Rowan Speedwell's Blog, page 4

Rainbow Book Reviews Blog Hop

Rainbow Book Reviews is running a Blog Hop this weekend, and I get to participate!   Here’s the link to the Hop.

As part of this celebration, participants were asked to blog about What Writing GLBTQ Literature Means to Me. Aside for being whole bucketloads of fun, and the way to meet new people and make some kickass friends.

Oh, and there’s a giveaway at the bottom of the post.

So here’s what I have to say on the subject.

What Writing GLBTQ Literature Means to Me

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy… oh, wait, wrong story.

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile…  Nope. Not “American Pie,” either.

Start over. When I was a child (better), my mother used to try and encourage me to become involved in politics. She was—still is—a fighter, a gently fierce woman who defended her children to the death, stood up for what was right, and volunteered her time and energy to helping others. She and my dad and my aunt (who lived with us) all worked at soup kitchens and ran fundraisers for digging wells in Africa and marched in protest of the Vietnam War. All this although she had six kids at home and was, by nature, a shy woman.

I’m not shy, though I am introverted. The idea of being in public terrifies me; the idea of being the center of attention triggers panic attacks. The idea of being in politics? Ludicrous. But my mother firmly believed that people can make a difference, and politicians don’t have to be evil and self-absorbed, but they do have the potential to change the world.

I don’t know about politicians, though I am and always have been a Democrat and a staunch one at that. (Will Rogers once said “I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” That pretty much sums up my involvement in politics.) But I do believe that people can make a difference, that people have the potential to change the world.

For a very long time, I was content to let other people handle that, thank you. Oh, yes, I contributed to charities and occasionally got dragged out by my mom or aunt to run bingo games at retirement homes and whatnot. And I supported public television and public radio. But I wasn’t passionate about anything.

And then I started reading m/m. And then I started writing m/m. And then I started reading about m/m, and f/f, and all the other permutations—specifically, the state the world was in regarding GLBTQ . And I was horrified.

We weren’t wealthy when I was growing up—hell, we were barely even middle class—but I was lucky enough to grow up in a suburb that was affluent enough to be mostly liberal. I went to parochial school during the Vatican II years, when the Catholic Church was all about giving, and loving, and “if you want peace, work for justice.” I went to a public high school, where I met my first gay friend, who was as out as one could be in 1974 (really, nobody talked that much about sex then, so while we knew he was gay, we didn’t know anything about any part of it). He never mentioned being hassled at school, at least no more than the rest of us nerds were, so I don’t know if he was ever harassed for being gay.

I was innocent like that for a long time. I thought that people were generally good and that the Catholic Church was a nice religion, and that Bad Things only happened elsewhere.

I still think that people are generally good. I think that most Catholics are nice, and appalled at the way the Church has imploded in recent years. And I’ve never really personally experienced the kind of Bad Things that happen elsewhere.

I have been damned lucky.

Because Bad Things do happen. Appallingly often. And to the friends I don’t know yet, and sometimes will never get to know, because they are taken from us long before their time. It frightens me and horrifies me, and sometimes it lifts me up, when I see things like marriage equality becoming law in state after state, and artists and actors and musicians coming out of the closet, and even things like the garage mechanic in California (I think…) who fixed for free the car of a gay person who had it smashed up in a homophobic attack.

And somehow along the line, I have become political.

I’m still introverted. I still dread public humiliation, and will never be a politician, or even an activist, except in the very edge of activism. But I am aware, and being aware, feel compelled to make other people aware. So I share on Facebook, and Twitter, and talk to people one-on-one on the train platform and at work. I contribute to GLBTQ causes and support Gay Pride, and try as best as I can with my limited ability to communicate the reality of what gay teenagers and young people face. Because the more people know, the more they can change. But they can’t change if they don’t know.

Writing m/m changed me. I’m much more opinionated now on political issues, not just GLBTQ ones, but feminist ones and racial ones and immigrants’ rights one, because they are all interlinked. I look at the news today and dread what is happening to the political process and to society as a whole, with a large number of powerful people seemingly determined to shove us back into the Stone Age—or at least some version of the 1950’s, which anyone who actually lived back then can tell you was not a nice time to live, if you were black, a woman, gay, an immigrant, a blue collar worker, or poor. For every step we take forward—a biracial President, marriage equality, occupational safety laws—there are those who are fighting to shove us backward. Some people—and I can name them, which tells you how much I’ve become more aware—won’t be happy until gays are back in the closet, women are back in the kitchen, immigrants are only hired to pick lettuce, and employers given carte blanche to ignore safety concerns. They talk about a “gay agenda” when their agenda is much more destructive to the fabric of the United States as a whole.

