Once Upon a Time There Was a Kickstarter...

         Here we go again!  I’ve launched another Kickstarter campaign for another book!  Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns will be the same format as my last book (Bittersweetness & Light), which means it’s a collection of my short stories, poems, and relief block print artwork.  All the stories in this book (and I consider poems and artwork as telling stories, too) are inspired by and riffing on traditional European fairy tales, classical mythology, and a smattering of other myths and folklore.  Sometimes I stay close to the traditional roots, and sometimes I use them as a jumping off point to head in a completely different direction.  But why start with these well-known stories?  Myths and fairy tales are popular, powerful, sticky stories that catch in our imaginations and stay with us for generation after generation.  Although they may not always be taken very seriously as literature these days, the fact is that folklore has always been one of the most important ways people have wrestled with what it means to be alive in the world.  They help us grapple with big issues and explain to ourselves why things are the way they are, and how things should be.  Folklore includes the way culture is embodied in stories, and the way stories express what it means to be human.

        I’ve always been fascinated by fairy tales (you can read some prior posts about Some Favorite Fairy Tales and Grimms’ Fairy Tale Collections) but there’s no denying that some of them are strange and dark and problematic.  There are stories I fell in love with that fill me with delight and fuel my imagination of wondrous things, but there are also stories that disturb and depress me with their oppressive, cynical, outdated messages.  In either case, though, they can get me thinking about the things I believe are true.  And they can get me questioning how a story that doesn’t seem right to me might be reimagined into something that does ring more true.  What else might be going on before, after, and around the edges?  How else might events be interpreted?  What if one little thing were changed - or a larger thing?  What if it were all set in a different time or place?  Why might these strange or disturbing things have happened?  Who else might be living in this world and watching events unfold?  How can I glean out the unexpected sparks of magic while overturning those elements that I reject?  After all, another reason these stories have stayed popular for so long is that they’re multi-layered and multi-faceted.  Every time you look at them from a different angle, you see something new.

        Want some examples of what will be appearing in Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns?  Here are a few teasers…

Pandora’s Box - What’s so bad about curiosity, anyway?

Baba Yaga - Maybe it takes a flock to raise a witch.

The Green Girl Thinks of Home

Scheherazade - Prayer for the first night.

        I’ve been responding to these magical stories for a long time, and now I’m pulling it all together and offering it as a collection of wonder and delight.  It’ll be printed in full color inside and out, a little larger than an ordinary paperback to give the artwork more room.  It won’t be as explicitly focused on hope and joy as my last book, but it’s still me here, so yes, I still try to hold up the power of kindness and look for ways to foster hope and joy.  Fairy tales can be dark and myths can be cruel, but these stories are ultimately how we remind ourselves that straw can be spun into gold, riddles can be answered, curses can be broken, and glass mountains can be climbed.

        If this sounds like something that might be of interest to you, nip on over to my Kickstarter campaign and find out all the details.  I’d love to have you join me in bringing these old stories to new life!

[Picture: Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, working cover design by AEGNydam, 2025.]

You Can Hear Me Now

         I’ve had a recent spate of videos released, which I can now share with you for your edutainment - assuming you would consider yourself educated and/or entertained by the sight and sound of me reading and talking about my work.  At the very least, it’s a chance for me to share some events with my peeps all around the world, instead of being available only to the local crowd.

        1. In July I was invited to be a guest on the television program “For the Love of Words.”  Host (and poet) John Holgerson interviewed me, followed by my reading quite a number of poems, including some that will be in my next book.  Of course there are a few points I would have made more eloquently or more clearly if I’d written a script in advance (and there’s one spot where they kept in two takes of a comment, so it sounds like I’m repeating

myself!), but it was a great experience and I’m honored to have been invited to participate.  You can watch the program on Easton Community Access Television here.

        2. The Needham Channel did a lovely piece on Needham’s Poet Laureate program.  Producer Yuxiao Yuan gave us the full Ken Burns treatment.  She met with me twice for a long interview and lots of footage, and I was really impressed by how much thought and effort Yuxiao put into this 6 minute “documentary.”  You can watch that piece on the Needham Channel here.

