Transformation News

For the past year or so, I've struggled with finding time to both write and do cover art, and found that I was putting in far more time (voluntarily and otherwise) doing the artwork. Hence, I decided that what little spare time I had might be better spent focusing on the area that seemed to come more naturally to me: artwork.

With that in mind, I started systematically removing references to any books I still had out there (and am in the process of removing the last one, once the rights are reversed).  At the same time, I started highlighting the digital design work more and more.  I had taken a break from it entirely last summer because the day job was too overwhelming, but am now ready to get back in the ring. 

I also started moving away from the "Kate" name on Facebook, Twitter, etc. because I'd always done the book covers for Cobblestone under the name of Rebecca K. Sterling. (Not that "Kate" is going to disappear entirely, mind you - she'll be back eventually, but with a different genre as well.)
  
So, if you start seeing posts under the names of RK Sterling or Rebecca Sterling, no need to wonder who the heck is that... :)

Meanwhile, my new website is up (more to add and tweak, but wanted to get something out there for now):  http://www.sterlingdesignstudios.com/  It's a bit graphic intensive, so it may take a moment to load.  I'm still figuring out how to handle that.

What news would you like to share?

New Direction

Once again, it has been a while. Since this is actually my first post of 2013 (wow, sorry!) I figured I'd get caught up on what's been going on. The day job has been crazy busy as always.  I've given up thinking that there will ever be any down time, and finally stop torturing myself with thoughts of, "Oh, in just 6 more weeks things will slow down and I'll be able to write/paint/sculpt/do-any-fun-thing-I'd-rather-be doing." 

Because frankly, ain't gonna happen. I've been consistently working anywhere from 50 up to 110 hours a week for the past several years, and I don't think that's going to change until my kid graduates college and can afford to be on her own (at least another 4 years).  At that point (if I'm still alive), I hope to be able to become the starving artist I always wanted to be. :)

Meanwhile, I'll just add in the writing/painting/sculpting/cover art/etc. as I can, try to enjoy it as a hobby for now, and not torture myself thinking that I should be doing more to make a business of it.  The hope is that during the next however-long-it-will-take, I would have at least accomplished a few things that I'll have as a starting point if/when I do have time again.

And believe it or not, 4 - 5 years goes by really quickly.  Heck, I've been doing this blog for 7 years now!  It seems like yesterday...

And I don't regret a minute of it. :) 

And even though I've been working like crazy, I took the time to start my "good year jar", and realized that even in the midst of the insanity and occasional disappointments, I've still been averaging 2 - 3 really good things per week.

How are things going for your 2013?

Coming Out and Shouting Out

Notice anything different about this blog?  I'm working on a new website and updating my blog in preparation.  Since I've been writing under one name, and doing book covers and other art under a different name, I decided to "come out" and combine the two.  (I figure if Steve Malley can do it, why shouldn't I?) :) 

(Quick shout out, Go Steve!)

As for the title, I can't decide if it should be "creatively squared" or "creativity squared" and would be interested in hearing your opinion. Or do you think something else altogether?  All opinions are welcome - even if they are half-baked, cracked, and not worth listening to. :)

Meanwhile, I also want to congratulate Amber Scott and Edie Ramer on their Kindle success. (The crowd goes wild....Yaayyyyyyyyyy)

Some others with new books and exciting projects coming down the pike (in alphabetical order) are:

Avery Debow
Charles Gramlich
Michelle Diener
Natasha Fondren
Rick Moore
Stewart Sternberg

Any news you want to share, whether your own or about someone you know?

Scream for Halloween - UPDATED

September 15th starts the "big reveal" of the Artistic Halloween Queens "Queen for Day" giveaway.  We'll be giving away 31 in 31 days plus a big Halloween Gift Basket at the end, so stop by to check out how you can enter to win. :)

UPDATED LINK:
http://artisticthalloweenqueens.blogspot.com/2010/09/queen-for-day-giveaway.html

That is the correct address above - I had posted the wrong one before. Sorry!  If you click on the calendar in that link, you can see full size versions of the items that we're giving away.  I think mine is on day 19 (don't remember at the moment) - it's a a pumpkin queen "make-do."  (A "make-do" is where you make do with you have around the house [in this case, a refurbished soap dispenser] in order to create a craft item.)

There are lots of great prizes - go ahead, throw your name in the hat! :)

Last Chance

Last call is almost up for Avery DeBow's Mad Lib "Junket City", as well as today is the last day you can get Amber Scott's "Play Fling" (currently in the top 25 best sellers on Smashwords) free with the promotional coupon.

Steve Malley has published his novel "Crossroad Blues" there as well, and I have "Unmasked" for free during the July promotion as well. Oh, and after you've checked out Steve's book page, you should really take a look at his tattoo art. Now I wish I were in New Zealand so I could get one. :)

Forgive me for not getting this up earlier. I've been busy, busy, busy with working the day job, gearing up to do my yearly Halloween art sale, creating cover art with Cobblestone Press, and just trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.

Following Yonder Star...

In the past, I've blogged a lot about the power of positive thinking, but haven't touched much on the following words of wisdom from Terry Pratchett in his book, The Wee Free Men:

"Now...if you trust in yourself..."

"...and believe in your dreams..."

"... and follow your star..."

"...you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy."

:)

This has been brought home to me rather sharply lately. Now, mind you, I did trust myself, believe in my dreams, etc., and that paid off. However, it only partially paid off, because I also wasn't learning and working hard enough. (Hence, my now 3 "ok" reviews, as well as seeing much better cover art than what I've produced - created by people who have spent years practicing their craft.)

