy. I am good at being lost, I just drive until I come to a place where I know where I am and self correct from there. It all worked out, I got to the first training session with 10 minutes to spare. I met one of my class mates at the security check in and she made the comment that she hoped there wouldn’t be any homework. From her lips to Loki’s ears. We each received a 6″ thick binder full of information. The facilitator told us there would also be handouts at every session. There are 8 other women in the class, by the facilitator’s account, a large class. We then learned how very complicated our role as the child advocate really is. Yikes. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into! We were assigned the first two sections in our manual to read by Thursday’s session.

After the session I drove back to my husband’s karate class to pick him up. There was a spectacular light show in the sky most of the way, and then the sky opened up just as I arrived at the church where the classes are held. He finished up the session and we headed home, commenting on the bright flashes of lightening that lit up the sky the whole trip.

When we got home it was close to 10 pm. The phone in the living room seemed to need a charge. We got ready for bed and called it a day.

The next morning I came into the studio to boot up my computer and get to work only to discover that there was no electricity in the room. My husband opened the basement door and discovered there was no electricity there either. He grabbed a flashlight and went to the breaker box and flipped the switches back on. I booted up my computer and tried to check my email. No luck. The machine just wouldn’t stay connected to the internet. So I called AT&T and was told they had a service outage in ST Louis and Manchester and that it would be fixed by about noon. I pull out my CASA manual and read the first section. I work on Rabbit’s Song. I wait patiently for noon to roll around. We eat lunch and both head into the studio to check email.

I boot up my computer and get online long enough to see that I have email, but not long enough to do anything about it. My husband discovers that he can’t boot up his computer at all. I walk into the other room to grab the phone and discover that it is still not charged. I check the other phone for a dial tone. It’s working fine. The computer guru is called and he says he’ll show up at 9 am on Thursday morning. My husband heads out for an appointment and I work some more on Rabbit’s Song. Then I head out to pick up a new phone to replace the one in the living room. I also pick up a few last minute items for a trip I have scheduled for Friday. My flight leaves at 6:15 am, so I pack as much as I can except for a few last minutes things. Then I try and get online again. Still no joy. I get back on the phone with AT&T (by now it’s after 5 pm) and spend the next hour or so crawling around under desks plugging and unplugging cords and rebooting and resetting the internet system according to the tech guy’s instructions. To say the least, by the end of the hour I am less then amused and somewhat grumpy. He decides he can’t help me fix whatever the deal is and bumps it up to the real techs. They will call me within the next 4 hours. Grumble. It’s close to 7 by the time I get off the phone with him. I pick up my CASA book and dive into Section 2. An hour later AT&T calls and tells me that yes, there is a problem (aduh!) but it’s not with their external lines, it has to be somewhere in my lines. Would I prefer a morning or afternoon service call. I chose morning since I have to be in St. Louis in the afternoon for the CASA training and I have yet to perfect the art of being in two places at the same time. Morning it is. Any time between 8 and noon. Gotta love these 4 hour windows. I hang up and continue to read Section 2 until I fall asleep.

I’m up bright and early the next morning, my husband heads off to work and wait for the repair men to make their appearances. I read more of Section 2 while I wait. At 9 on the dot, the computer guru shows up, fiddles around with the PC and makes his pronouncement. He talks briefly on the phone with my husband and packs up the sick computer and leaves shortly after 9:30. Still no AT&T guy. I work some more on Rabbit’s Song. Around 10:30 the AT&T guy makes his appearance. He crawls around on the floor under desks for a while, plugging and unplugging and comes to the conclusion that the router for the DSL is skrootched. He has a replacement in his van. I read more of Section 2 while he installs it and yeah! I have internet again. He leaves, I have lunch and try and finish Section 2. And catch up on the email of two days. Luckily nothing had blown up in internet land, so after shooting off a few emails about the upcoming trip, I am all set. I head up to St. Louis to my training class. I never did get to finish section 2.

After class, I head home and do a final email check and pack the last minute items. I debate whether to stay up or get a couple hours of sleep before I have to rise to catch my flight. I opt for sleep and ask my husband to set the alarm for 2:30. It never went off, but lucky for me, I am a light sleeper so I was up and out of bed at the appointed time anyway. I get to the airport and make my flight without incident. The trip was for my Initiation into Cronehood, which I will blog about another time. I returned home on Monday around 10:30 pm.

When I get home, I find out that the school has called and the kid needs to sign up for classes before 2 on Tuesday. She starts high school next week. I am confused since we already have her class schedule on the fridge. While this wouldn’t be a big deal if she were home, she’s not. She’s been staying in St. Louis with her sister and working with a family friend earning some money. Since hubby has to be in the office, I have to be the one to go and get her and bring her home.

I decide I’ll call the school instead. And no,she doesn’t have to sign up for classes, only come in and get her locker assignment. I ask if I can do it for her since she’s not home. Yes. (Joy! I don’t have to drive back and forth to St. Louis to get her.) I also find out that the school has been holding her last report card because there was a 45¢ balance on her lunch account. I drive to both schools and deal with the paperwork. The I go home and eat lunch and finally pick up my CASA manual and read Section 3 which is due for the evening’s class. This time I do finish the reading assignment.

After class I head to pick up my daughter at her sister’s home. The we drive home. It’s 11 pm by the time we get there, so we all just go to bed.