        3. Strong Women-Strange Worlds got a bit behind on posting their videos (it’s an all-volunteer organization and Life has a way of throwing curveballs), so my last two events were only recently posted on-line, even though they took place a while ago.

            A. During the Holiday Extravaganza back in December I participated in “Speed-Date a Book” and presented a pitch for On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination.  I had fun channeling my inner David Attenborough - not to mention having to build a jungle in front of my computer.  Watch here to see whether my book can win a date with you!  (I’m actually the first author to go, but if you want to skip the intro, start at the 3 minute mark.  Or watch the whole thing - it’s fun!)

            B. In February I read from “The Home for Dispossessed Familiars” from Bittersweetness & Light.  If you’d like to hear my 7-minute teaser snippet from that story, check it out here.  In this event I’m the last author to read.  By all means listen to the whole thing and find a wide variety of other cool books, but if you want to skip to my segment, go to 43:15.  (By the way, go ahead and Follow/Subscribe to the SW-SW YouTube channel.  It costs you nothing, and it helps a small but worthy organization get traction on the internet.)

        In addition to all those videos, I’ve also had a few other things published on-line in the past couple of months.

        4. My haiku “Mud Season” was posted on Haiku Newton’s web site, along with all the other winning Haiku from this year.  You can read them all here.

        5. As Poet Laureate of Needham, I wrote a poem for the town: “Home, Needham 2025.”  I presented it to the Select Board in July, and will present it to a wider audience some time in the fall.  In the meantime, it’s posted on the library’s web site, here.

        6. My poem “The Green Girl Thinks of Home” was published in New Myths in June, much to my delight.  I already shared it in my post What’s Black and White and Green, but just to gather everything together in one place, here’s that New Myths link again.

        7. The Needham Hometown Weekly published a press release on July 24 about my solo show “Poems and Prints” that’s hanging now at Gorse Mill Gallery.  (I mentioned that exhibition, too, in a prior post, which you can see here.)  A lovely reporter attended my reception on Sunday, so here (added later) is the piece they published on August 14.

        With all this press and publicity I’ve had to face the paradoxical truth about myself that while I always appreciate and get excited about these opportunities to spread the word, I simultaneously cringe in horror at the thought of being in the spotlight.  I guess it’s lucky for me that I’m so small-time that the spotlight isn’t very bright anyway!  Still, I do hope that you find something in all these bits and pieces that resonates with you about the positive power of poetry, art, and stories.  If you do, please let me know, because that’s what makes it worthwhile despite the discomfort of the publicity!

[Pictures: various stills of various filming by various people, compiled by AEGNydam, 2025.  Follow the links to get specific credits.]

What's Up - July-August Edition

         It’s another of those posts where I tell you what I’m up to and how to get involved.  This weekend I’ll be at Readercon, “the Conference on Imaginative Literature.”  Readercon doesn’t have an art show, but I’ll be doing my other usual con activities: readings, panels, and taking shifts in the dealers room at the Broad Universe table.  I’ll be participating on the following panels:

• The Purposes of Memorable Insults in Sci-Fi and Fantasy (My interest in this topic is primarily one of world-building, and secondarily character-building.  Thirdly, of course, snappy insults can simply be fun!  See my post Of Vandals and Villains for some examples of how insults reveal culture in the history of English, and Not Quite There for some insults that amuse me.)

• How to Fight a Fairy Tale: Retellings (Regarding which, see my recent post Fairy Tale Retellings, plus Fantasy Picture Books of Note which includes a few more fairy tale retellings, and also Happy Birthday, Fairy Tales! on the basics, Some Favorite Fairy Tales which discusses the elements I love in these stories, The Beast which looks at the varied visual interpretations of that character, and Baba Yaga Village for my own visual “retelling” of a fairy tale.)

• Cartography and the Imagination (I’ve been on similar panels at other conventions in the past and I always love this stuff!  You can see all my previous posts tagged for maps here, but especially Mapping the Fantastic for how I organize my thoughts on the use of maps in spec fic, and Cartography for my overview of the topic.)