Now, I still completely believe in the power of positive thinking and visualization, but I've also come to realize that I need to back that up with real elbow grease as well. Lots of practice to become better at what I want to do, and not just sit around thinking it will all be magically handed to me.

NYT Bestselling author Jennifer Ashley kept a blog in the years just before she was published (and during the years that I remember her from the Desert Rose RWA when I lived in Arizona) all about her doubts and struggles while trying to get published. She has since moved on to blogging about what it's like to make a living as a full-time writer. I went back and re-read some of those posts the other day, and found them inspiring - and enlightening.

In other words, I got a necessary @$$ kicking. ;) (Which has actually been going on for days, as you can see from my "back to the drawing board" post.)

So, once more I'm taking stock of what I still have to learn, where I need to improve, and trying to force myself to get my act together and produce some quality work. Not just sit around and daydream about it.

In what areas are you trying to improve?

Back to the Drawing Board

Well, it's been a hectic couple of months with many stops, starts, and sputters. I'll spare you the gory details and get right to lessons learned.

One, life is tricky, messy and unpredictable. (Yeah, you'd think I'd know that already, but I seem to keep needing reminders.)

Two, sometimes because of number one above, you just have to hit the reset button and start over.

Three, starting over can be a good thing.

The whole Maine move is on hold right now (job description & funding changed, they offered the possibility of another one in a few months - but too late for me due to lease renewal dates.)

Soooooooo, that gave me a little more time to think about things and where I *hope* to be headed over the next year. (Notice I said "hope" - not plan. I'm done with planning for now. I'll just hope, try to do what I can, and see what shakes out, because really, we don't have nearly as much control over things as we'd like.)

Thus, saddled with my "what now?" funk, I had a little more time on my hands last weekend and attended an intense online workshop with Cobblestone Press on creating cover art. At the end of it, they chose to contract three new cover artists - and one of them was me. That was unexpected and exciting. :)

At some point during that weekend, I had mentioned to someone how once, after reading a story I'd written, a friend of mine made the comment that I should stick to painting. Ouch. Then, after seeing 5 new reader reviews of Managing Maggie on Fictionwise (the scale being great, good, ok, and poor) - one said great, one good, two just ok, and one said it was poor. Ouch again. Even if you take out the cheerleader and the hater, you're still left with just one "good" and two "meh, it was ok. Take it or leave it."

It made stop and think about what I was doing, what needed work, and whether I'm really cut out for this. I have to admit I felt like throwing in the towel. But after a few hours of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to use it to my advantage. It made me even more determined to prove them wrong, just like I did with that "stick to artwork, babe" friend of mine. (Just for the record, I was published before she was, so *there* pfft.) ;)

It also made me realize I was shortchanging the readers who kindly took a chance on me when I didn't give it everything I had. So now, I'm back to the drawing board. Lots of work ahead of me. I just hope I'm up to the task.

Any insights into your own life/writing lately that you'd like to share? Anything in particular you do to pick yourself up and start over?

Shiver me timbers...

For those of you who enjoy a little tingle of fear, let me present Charles Gramlich's "Chimes".

For those of you who may not be familiar with Charles, he's a psychology professor and writer who lives in Louisiana with his equally talented wife--photographer and artist Lana Gramlich. Both of their blogs are worth following. Charles posts thought provoking blogs about writing and has quite a following; Lana's photographs are incredibly beautiful. Apart from that, they're just so darn cute. ;) (And now probably hate me, lol) But seriously, they're so supportive of one another that it always makes me smile to read their comments.

However, this post is about Charles's short thriller, Chimes. I thought this was going to be a horror story, and it was - but more in a Hitchcock horror kind of way. That is, more buildup of mental and emotional tension rather than a string of gory monster scenes.

I've read Charles's work before and one thing that I always take away from them is how deftly he creates a mood using scenery, sounds, and "average Joe" characters to build tension.

In Chimes, the protagonist, a woman, is alone in the house except for her sleeping baby, when she realizes there's an intruder. In one scene, she has to search for a flashlight in the dark and must reach into a closet, not really knowing where the intruder might be hiding.

"She wanted to run. Instead, she forced herself to open the closet and reach in for the Maglite, her skin crawling as the sleeves of raincoats and old sweaters brushed against her hands like the shed husks of monstrous insects."

That made MY skin crawl. And every time I thought I had this all figured out, he'd surprise me with a new twist. All in all, very creepy and enjoyable.

Charles has also written a number of other horror and fantasy fiction novels and short stories, as well as non-fiction work on writing. You can also listen to one of his short horror works, Thief of Eyes, in Sidney Williams podcasts, Fear on Demand. The line from that which hooked me was right from the start:

"She had lips that Satan dreamed of in his long fall to hell."

Loved that. :)

So, have you read anything lately, other than the daily news, which made your skin crawl?

It's a Family Affair

I had mentioned my brother and his wife in my last post, but didn't mention how creative they both are. They decided to paint my brother's prosthesis over the weekend, and this is what they came up with. You can see the full details here.

They are pretty funny. One year for Halloween, he attached a toy beaver to his wooden leg and went as a lumberjack under attack.

Any interesting relative stories you'd like to share? ;)

For Halloween Art Fans

Hey - if any of you like Halloween art, one of the artist groups that I belong to is having a giveaway at their blog. Stop by and enter to win. :)

http://artisticthalloweenqueens.blogspot.com/2009/09/halloween-queens-are-celebrating-their.html