Wednesday arrives beautiful and sunny. I dive into Rabbit’s Song again and actually make some progress. About mid afternoon, the computer guru calls to ask if he can drop off my husband’s new computer. I tell him to come on over. As he is finishing up re-networking all the computers to the printer my husband arrives home from work. We are in business again. Yeah!

Since it’s been so crazy, there is nothing for dinner in the house, so we head out to eat as a family. On the way my husband comments that his check battery light is lit on his dash board and he’ll have to get that checked. We have nice dinner. We come back home and I read Section 4 for class on Thursday.

Thursday started out normal enough. Husband left for work as usual and I got the kid up to head into St. Louis for her orthodontist appointment. We had plans to go to her back as well. I was in the shower when she told me to call Daddy on his cell phone.

His car had died and he needed me to come save him at the car dealership. So I rush over there, pick him up, run back home and eat breakfast, grab the kid, head to the bank and then we drive up to my husband’s office. I drop him off and take the kid to her appointment afterwards I deliver her back to her sister’s house. The I head home. It’s noon by the time I get back home. I have some lunch and try to focus on Rabbit’s Song. But my head is spinning so much, I don’t accomplish much of anything. At 3 I leave the house, go to the post office, head to my bank and drive to my husband’s office, pick him up and take him to the church for his Kokondo classes and head to the court house for my CASA classes. I got lost again. Only this time I show up late. Oh well. Life happens, right? After class, I drive back to the church to pick him up and I get lost. Grumble.

Ac we are heading home he goes down the list of what his car needed to have done. $$$ Wah! It’s nearly 12 by the time we get in so we just head off to bed.

On Friday, he took my car to the office. In the evening we went to the dealership and picked up his car.

It’s been a very expensive month and it’s only half over.

It’s been a full week and I’ve finally been able to fully unpack. I won’t be leaving town again until August. I’ll fly off to Tucson then to have my Crone Initiation.

Most of the week was spent catching up on paperwork, updating web sites and doing research for the new book. Tuesday, I drove into the city for my face to face interview with the woman from Voices for Children. It went well and I was able to surprise her with my answer to one of the questions. She asked me what I expected to gain from the experience. I told her what I might gain had never even crossed my mind. It hadn’t. I suppose some folks do have ulterior motives for volunteering, but I just want to help.

Thursday, I had to roust the teenager out of bed before noon so we could head into the city to have her braces removed. I strongly recommended she sit down and actually eat something. While we were sitting at the dining room table eating our cereal, the younger cat came into the room. Now you have to understand, this is one really vocal cat. He has been dubbed musical by a friend. He is frequently so talkative that it becomes quite annoying. We often tell him to shut up. He walked up to me and stated MEOWWWWOW! I looked at him and said - Shut up! He looked right back at me and asked Moi? It was quite funny. The Rabbit giggled through the rest of breakfast.

After she had her braces removed we killed time at the mall and did some girl shopping. Had a bite to eat and got her retainer. So the braces are gone. She has now slimmed down even further and a size zero is too large. I have no clue how I am going to cloth her come school. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

This evening, the entire family was home. My hubby decided we needed to take advantage of the situation and do something all together. We went to the movies. We saw Wanted. I must be turning into a real fluff bunny, I found the gratuitous violence and constant use of the “f” word a bit much for me. It must be all the time I spend focused on picture books. In any case, it was a very well done movie, and if you aren’t opposed to lots of splattering blood, I suggest you go see it. Don’t take the little kids though. It was nice to spend time with the hubby and the kid without having to rush off somewhere or do something other than enjoy ourselves.

If it’s been a while since you’ve been by, you’ll notice the web site has a completely new look. Things have finally slowed down enough for me (or maybe I am getting more organized?) to spend some time updating and redecorating the place. I could be in nesting mode or something, I have been renovating and painting the real life house as well.

Since I am an artist and not a programmer, some of the things I still want to do are really giving the old brain pan a work out. I will get them figured out eventually. After all, other people have managed to get such things done on their sites, it’ll just take me while to get that light bulb going off over my head. Now that’s an image.

I am so thrilled with my progress through my to-do list for this week. I have managed to cross off nearly all the items I needed to get done. The last item on the list is the pencil rough for Rabbit’s Song. When I finish it up it will be scanned into the computer and sent to the people who need to approve it. I am half way there, so getting it out by Thursday should be no trouble.

On Friday I head out to Ozark Avalon for a very full 4th of July weekend. The land’s wardens are being handfasted on the 4th. On Saturday I will be giving a craft workshop of Sparkling Spiral Mobiles. On Sunday morning the very popular Family Story time is to occur. I have been rereading and memorizing some of my favorite childhood animal myths and adding the re-tellings to my line up of picture books. The kids love to be read to. I am just amazed at their faces when they hear new stories. I am reminded why I became a picture book author in the first place.

The only thing I didn’t do this week was check my calendar for appointments on Monday. So, all things being equal, I forgot about an appointment yesterday. Der. My daughter was scheduled to have her braces removed. You think she might have remembered as it was her mouth. Oh well, I was able to reschedule for next week. I had better NOT forget again.

Also next week, I have an appointment for an interview. I will be heading into the city to have my entrance interview for Voices for Children to be a child’s advocate in the court system. I’ve spoken to the director several times on the phone, she said I most likely will be accepted into the program. Training starts in August.