        The other thing that’s up is quite literal: my solo show “Poems and Prints” is now up at Gorse Mill Gallery in Needham.  Roughly 30 of my relief block prints are paired with the poems they illustrate — in some cases famous poems by the likes of Shakespeare, Poe, de la Mare, and nursery rhymes, and in other cases my own poems.  Given that poetry is so rich in powerful imagery, it’s not surprising that art and poetry should have such a close relationship, and given my own love of poetry, it’s only natural that I should be influenced and inspired by it when thinking of ideas for block prints.  I have done shows before with the theme of “stories,” but this is the first time I’ve focussed explicitly on poetry, and the first time I’ve actually paired the source literature with each piece.

        When I’ve done solo shows in the past I’ve very seldom held a reception because an introvert like me can’t believe that many people would actually come, and what’s the point anyway if you don’t particularly relish small-talk chit-chat?  However, for this exhibit I’m determined to push myself and I’m actually offering three (count them, 3) special events.  If you’re local, please consider yourself cordially invited to any or all of the following:

    August 3 at 4:00 - Reception

    August 14 at 3:30 - Poetry Workshop

    August 26 at 3:30 - Printmaking Demo and Workshop

        I’m really hoping to reach some new folks with this show, and share the joys of block printing and poetry: two great tastes that taste great together.

[Pictures: Views of “Poems and Prints” on display at Gorse Mill Gallery, photos by AEGNydam, 2025;

Poster for the show, including Nevermore, rubber block print by AEGNydam (Image at NydamPrints.com).]

K is for Kickstarter

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of short stories, poems, and art.  Also, be sure to check out my fellow A to Z bloggers at the Master List.)

        K is for Kickstarter, which is how I published this book.  For those who aren’t familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a crowd-funding platform, and the process is that creators post a campaign for a project they hope to do.  Backers can pledge to help fund the project in various amounts, and if enough pledges are made to fund the project fully, everyone chips in their part.  However, if there are not enough pledges, the project does not go forward, and the backers don’t get charged anything, so nobody gets stuck backing a project that can’t be completed.  The most obvious use is when you want to create something that requires money up front: Kickstarter allows you to make sure you can raise enough money to complete the project before you begin.  For me, though, Kickstarter serves as a good way to gauge interest in my sometimes niche projects.

        Bittersweetness & Light is a collection of short stories, poetry, and art, so it doesn’t fall fully into any one of those categories.  It’s speculative fiction, which is certainly very popular, but not always taken very seriously by publishers.  It’s got this theme of hope and light, which is often considered fluffy, frivolous, and definitely not Serious Literature.  So am I the only one who thought this would be a book worth making?  Kickstarter allows me to get a sense of whether I’m all alone in this, before I actually put together the whole shebang.

        And in this case, the campaign was indeed successful, the project was indeed fully funded, and there are indeed people out there in the world besides me who want to read a book of warm-hearted stories, magical poems, and whimsical art that celebrate the goodness that really does exist.  Hooray!

        K is also for Knitting, one of the poems in the book, which you can read where it was first published here in New Myths online.  And K is for Keep Dancing, one of the block prints that appears in the book, and which seems like a good illustration of the Kickstarter principle of people joining together to help support a project they love.

        Marketing Moral: Back me on Kickstarter!  One of the crazy things about being an author is that by the time one book is being launched, you’re already deep into work on the next one.  I’m currently planning to run my next Kickstarter campaign in September, for a book to be released some time in the spring or summer of 2026.  The new book will have the same format of poetry, short stories, and art, but the common theme this time will be re-imaginings and inspirations based on classic fairy tales, classical mythology, and other traditional stories.  Sound interesting?  If you join my mailing list you’ll be among the first to find out when the new Kickstarter is launched.  Join my Infrequent Newsletter here.  (I send emails only about once a month, so don’t worry about your mailbox filling up with spam from me.)

        Proper Moral: Keep dancing!  To quote a song from “Swing Time” (lyrics by Dorothy Fields, 1936)…

Nothing's impossible, I have found,

For when my chin is on the ground,

I pick myself up, dust myself off,

Start all over again

Don't lose your confidence if you slip.

Be grateful for a pleasant trip,

And pick yourself up; dust yourself off;

Start all over again.

        You can see Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performing the song here.

        Have you ever backed anything on Kickstarter?  Consider taking a look (here) and see whether you just might discover some really amazing small-time, independent project that could use your support.

[Picture: Keep Dancing, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2022 (see originals here), from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025.]

