Missy Sheldrake's Blog, page 2

Friday Fantasy 1-22-2021

This week’s Friday Fantasy focuses on one of my most favorite influences: Brian Froud, who was behind the design of my favorite movie growing up, Labyrinth. Except I was always annoyed that the one appearance of fairies in that movie was so short! And Hoggle was fumigating them! If you’ve seen Labyrinth, did you ever notice that Jareth mistakenly calls Hoggle Hogwart at one point? This was way before Harry Potter came out.

His were the first illustrations that really inspired me to start drawing fairies, too. I loved how real and earthy the fae in his drawings seemed. The first book I got of his was his paperback “Faeries” way back in the 1990s. I loved that book forever, until it finally gave out and pages started falling out of it. Then I got the 25th anniversary edition, but I still kept the old, tattered one. I still look through it often, and every time I do notice new, glorious details mixed in with the familiar ones.

This month I’ve been reviewing chapters of my upcoming Call of Sunteri audiobook, and there’s a scene during Penny‘s narration where I couldn’t help but think of this Froud illustration:

Brian Froud “Faery Queen” from the Good Faeries/Bad Faeries book

Azi is trapped in the dreaming in the darkness, and she stumbles on a mysterious group of drained, fallen fae who are desperate for her help.

Excerpt from Call of Sunteri

Hearing this narrated with all the different voices gave me such a thrill! I can’t wait for you to listen to the audio book, which is coming this spring! In the meantime, you can read Call of Sunteri here, and listen to the Call of Kythshire audiobook here!

Throwback Thursday 1-21-2021

It’s time for Colonel Purple Turtle!

Way back in 2011-2012, most of my days were filled with caring for my young son. Every Thursday, we’d go to the mall to see Rocknoceros and meet Daddy for lunch. One day I took a chance and did an illustration for Colonel Purple Turtle, a character in one of their songs. They loved it, and eventually it lead to my very first children’s book! That of course led to this video, which is only two minutes long but took months to prepare for and 10 hours to film! I did the drawing pages for Coach Cotton’s beginning stop-motion animation, the felt animation pieces, and the claymation figure at the end.

It was a huge learning experience and so much fun to collaborate with the guys in Rocknoceros. I even ended up painting a backdrop that was displayed at one of their shows in the Kennedy Center!

So my message for today is do some things for fun sometimes and dare to show them to the people who inspired you. You never know where it could lead!

Writing Wednesday 1-20-2021

Just a quick reminder today…

It’s okay to take it easy if you need to. Rest and recuperate so you can be charged up for tomorrow. Have a great day!

Trekking Tuesday 1-19-2021

Trekking Tuesday features journeys to interesting places which have played some part in inspiring my writing. Today, I’m inviting you to Candlewood Lake in Connecticut, where I grew up.

According to Natalie Clunan of Only in Your State, “In 1926 Connecticut Light and Power had a plan approved to construct a man-made reservoir to produce electric power. It took 26 months to build the dam, clear forests and flood more than 5,000 acres of land.”

The history of the lake is fascinating, and I invite you to read this article if you’re interested. According to them,

“…beneath the lake’s pristine surface, deep within its murky depths, were the remains of an old town called Jerusalem. The town had been flooded in the 1920s when the lake was made to help Connecticut Light & Power generate electricity. In addition to buildings and homes, the story goes, the town’s graveyard had been swallowed by the waters.”

My paternal grandfather was there when they flooded the land to create the lake, and I remember my maternal great-grandma telling me stories about what it was like before the lake was there. My family spent many, many weekends on Candlewood Lake. Family picnics on the beach, my dad waterskiing while my mom drove the boat, me and my sibling playing in the water together.

Candlewood Lake Park, Danbury, CTCandlewood Lake Dikes’ Point Park, New Milford, CT __ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-6006c2a4a91b3', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Monday Muse 1-18-2021

Today’s Monday Muse is author/illustrator and political cartoonist Chris Riddell. He has illustrated several books for one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, and his style is very loose and free. I love watching his Instagram videos of free drawing in his sketchbooks. If you’re on Instagram, I definitely recommend visiting his feed to watch his drawings to music. @Chris_Riddell And me, of course. @m_sheldrake

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Sunday Sketch 1-17-2021

Ever since I was a girl, I have imagined that fairies hide in the most ordinary places…

Saturday Smile 1-16-2021

Smile, and come along with me! *sinister laugh*

@SarahCAndersen on Twitter has the most hilarious comics! I love her!

Friday Fantasy 1-15-2021

I just got back into writing Elliot recently, and I’m hoping to have his story out in the next few months as a companion to Mya. To celebrate, here are some of the incredible treehouse images that inspired me while writing about his hamlet! Did you have a treehouse growing up? I always wanted one, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Located in a park in Wartenberg, Geisingen GermanyA little bit more of a jungle-like setting than I’d like, but the rope bridges and platforms are very close to what I’m imagining! I wish I knew the artist so I could credit them, but I can’t read the signature!

This one is actually a treehouse hotel in North Carolina! Maybe I’ll go there…

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Throwback Thursday 1-14-2021

Part of the reason I named this blog Missyflits all the way back when I started it was because I knew I could never simply stick with one topic. I’m glad I did, because this blog used to be about making hand-sculpted, one-of-a-kind, lifelike fairies! Here are some examples:

I actually still have one fairy left in my etsy shop: Savia.

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Writing Wednesday 1-13-2021

Recently, while my brilliant narrator Penny was working on the audiobook for Call of Kythshire, I read through the entire kindle version of the Keepers of the Wellsprings again just to refresh my memory. While I was reading, I discovered something interesting. Kindle has a function that allows readers to see which passages have been highlighted by others! How cool!

I thought it might be fun to take a look at what people have highlighted and put in my two cents as to why, since as far as I know you can’t see others’ notes, just highlights. Here’s the first passage that was highlighted five times in Call of Kythshire:

“People should be allowed to feel their own true emotions. Forcing calmness on anyone for too long or to further your own agenda is an abuse of power.”

-Azi, Call of Kythshire

I absolutely love that this quote was highlighted so many times, because it’s basically the theme of the entire series. The fight for the Wellsprings is all about the battle for conservation, restraint, discipline, and empathy. While our virtuous heroes are diligent about practicing self-control, the villains of the story, the Sorcerers, are the exact opposite. They don’t care at all about how their destructive thirst for magic affects others. They’re too consumed by the arcane to even notice the cost.

It was so much fun while writing this series to play with this give and take of self-control versus utter abandon. Even in the very first scene of the book, Azi shows restraint by only defending herself from Dacva’s shocking and ruthless attack not by swinging to kill, but by choosing to strike him with the flat of her blade and crack his ribs instead. Mya, the guild’s leader, shows restraint by never using her magical voice to influence people, even though she could have the entire kingdom on their knees before her if she chose to. Rian struggles to keep himself under control when he enters the realm of the fairies, knowing he could easily harness the power of their Wellspring and destroy them if he let the magic entice him.

On the flip side we have Prince Eron, who rarely feels the need to keep himself under control, instead doing whatever he likes whenever he pleases, and Viala, who has lost herself to the drug-like lure of magic and become addicted to its power. In the big picture, there are the Sorcerers from Sunteri who have ruined their entire kingdom from their reckless abandon and thirst for more.

Lisabella’s notion that just because you have a power doesn’t mean you should use it, that people should have a choice to feel the way they feel and act of their own will, is a portent of things to come not just in Call of Kythshire, but throughout the entire Keepers of the Wellsprings series.

In real life, too. Sage advice, Lisabella. Thanks!

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