Politicians and pundits nowadays focus on business, but it’s not about business. It isn’t enough to have a job if you can’t provide human dignity. In the words of Jacob Marley: “Mankind was my business!” Mankind is our business.

I frame most of my arguments in terms of gay rights and marriage equality, because those are the issues that brought me to my political stance. I feel that if I can get one person to listen and understand what the situation is all about, and that there are Bad Things happening to Good People, things that they can do something about, then maybe they will find their way to understanding the other issues. And maybe one of them will not be shy, or introverted, or nervous in public places. Maybe one of them will be like my mother and my father and my aunt, willing to help others, willing to take a stand, brave enough to have an opinion and a sense of what is right, and courageous enough to offer their hand to their brothers and sisters. Braver than me.

Because until there is equality, there cannot be justice. And until there is justice, there cannot be peace.

 

I promised you a giveaway, so here it is.  Any commenter on this blog will be entered into a random drawing for one of my ebooks. Drawing will be held at the end of the Blog Hop and winner will be notified on this site, so check back here on Tuesday to see if you won and to pick your prize!

Busy like a little bee.

 

I’ve been away from jewelry-making for a while, but had a little spare time this past weekend to play around a bit, and this is the result. I love the cover of The Florentine Treasure, so it was nice to have a way of carrying it around with me.   I’m practicing for a little project associated with GayRomLit (no, you can’t know what it is—if it turns out, I promise I will post pics!) so I need to get my dubious jewelry-making skills back up to par.

GayRomLit is only about 9 weeks away, and I am SO not ready for it. But at least I have a good excuse—I’m deep in the throes of a new novel, and am flabbergasted at how fast the words are coming. I started the story June 29th, and have over 56K written already. I have never written that fast in my life! And I’m liking the story, and the characters. Since I’m writing it this fast, it will probably require some serious editing in the second draft (my beloved critique partner, JP Barnaby, has already been kind enough to point out some serious flaws, but I’m pretty sure I can fix them easily enough), but still, after the painful experiences I’ve had with novels lately, it’s wonderful that something is flowing so well.

Well, since you asked…. Joshua is a young ex-FBI agent who suffered through a beastly assignment, which, though successful, ended up with him addicted to heroin and plagued by dreams of the terrible things he had to do to remain undercover with a gang trafficking drugs. Eli is a horse trainer on Joshua’s uncle’s New Mexico ranch, where Joshua comes to recover and learn the horse-training business. Can Joshua put the past behind him enough to build a relationship with Eli, or, like the wild mustangs Eli trains, is it going to bite him in the ass?

Speaking of books that took me two freaking years to write, Going Like Elsie has been submitted to the prospective publisher, so I’m at the fingernail-chewing stage of waiting to see if what they asked for is what I’ve provided. They were enthusiastic about the first few chapters, but I had to do quite a bit of beating to get the final draft into shape. The publisher is fairly new and has a reputation for brutal editing, so I’m quite nervous about the response. Of course, part of the reason that I submitted there (aside from them asking me to) was because after two years, I didn’t feel like I had a good handle on the story. I did bring one of my beta readers to tears with it, though, which I count as a success. I’m evil that way.

Come August 24th or thereabouts, I will be participating in a blog tour to celebrate the birth of a new review blog, Rainbow Book Reviews. I will be blogging about what it means to me to write GLBTQ literature. The blog tour will also give away a signed paperback copy of Finding Zach. Stop by and say hi!

JP Barnaby’s Little Boy Lost – An Interview with Micah

JP Barnaby’s epic series, Little Boy Lost, reaches its culmination this week, with the publication of her sixth and final book in the series, Sacrificed.  The series follows the lives of Brian and Jamie, two young boys growing up in the Bible Belt, whose lives are torn apart by hate and intolerance. Can their love stay strong through the worst that life can throw at them?

Micah (Mike) is a young man with troubles of his own, but who finds ways to help Brian and Jamie work through some of the difficulties that beset them as they try to find their ways back to each other. Here, we talk with Mike, and learn more about this kind and fascinating man.