Working

         I’m afraid I’ve been too busy to write blog posts, so here’s an amazing wood block print of people working even harder than I am.  Or at least some of them are, although a few of them seem to be standing around aimlessly!  This is by Leopoldo Méndez (Mexico, 1902-1969).  I love the way the top edge of the wall forms a series of panels so that we can see almost cubist views of different perspectives on the work.  It could even be a sort of graphic novel series.  The long, tall format is also unusual.

        So here’s the work I’m up to in the next couple of months, having already kicked off my autumn art season with a show a week ago:

• This weekend, Oct. 19-20 - Roslindale Open Studios.  Always one of my biggest shows!  I’ll be at The Substation, and you can find details about where to find me and the 100+ other artists at ROS.  (Info here.)

• Wednesdays through Oct. 30 - teaching block printmaking through Needham Community Education.

• Nov. 8 - teaching a block printmaking workshop with Wellesley Council on Aging (I think the November flier isn't out yet, but it will be here.)

• Nov. 9 - Needham Open Studios Fall Pop-Up.  First Parish Hall in Needham, 10:00-4:30.  A sampling of Needham Open Studios artists in one location for your convenience and delight.  (Info here.)

• Nov. 22-24 - Philcon Sci Fi/Fantasy Convention.  I’ll be doing my usual con thing: an exhibit in the art show, participating on panels about writing, giving a reading, and even having a book signing!  (Info here.)

• Dec. 7 - Arts Wayland Holiday Sale.  Wayland High School Commons (Info here.)

• Dec. 8 - Newton Holiday Craft Fair.  Newton South High School (Info here.)

• Dec. 14 - Strong Women-Strange Worlds Year-End Holiday Extravaganza.  Free, on-line, available to anyone in the world via Zoom.  Bookish fun for all!  (Details aren’t posted yet, but watch this space.)

        So with all that, I’ve been busy busy busy with matting, framing, designing new blocks to carve, and prepping for classes, finalizing my new book to be shipped out for Kickstarter, plus the usual round of submissions (but not much writing for the past few weeks), and of course all the work for all the other Activities in my life…  So there may not be a lot of spare bandwidth to dedicate to this poor blog for a bit.  But I hope to continue to share the occasional wonderful block prints to keep you satisfied -- and stay tuned for some more cool news before too long!

[Picture: The Workers, wood block print by Leopoldo Méndez, 1932 (Image from The Loeb Museum at Vassar);

Little views of my rubber block prints A Tree Made of Night, Autumn Fairy (Oaky Nutkin), and Penguin of Peace, by AEGNydam.]

Writing Wednesdays

        On Instagram I’ve been participating in #WritingWednesdays, in which I post stuff about my books each Wednesday, according to particular themes.  This was started by a couple of authors as a way to prompt themselves to get out more information about their books, in a fun, entertaining way, and I started joining in because I tend not to mention my books without an “excuse.”

        I don’t participate every week, since sometimes the particular theme doesn’t really apply to my work, or doesn’t seem like as much fun; and of course sometimes I’ve got something else of higher priority to do.  But most weeks it’s fun to think about the prompt and come up with a little graphic about it, which I can post on Instagram.  And having gone through the work of putting these things together, I thought I might as well share them here, too.  I’ve taken some of those graphics and arranged them not in the order they came, but instead grouping together all the posts about each book or series.

        Starting with a couple of posts about my Kate and Sam Adventures, these two are self-explanatory.  The only note to emphasize is that the single most effective thing you can do to support a

book you love is to talk about it.  Whether that’s suggesting to your cousin that they might like it, or leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads or some other on-line site, or filling out a request slip for your local library to buy a copy, small-time and indie authors can’t survive without reviews from our readers.

        My other series is the Otherworld “hexalogy” (yes, that’s a real word technically, but not a real word in the sense that anybody actually uses it!)  I’ve done three Writing Wednesdays posts about these books, obviously focussed on characters.  When you’ve spent six whole novels imagining people, you tend to have a very

strong sense of what they look like, as well as many of their various likes and dislikes.  I’ll admit, though, that until filling out the squares for the “Introduce your Main Character” theme, I’d never actually given any thought to Svarnil’s favorite season or color.  Still, they didn’t take much reflection to know!  (Another reminder that if you want to see all these graphics big enough to read them, just click on them.)

