Time for a Change Can be a New Opportunity

The New Year is a good time to reassess our priorities. I've decided it's now time for me to make a change and I'm going to stop writing this blog. Today is my last post!I've come to a point where I feel I really need to focus my energy on finishing the final edit of my novel, as well as spending more time on my artwork. As you know, I recently released The Creative Zone, an adult #coloring book. Designing the artwork and the book itself was an enjoyable challenge and made me realize how important the visual arts are to me.I've often hailed the virtues of creativity and for me, the creative process is where I feel I need to steer my energy.

New Opportunity, Last Post

Page from The Creative Zone by Kathy Andrew

Thank you

I've loved writing this blog. It's developed my skills as a non-fiction writer and I've learned so much from the research I've done over the past four years. In thinking of making this change, the most important thing is to thank all my readers and especially those who've taken the time over and over again to join in the discussions.The most enjoyable part of my blog has been hearing other people's thoughts. [tweetthis]Online interaction bet. people from disparate backgrounds & interests is invaluable as a #writer.[/tweetthis]I've also been incredibly fortunate in finding my blogging tribe in Bloggers Helping Bloggers through LinkedIn. What an incredible group of people!! Not only do I feel I've made lifelong online friends, but the level of openness and support has been amazing. While I can't name everyone, I'd like to make a special mention to Jeri Walker, Susan Cooper, Leora Wenger, Doreen Pendgracs, Sherryl Perry, Jon Jefferson, Patricia Weber, Jeanette Palladino, &  Catarina Alexon.

Thanks to all of you for your unfailing support and friendship.

A.K. Andrew, Fort Point, Golden Gate Bridge

 Where to Find Me?

So how can we keep in touch? While I'll keep this website, I am active on my Facebook Author page  (I'd love it if you would "like" either page), on Pinterest and Instagram. And of course I'm on Twitter. You may have already noticed that my twitter feed now includes  visual art as well as writing related tweets. And for those of you who have only known me as A.K., I am using my full name Kathy for anything associated with my artwork.I will drop in when I can to your blogs, retweet your posts and I hope we can continue to connect and learn from each other. Wishing you all a fabulously creative year.

Arrivederci,  A.K. Andrew

A.K. Andrew

What changes are you planning for the coming year? Have any of them come as a surprise? What new opportunities can you see on the horizon?

Come join the discussion and share with your favorite social media. Connect with A.K.(Kathy) Andrew:

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Have you #Read My Two favorite #Books from 2015?

I haven't read as many books as I'd like this year, but there are two that clearly stand out for me as memorable reads of 2015. Fittingly for the 100th anniversary, they are both set in and around WWI.

#Book 1: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

This book is strictly speaking a memoir, but it is so engrossing it moves at the pace and in the narrative style of a novel. It's the story of Vera's experience both just before and during WWI, when she left her Oxford studies to become a nurse. What is particularly striking about the novel, is not just the heartbreak and loss she herself experiences throughout, but how much the war effects the English as a nation. The ongoing rationing, loss and horrific stories of life in the trenches, ground the people down to a collective depression. As is often the case, when the conflict started the consensus was it would be a fleeting event and the toll would be small. Of course the complete opposite was true.I think this passage captures the general mood of despair and lack of control over the characters lives. More importantly we see how central love is to the heart of the novel.

And then, all at once, the whistle sounded again and the train started. As the noisy group moved away from the door he sprang on to the footboard, clung to my hand and, drawing my face down to his, kissed my lips in a sudden vehemence of despair. And I kissed his, and just managed to whisper 'Good-bye!' The next moment he was walking rapidly down the platform, with his head bent and his face very pale. Although I had said that I would not, I stood by the door as the train left the station and watched him moving through the crowd. But he never turned again.”  ~ Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth

#Book 2: Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

This novel is a completely different book, but the effects of WWI are also key to the setting of the 1920s. After the death of the father and brother in the war, a young woman and her mother have fallen onto hard times. To make ends meet they are forced into taking lodgers in their formerly grand house. This quote gives a good sense of where Frances' life is starting from at the beginning of the novel.

“She rose from her bed full of new resolutions. ‘We must get out and about more,’ she told her startled mother. ‘We must try different things. We are getting groovy.’ She drew up a list of events and activities: concerts, day trips, public meetings. She went in a fit through her address book, writing letters to old friends. She borrowed novels from the library by authors who had never interested her before. She began to teach herself Esperanto, reciting phrases as she polished and swept.”~Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

However, things do not go as planned. The first plot twist takes us by surprise:

“And that was all it took. They smiled at each other across the table, and some sort of shift occurred between them. There was a quickening, a livening- Frances could think of nothing to compare it to save some culinary process. It was like the white of an egg growing pearly in hot water, a milk sauce thickening in the pan. It was as subtle yet as tangible as that.” ~ Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

Even when we think the novel has become a lesbian love story, the plot suddenly throws us against the wall and takes a dramatic turn. What has been a fairly slow moving pace speeds up to breakneck speed and the reader is in a full blown thriller, filled with nail biting suspense.