SPOILER ALERT: IN HIS EXCITEMENT, MICAH GIVES AWAY THE ENDING TO THE FINAL BOOK IN THE LITTLE BOY LOST SERIES. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO HEAR THAT ENDING AND READ IT FOR YOURSELF, PLEASE MUTE THE VIDEO FROM 07:13 – 07:22.

Click the picture to watch the interview on YouTube

Mark your calendars for July 3rd

Save the date!  July 3rd—Interview with Micah (Mike) Burrows, from Little Boy Lost!

On July 2nd, JP Barnaby’s series Little Boy Lost comes to a rousing and dramatic conclusion with the publication of the sixth and final book, Sacrificed.  Brian and Jamie face their most difficult challenge of all—putting their fears and traumas behind them and trying to find a way to their future—together and apart.

If you have not yet read the previous five books in the series, GO NOW. READ THEM. We’ll wait.

Unlike another “lost” series, this doesn’t end up being purgatory, except for JP, who is undergoing a grueling THIRTY DAY blog tour, starting this Monday, June 25th, in celebration of this event. This tour includes a visit HERE on Tuesday, July 3rd.  (For her complete schedule, visit http://www.jpbarnaby.com/?p=637)

JP will be interviewing one of the more interesting characters in the story, Micah. Mike takes Brian under his wing when Brian comes to San Diego in search of Jamie, but has a backstory and a romance of his own. Join me on July 3, 2012, as we host the landscaper-slash-porn star who is pivotal in Brian and Jamie’s reunion. This will be a video interview with the real-life inspiration for Mike’s character in the story.

You will not want to miss this interview.

I’m so happy for my friend JP—both for her completion of the series, which I know has been rough for her, and for the accolades she’s received. This series has touched the hearts of so many people—and more importantly, opened their eyes. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is not a comfortable read. It is sometimes sad, sometimes frightening, sometimes horrifying—but in the end, it is a joyous affirmation of human strength and human resilience. It is beautiful. Read it.

Going Like Elsie, and other miscellanea

First!  Announcement!! All Dreamspinner Press books are on sale!  20% off ebooks!  30% off paperbacks!  Click here for more information:  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

BUY MAH BOOKS!

Enough shameless self-promotion. Okay, now on to shameless-less self-promotion–or can you call it self-promotion if you’re promoting something someone else did, even if it’s about your book?  This is my first bit of fan video! Woot!  A very nice young man reads one of my favoritest excerpts from Finding Zach:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9rJbEY7ot8

And in New Book News:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/70601145/News/This-parrot-is-no-bird-brain

A Congo African Gray Parrot is a major secondary character in my Work In Progress From Hell, tentatively titled “Going Like Elsie.” Grace is a very smart bird, as CAGs tend to be, and an excellent mimic. She’s about 25, so she’s got a bigger vocabulary of words and sounds than the bird in this video, who’s only about 10. I’ve been working on the WIPFH for over two years and Grace has been part of it from the very beginning. Oddly enough, last year I got another Grace in my life—my beautiful little niece, who just turned one on May 16th. The first girlchild in her generation in a family rather overloaded with boys (says the girl with five brothers). I adore her.

Going Like Else is in the hands of the beta readers, and will be going into second draft stage next week as soon as I get feedback from my severest critic and number one beta Lynda. I’ve already heard back from my boss, who used to manage rock bands and had some excellent advice about Adam, my rock star hero (and who *might* be able to find me a musician for the book trailer!) and from the inimitable JP Barnaby, who hits me with the WTF stick whenever I go off on bizarro tangents, as I tend to do. Her pragmatism saves me from some seriously embarrassing moments (“Teaching Grace to make coffee. Most coffee makers have a timer. Give him a reason not to have one. Too old? Broken?”) Well, duh. I get too caught up in the concept and lose track of the reality. JP grounds me!

And the best compliment of all—I rode home on the train last night with one of my beta readers, who was deep into the draft. And she cried almost the whole way.

Florentine Treasure is now available. (Plus a picture of me!)

 Available today, June 1st, from Dreamspinner Press!

Art history professor Daniel Wollek is delighted to assist the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in cataloguing a cache of Renaissance artworks uncovered by an earthquake. But when a second earthquake pitches him headlong into the fifteenth century, Daniel finds himself more involved than he expected in rescuing precious artifacts from a fanatic’s bonfires. Then he meets Leonardo di Vinci’s assistant, Giacopo di Careggi, and finds in the beautiful young model a treasure even greater than art from the past.

Buy here.