        I had so much fun with the “What Are They Wearing” theme that I did it twice.  I had to do it for Chen and Polly in The Extraordinary Book of Doors because Polly’s crazy bright outfits (and Chen’s reaction to them) are a running motif throughout the book.  When the weekly theme was “What is the Setting of your Book?” it was another one that called out to be about The Extraordinary Book of Doors.  After all, that book is set in some of my favorite places of historical and magical interest, and the book was practically a love letter to the Cleveland Museum of Art.  This was also an opportunity to share the pictures of myself at a couple of the doors that actually feature in the book.

        Today’s theme was “If your character were to win Olympic gold,” and I decided to feature the special talents of magical creatures from On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination.  I made two pages worth for Instagram, and could easily have come up with more.  After all, these are truly exceptional beasts!

The other theme for which I featured On the Virtues of Beasts was “5 Things You’ll Find in This Book.”

        All my other singleton books have gotten less attention on #WritingWednesdays.  Maybe some of them will be featured if one of the future themes seems to call for it.  Or, of course, maybe not.  It’s hard to try to promote 16 books in 9 separate and sometimes very different categories.  In fact, for all I know that’s a bad idea that will just confuse and muddy the marketing waters or something.  None of this sales and marketing stuff has ever been my strong suit, which is exactly why playing along with #WritingWednesdays seemed like it might bring a little fun to the part of being a writer that is usually no fun at all.

        And on that note, I have used these #WritingWednesdays posts to start already promoting Bittersweetness & Light, which will be released in January 2025.  I’m going to try to allow pre-orders starting in December, (as well as the advanced copies in November for all my Kickstarter backers), and I’ll see whether I can’t actually do this whole “book

promotion” thing right for once!  Who knows; it’s not inconceivable.  But whether or not I manage to nail the promotion, and whether or not any of this gains me any readers, at the very least I appreciate getting to play along with

#WritingWednesdays - it makes the painful necessity of promoting my books slightly less of a slog.  So if any of these little graphics were actually appealing, by all means let me know!  (And of course, I wouldn't be playing the promotional game if I didn't remind you that you can always find out more about all these books on my web page.)

        If you're on Instagram and you want to see what other authors have tagged for #WritingWednesdays, head over and check out @shameezwrites and @nuhaamakes, who come up with the themes each month.

[Pictures: all images by AEGNydam, 2024.]

Too Busy - Delirium

         It’s the last blog post of the month, and that means it’s time for Words of the Month!  Or at least, it would be, if I actually had time for anything.  This coming weekend is super busy with not one but two major events, involving SO MANY moving pieces I have to organize and take care of.  So in my current state of (hopefully temporary) disordered mind, I offer you a single fun word of the month: delirium.  Entering English towards the end of the sixteenth century, delirium is from Latin “madness.”  Its Latin origin, however, is a metaphor.  It literally means “off or away from the furrow.”  You can imagine someone plowing their field into nice, straight, ordered furrows, back and forth… and then 

suddenly, nyeeeeooowww, they go swerving off in some random direction, through the previously sowed rows, over the wildflowers at the edge of the field, down into the ditch, up into the next farmer’s field, zig-zagging all over the place…  Delirium.

        And what is the cause of my current delirium?  On Saturday, December 2 I will be participating in the Strong Women-Strange Worlds Holiday Extravaganza.  As one of the organizers I’ll be working pretty much all day for this 8 hour festival of fun, mostly behind the scenes.  Over 45 authors of sci fi, fantasy, and horror are involved in a parade of readings, games, and literary frolics, and I encourage you to join us.  It’s free, it’s on-line, and you can drop in and out all day as your schedule allows.  Preregister HERE!  And if you want to see me, 

I’ll be playing “Bluff the Audience” at noon (US/Canada Eastern time) in which 5 authors have written fake endings to excerpts from each others’ work, and the audience gets to guess which endings are real.  It should be a hoot!  (Info on the full event schedule is here.)