“Some things are so frightful that a bit of madness is the only sane response.”~Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

This is by far the best Sarah Waters novel to date. She has matured as a writer and the characters are so well developed we feel both an affinity and a loathing for the protagonists as the story follows the plots twists. The turn of events challenges the morality of two ordinary women who find themselves in an untenable situation after a completely unplanned and dreadful occurrence.The novel also gives the reader an excellent look at the class differences of the day, as well as the gradually changing, but still very limited role offered to women in society.This is my final post for 2015. Thanks so much for all your support and wonderful comments throughout the year. Have a good holiday season and I'll see you back here in January!

What were your two favorite books from 2015? Come join the discussion. Share the love and please post this on your favorite social media. 

Many Thanks!

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Related Posts

 

Winners of The Creative Zone #Coloring Book & Free #Coloring Pages

Congratulations !

The Creative Zone, adult coloring book by Kathy Andrew

The winners of The Creative Zone Coloring Book Giveaway are:1. D.G. Kaye2. Jan Twissel3. Barbara Lynne Ross4. Andrea  Spengler5. Angela Smith6. Stephanie LWoohoo!

Free #Coloring Book Pages!!

The Creative Zone, adult coloring book, Kathy Andrew

The Creative Zone, adult coloring book, Kathy Andrew

The Creative Zone, adult coloring book, Kathy Andrew

As a thank you to all the people who entered, here are 3 more Free Pages from The Creative ZoneI hope you enjoy coloring these and the ones from last week. After you have colored them, if you decide to share them on Facebook, I'd be very grateful if you would let people now they came from The Creative Zone.And of course I hope you will want to get the rest of them in the collection! The Creative Zone would  be a perfect present over the holidays:-)Thanks so much everyone!The paperback is available worldwide through all Amazon stores, and BookDepository.com. Here are the direct Amazon links for the US, UK and Canada to buy the paperback and Kindle versions of the book. (The paperback is also available in US at Barnes and Noble.)

Amazon USA Amazon UK Amazon

 I'd love to hear what you think, so I'd be extremely grateful if you would leave an honest review on Amazon.

Lose yourself in The Creative Zone #coloring book to relax and improve your #creativity. 

Share the love and please post this on your favorite social media. 

Many Thanks!

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3 Key Points Creatives Can Learn from #NaNoWriMo

The setup for NaNoWriMo at home, if I need to ...

November is #NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, where thousands of people all over the world write a novel of 50,000w in 30 days. Insane you say? Why put so much pressure on yourself?  I've not done NaNoWriMo myself, but I've recently been wondering what other creatives and entrepreneurs can learn from the discipline of #NaNoWriMo.

1. Immersion

When you start a new project, one way to get really involved is to totally immerse yourself in it. Set aside the time, try new things, look at it in new ways, don't worry about someone looking over your shoulder. The important thing is to get it down. As a visual artist, I find when I only work at intervals I never really get to grips with the heart of the project and it's easy to lose interest.

2. Quantity not Quality

I'm a firm believer in the motto my painting mentor, the late Fred Reichman taught me:

Focus on quantity not quality. The quality will come once you do enough work.

Fred Riechman

Another way to think of this is practice, practice, practice. Novelists often agonize over the first chapter and some barely get beyond it looking for that perfect gripping opening. In a novel you really want to just get down the first shitty draft of the entire book. That's not to say that no good work will come from #NaNoWriMo, but the chance are it won't  be people's best work. Once you have the first draft in place you can start to edit, fine tune and make it the best it can be.This could apply to any project you're working on. Do whatever you need to do to keep going, improving things again and again until you like the look of what you've created.Painters often do a series of works with the same motif, sometimes over a period of years. The continuity developed in a series can make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Fred was still working on paintings of cats like the one above not long before he died in 2003, over 30 years after the painting above was finished. I always appreciated his minimalist style.

3. Commitment

Writing 50,000w in a month takes a huge amount of time and effort. The single most important thing in order to actually accomplish this is commitment. If you work a little on this and a little on that, setting aside projects for months on end, clearly you are not committing to your work. And the results will reflect that. So if you really want to see some results, commit to the darn thing and start producing some of your best work!

Alternative to #NaNoWriMo for Other Creatives? #NaKiCreMo?

Could there be another dedicated month that is not so defined (ie. not just for writing) that other creatives can participate in instead of NaNoWriMo? There's nothing like being part of a community of people who are all pulling together to achieve something.I mulled over the possibilities of National Art & Creativity Month - NaArCreMo, National Arts & Crafts Month - NaArCraMo,  but decided the one I liked best was  National KickAss Creative Month - NaKiCreMo. What do you think?[tweetthis]The continuity developed in a series can make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.[/tweetthis]How do you approach your projects? Do you like to move slowly, not at all immersed, and hope it will all somehow come together? What is your level of commitment, and what influences that commitment?

Come join the discussion and please share this post on your favorite social media. 

Many Thanks!

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