 

To say I’m excited is an understatement. I really loved writing this story, and it’s probably my favorite of anything I’ve done–certainly in the short-story genre. It just was so much FUN. I got to play with time travel, and my favorite era–the Renaissance–and a fascinating, complex time it was, especially in Firenze, the Florence of my story.

And Gio is adorable.

And here’s me in the fashion of the time. Yes, I made the dress (at least the red and black part; I admit to buying the white underdress) and embroidered the cuffs.

Girls just want to have fun

Last night I sent a tweet to a friend who was anxious about attending a party and told her to “Have fun. Just have fun, always and everywhere.”

Yesterday I was chatting with another author who was deep in edits and we were commiserating on how our lives had changed once we had been published, and how so much time was being spent on marketing and promotion and maintenance, and how little time we had to actually write anymore. Her comment: “Remember when writing was fun?”

Once, when I was talking to my mother on the phone the evening before I was going out of town for an SCA event, she said, “Have fun.” Then she stopped and added, “I don’t know why I always say that—you always have fun.” And it’s true. I do.

I’m a firm believer in fun. Not mindless pleasure, not the frenetic search for fulfillment, not the need to have or do or be whatever society and fashion tells us will make us happy that fills so many people’s lives, but fun. That other stuff might pretend to be fun, but it really isn’t. It’s obligation, and not even obligations that we’ve accepted, but obligations that are imposed on us. Just say no. Only say yes to it if it’s fun.

What is fun?  It’s joy in what you’re doing. The part of the word “enjoy” that really matters:  “joy.”

Fun isn’t something you get. It’s not something that’s given to you automatically when you do or are or have something. Fun is something you make. You can have fun doing those other things, like partying with friends or going to a sporting event or some other social thing. But you can also have fun watching grass grow. Or doing laundry or cleaning house. Or sitting on a porch with your bestie not even talking. It all depends on what you bring to it, and what you can make of what you’re doing.

Sure, doing laundry isn’t always fun. Sometimes your back hurts and sometimes you’d rather be doing anything else, but sometimes, when the time is right and you’re in the right mood, you can make it a game. Or take pleasure in the smell and warmth of clean clothes. Or of empty baskets and a full closet.

I normally loathe housework, and my house looks like it. But one day two weeks ago, I was in the mood to do it, and spent 10 hours enjoying every moment of the cleaning.

Whoa, Pollyanna time! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Cockeyed optimist much?

Yeah… no. Anyone who knows me knows I’m no Pollyanna (who, if you don’t know, is the main character in book written a jillion years ago, who was so cheerful and optimistic that she changed the lives of everyone in her creepy little town. They did a Disney movie of it back in the ‘60’s when Disney made movies like that). I’m occasionally crabby, have a very short fuse, and do not suffer fools gladly. (Riding on the cliché train!) But I know what I enjoy, and I know how to make things I do fun when I have to. And you can too.

The first key is to know what you enjoy. It took me mumble-mumble years to realize that no, I am not a “People Person.” Back in the day, that was sort of a required statement in job interviews. I do not play well with others. I am a classic introvert, which, contrary to popular belief, does not mean that I am shy or withdrawn (just ask anyone who knows me). It means that I am happiest when I can work on my own, or with one other person.

There is no “I” in team—and I like it that way.

The second thing is to figure out what you really want to spend your time on—and then do it.

Yeah, I know. We all have things we have to do. Work to earn a living. Take care of our families. Maintain our homes. Fulfill social obligations. But these things don’t have to be completely devoid of fun. Figure out what you have to do, and then what you can do to make those things fun.

If your job isn’t fun, if you’re not satisfied at the end of the day, find a new job. Or better yet, find ways to improve your job. Look at what you should be doing—and what you could be doing. Challenge yourself. Rearrange your job so that it works better. Rearrange your desk so that everything works better. If your environment is stifling, you’re in the wrong place. You got that job—you can find another. It won’t be easy, but why put up with misery for a third of your life?

If you’re not having fun with your family—your family’s not having fun with you. And that’s just sad.

I remember as a kid my mother taking us (there were six kids in my family) out of school to spend a day at the museum or zoo. We didn’t suffer for it—we all did very well academically, and I think it was because we discovered early on that learning could be fun.  Mom also would do things like rent famous paintings from the library and hang them in our living room, and we would all try to find out something interesting about them. Cue love of art. My dad was musical, and played the piano, and told long rambling stories of growing up in the ‘20’s and ‘30s. Cue love of history and music. And every week we had a long, multisyllabic word written out and hung up over the kitchen table that we were challenged to learn to define before Sunday dinner. Cue love of language.