        Despite being busy all day Saturday, I hope to be able to find a few hours to load my car, because on Sunday, December 3 I will be participating in the Celebrate Newton Holiday Craft Fair.  There will be live music by a variety of Newton ensembles for a festive atmosphere, and more than 50 artists and crafters showing a variety of work suitable for gift shopping.  (More info here.)  It’s my last in-person show of the year, but if you can’t make it, don’t worry - you can always contact me directly if you need 

to procure that perfect block print or book.

        While I’m running through the promotions, I’ll mention one more show at which my work will be represented in 2023: the annual “Illumination” show at Gallery Twist in Lexington.  It’s always beautiful, and this year the opening reception will be on Saturday, December 2.  I, alas, will not be there, what with the delirium of other events, but I do encourage anyone in the area to check it out as it’s always delightful.

        Now, wish me luck to make it through!

Glowing Rejections

         My grand experiment in short fiction submission has now been going on for just a little over two years, and in that time I’ve received a lot of rejections, as well as acceptances of 4 stories and 2 poems.  I currently have 5 stories and 3 poems out under consideration and will get out more as more submission windows open.  I continue to Keep the Rejection Pipeline Flowing, living in perpetual hope that the next acceptance may be one of these that’s currently out.  Rejections are easier to shake off and not worry about as long as I still have submissions out, holding open the possibility that although this one failed, maybe the next one will succeed.    Rejections are inevitably depressing and it’s important to keep hope going.  Given this, it’s natural that most authors only want to talk about their acceptances, but today I want to talk about rejections…  Not just any rejections, however, but those I think of as Bridesmaid Rejections.

        It’s not an exact analogy, but the term came to me based on the old phrase “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” and it refers to rejections in which the editors tell me how much they loved my work, but sadly they’ve rejected it anyway.  Presumably this is sometimes because they thought it was good, but just not quite good enough, but sometimes it’s also  indicative of the state of publishing, in which editors  receive more stories they love than they can fit in an issue, no matter how much they may want to.  Moreover, their decisions about which stories to publish in a particular issue can’t be based solely on a straight ranking of quality (even if that weren’t impossibly subjective) but also on the combination of a particular mix of stories.  These factors mean that in the past two years I’ve received some positively glowing rejection letters.

        “The word choice and imagery in this piece was magical… It is with a heavy heart that we must let it go.”

        “We really loved this worthy and thoughtful story… Thank you for this haunting, poignant piece, so suffused with despair and defiance, airy lyricism and sharp psychological insight.”

        “This was such a lovely piece that you submitted. Thank you so much for writing this piece.”

        “Your writing is lyrical and precise. It makes me feel confident I am in good hands as a reader.”

        “Thank you for such a contemplative poem… The language sparkles with wonder and precision.”

        I even recieved a rejection that wasn’t so much a Bridesmaid as a Jilted-at-the-Altar Rejection!  “It is with regret that I have to reject your story, not because it wasn’t good enough to purchase, but because I do not have a current publication I can buy it for. …  I wish you all the best with this story. It actually made me tear up to read--it was so good.”  (Assuming this editor meant tear to rhyme with fear and not tear to rhyme with bear!  LOL)

        It’s important to note that most editors do not send comments with most rejections.  They all have their various form rejection letters, and I’ve certainly seen plenty of those.  So personal comments on a piece really are meaningful.  On the one hand, these Bridesmaid Rejections can sometimes feel even more infuriating than a plain old rejection - always so darn close, and yet nothing! - but there is a very positive spin to put on them.  It allows me to think of my submissions as being a way to get professional editors to do my beta reading for me!  (To be clear, I’m not sending stories that I consider to be unfinished or mere drafts.  These are thoroughly polished before I send them out.)  If I get a positive response from an editor it means that my story or poem was indeed effective for someone else: someone who doesn’t know me and has no possible incentive to say anything but what they honestly think.  That’s really nice feedback to get!  It’s also really useful, because my scheme is to publish a collection of my short stories, poems, and art, and Bridesmaid Rejections tell me that I can feel confident about publishing these pieces.  Of my stories that have not been accepted, but which I’ve been sending out a lot, half have received glowing rejections from at least one editor.  So yes, even with only a handful of actual acceptances, these unpublished stories and poems are good, darn it!  (One other note about the handful of acceptances, for those not acquainted with the business: the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association has an industry-standard definition of when a writer can call themselves a “professional.”  In the short story and poetry format, it’s having as few as 3 pieces published by professional-rate-paying markets in a year.  A mere handful of acceptances is common among professional writers.)