Learning=fun. Is it any wonder that several of us have advanced degrees—and some more than one?

We all had chores, of course, but even those could be fun. Racing to finish first (and still pass muster). Negotiating to switch jobs you were bored with. I used to clean the bathroom, and when I was done, I pretended with my Barbies that the sink was a lagoon and waterfall on a deserted island where they’d been stranded. Pirates were usually involved.

Around the holidays, our regular chores were assigned monetary value, so we would compete for the right to sweep down the stairs or clean the bathroom or shovel the walk. Of course we’d get aggravated sometimes, and sulk and fuss and whine about doing them. But a lot of the time they were fun.

I sometimes feel sorry for kids nowadays who don’t learn responsibility at such an early age. They’re missing out on the fun. And their parents, who run around taking them to soccer and dance class and play dates and all that stuff—yeah, they’re missing out on the fun, too. It’s not fun being a glorified chauffeur.

So why not try to find ways of making it fun? Why not indulge in a little make-believe? Buy a gray cap and pretend to be a chauffeur. Wear a Groucho nose and glasses. Embarrass your children.

And when you can spend time with your kids, or your Significant Other, or your mother-in-law, spend it doing something simple you enjoy, even if it’s only talking or playing cards or badminton. (Does anyone play badminton anymore?) Turn off the TV, turn off the computer, turn off the Nintendo. You can leave the Wii on if you promise to share.

Really, the most fun stuff is the simplest stuff. But you have to make it fun.

Okay, Pollyanna time over! You may now return to your regularly scheduled life, or the facsimile thereof.

 

The Florentine Treasure

Cover art has been acquired. Love it.

The blurb:

Art history professor Daniel Wollek is delighted to assist the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in cataloguing a cache of Renaissance artworks uncovered by an earthquake. But when a second earthquake pitches him headlong into the fifteenth century, Daniel finds himself more involved than he expected in rescuing precious artifacts from a fanatic’s bonfires. Then he meets Leonardo di Vinci’s assistant, Giacopo di Careggi, and finds in the beautiful young model a treasure even greater than art from the past.

Available June 1st from Dreamspinner Press.

Hello, Website!

Welcome to my brand spankin’ new website. Hopefully you were automatically shifted here from my old rowanspeedwell.wordpress.com blog, or are a new friend who came looking for me at a “real” web address. So hello!!

This site is so brand new that I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing or what’s working. If you’re a subscriber, I hope you got this as the subscriber list was supposed to copy over here. That’s part of the reason for this post–not only to introduce my new site (isn’t it pretty??) but to sort of check and make sure things are working as they are supposed to. I’d gotten pretty good at working with the WordPress blog dashboard, and while this is still built on the WordPress platform, there are things that are distinctly different. Please be patient while I work through all the details.

I’m very excited about this site–not only is it pretty (!!) but I can showcase my books better here, while still maintaining the blog presence. Maybe at some point I’ll put in a front page that’s more “me” focused. Like after I’ve won the Pulitzer or something.

Okay, if you’ve subscribed to my WP site but aren’t getting updates, please resubscribe using the link on the right. I apologize for any complications, but I hope the updated site is worth it.

Talk to you later!!

An interview with Shannon Valentine

Click to view slideshow.

Shannon Valentine does some of the most beautiful fantasy art I’ve ever seen. If you have one of my bookmarks, you’ll recognize the style; she designed and created them for me. She also did some drawings “from the notebooks of David Evans,” my artist character from Finding Zach, which I was able to give out at GayRomLit last October. I have hopes of maybe getting a cover from her one of these old days…!!

Please welcome Shannon Valentine…

Okay, since I’m a writer and I get this question all the time, I get to ask you: Where do you get your ideas?

Ideas are all around me.  I find them in books, movies, magazines and art.  I sometimes actively search for ideas by looking around me and seeing something that interests me.  Most of the time the ideas just come me.  It can be very random – ranging from a tree’s silhouette to cracks in the sidewalk to people interacting with each other.   I’ve had very casual doodles turn into finished pieces by just letting my hand keep moving and building up a drawing.  As the drawing builds, so do the ideas.  Those are the most fun.

What draws you to specific themes and ideas?  How do they reflect your dreams and personality?  What inspires you?