        So why do I share all this, anyway?  1. I think it’s important to be honest about the frustrations and disappointments as well as the triumphs.  We all get lots of rejections, and it doesn’t help anyone’s mental state if we try to put on a “perfect” facade to the world and pretend we’re all success all the time.

2. On the flip side, I am kind of bragging.  Frustrating as they are, I’m proud of what these Bridesmaid Rejections tell me about my writing.

3.  The stories that will be included in my upcoming collection need to be pulled from the submission pipeline now, to ensure that I will have the rights to publish them next year.  I’ll keep on sending out the stories that aren’t earmarked for this collection (not to mention that I hope to continue writing more stuff), but it seemed good to celebrate the submission process a little, before it ends for these particular pieces.

        As for this upcoming collection I’ve been alluding to, this is my first teaser announcement: I plan to run a Kickstarter campaign starting in January, for Bittersweetness & Light!  So stay tuned for more information in a few months, as I get ever more excited and immersed in the project.  PREVIEW HERE!

[Pictures: Keep the Rejection Pipeline Flowing, photo by AEGN;

The Princess of Wales and Her Bridesmaids, wood engraving from Harper’s Weekly, April 18, 1863 (Image from Internet Archive);

Draft mock-up of cover design for Bittersweetness & Light by AEGN.]

Musings on Sales

         I’ve been thinking again recently about the delicate balance that artists of all sorts must find, dancing the tightrope between creation and commercialism.  I could wrestle with this for pages, but it’s summer and I’ve got lots of chores to do, as well as plenty of work for the next Strong Women-Strange Worlds author event, not to mention a backlog of no fewer than five carved blocks that need printing.  So instead I offer you a quotation from sculptor Anne Truitt, as well as just a few additional thoughts of my own.

        “Artists have to please whim to live on their art. They stand in fearful danger of looking to this taste to define their working decisions. Sometime during the course of their development, they have to forge a character subtle enough to nourish and protect and foster the growth of the part of themselves that makes art, and at the same time practical enough to deal with the world pragmatically. They have to maintain a position between care of themselves and care of their work in the world, just as they have to sustain the delicate tension between intuition and sensory information.

        “This leads to the uncomfortable conclusion that artists are, in this sense, special because they are intrinsically involved in a difficult balance not so blatantly precarious in other professions. The lawyer and the doctor practice their callings. The plumber and the carpenter know what they will be called upon to do. They do not have to spin their work out of themselves, discover its laws, and then present themselves turned inside out to the public gaze.”

        There are certainly some authors and artists who love making work tailored to the “popular” trends and who revel in marketing and publicity.  But I, along with the majority of authors and artists I know, find a deep and uncomfortable chasm between the love of creating things and the unpleasant necessity of trying to sell it.  I don’t want to play the publicity games of making sure everyone has heard of me, or attempt to perform the marketing goals of convincing people they “need” something they wouldn’t otherwise want.  Add to that the even deeper and more difficult divide between my sense that making art and writing are a calling, in which I attempt to offer up my gifts in the service of making the world a better place… and the fact that this is my job and I’m trying to make a decent income from it.

        This weekend I had a booth at an art festival, and that format usually feels pretty good to me.  I display my art, and people can look at it and decide for themselves whether or not it makes them happy and they want to buy something.  If they don’t care for it, they walk on by and we all go on with our lives.  If they enjoy it and feel some connection and delight in what I’ve created, they can spend time looking, we can talk, and maybe they’ll decide to take something home.  Certainly I appreciate all the people who stopped by this weekend, looked, and talked with me about block printing, speculative fiction, magical creatures, doors, carving, octopuses, Model T’s, and more!  I hope the pieces you bought bring you much joy.

        For others who walk that tightrope, how do you find the balance between nourishing the part of yourself that makes art and being practical enough to deal with the world pragmatically?

[Five blocks carved in July,

booth at Linda Plaut Newton Festival of the Arts, photos by AEGN, 2023;

Quotation from Daybook: The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt, 1974, by way of Maria Popova’s The Marginalian.]