I’m hugely inspired by nature and fantasy. I’m both a dreamer and idealist.  The ideal world exists in fantasy.  Science fiction, fairy tales and mythology helped me become the well-rounded geek I am today.

I love watching things grow.  It’s both fascinating and beautiful.  Nature as a theme can be so broad so I search for meanings in things like flowers and animals to focus more on an idea.  For instance, butterflies have been associated with the human soul and are featured in many of my works.

The human figure is also a central theme in my art.  Since the figure is usually central in my work, the natural world around them have to relate to them somehow.  Since this world is usually some fanciful, ideal world, I include elements that would be construed as ‘fantasy’. Color is very important for establishing the mood.  Don’t ask me why, but I’ve always associated blue with ‘fantasy’.

How old were you when you decided to be an artist?  What made you think that this was what you wanted to do?

I honestly cannot recall a time when I didn’t consider myself an artist.  As a kid, I would tell people that I would grow up to be a children’s book illustrator or Disney animator.  I still have the spiral notebooks that I would fill with my fantasy drawings.  I took art classes on the weekends.  I doodled constantly.

I eventually earned my BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  And through the years, my career has led me down many diverse paths but I’ve always turned to art.  It’s just in me.

Your art is so airy and delicate.  What kinds of materials do you work in?  What makes you pick one method or another?  What is your creative process?

My current tools of the trade are watercolor and colored pencil.  I love the soft, translucent quality of watercolor and the textual qualities of pencil.  Both mediums allow me to layer color upon color and build up the surface.  I enjoy the somewhat meditative process of building up these layers.

I’ve been focusing more on watercolor this past year due to the very unforgiving nature of the paint and my need to master this medium.  On the other hand, I find pencil work to be very easy to control and less stressful.

For all of its airiness, some of your pieces have a darker esthetic.  What are you trying to say with these darker, edgier pieces?  Are you planning more in this style, or are these inspired by something particular that speaks to you at the moment?

I’ve always been attracted to dark art.  I remember as a kid standing in the horror section of our local video store just so I could look at all the gruesome cover art.  I have a somewhat morbid sense of curiosity.  Horror fits perfectly in my fantasy world.  The ending to any horror story is always happy.  I like this.  It’s both thrilling and romantic.

The first artist to really influence me as a child was Eyvind Earle and his stylization of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.  The film’s look was must darker than any cartoon I saw at the time – very gothic.  I never outgrew my love and attraction to that very graphic, angular, gothic, dark look.

And some questions about you.  What kinds of hobbies do you have, and do they contribute to your art?  How?

I’m an active member of the SCA, a medieval recreational group.  I’ve adopted the persona of a 14th century scribe.  The scribal arts allows me to continue to create decorative, detailed work and learn a bit of history, too.  I’ve met so many wonderful and creative people in the SCA (including my husband, Jay)!

I also love working in my gardens.  I’ve been building up my flower beds with each passing year.  I can’t stand being inside the house between the months of March and October.  In the summer, I’m constantly out around the house checking up on my ‘babies’ and keeping their beds free of grass and weeks.

What is your favorite TV show or movie?  Why?

I can’t really say I have a favorite TV show or movie.  I’m currently enjoying the constant running of NCIS on TV.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seasonal runs of the following shows: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Star Trek Next Generation, Frasier, X-Files, and Miami Ink.

Favorite movies are Disney’ Sleeping Beauty, The Last Unicorn, Poltergeist, Ghostbusters, Lord of the Rings trilogy, all the Harry Potter Movies, Star Wars episodes 4-6 (to name just a few)

What kind of books do you like to read?  Do you think they influence you as well?  If so, how?

I love a good mystery!  Historical fiction and manga also take up a good portion of my shelf space.  The very visual qualities of manga definitely provides inspiration.  When I’m reading, I’m in the author’s world.  I get drawn into the story they are telling and I carry away from it a different viewpoint and a myriad of feelings.  When I’m working on my art, I’m then in my world, which has been shaped by these experiences and stories.  Did I also mention how much I love a good, happy ending?  J

Can people buy your stuff?  Where?

Yes! You can find me on Etsy:  www.ShannonValentine.etsy.com

My professional website: www.ShannonValentineArt.com

I can also be found at art shows throughout the year.  I announce upcoming shows on my Facebook Page:  www.facebook.com/ShannonValentineArt

Thanks so much, Shannon! And best of luck with your shop and shows!