The Right & the Real is the most recent novel by Joëlle Anthony, my friend and fellow member of SCBWI whom I met at a novel retreat a few years ago. Since then, she's been quite busy, moving to Canada, getting an agent, and publishing not one but TWO novels, both from Penguin/Putnam. For those of you who have heard me rave about it (or have decided to read it yourselves, due to my incessant raving), Joëlle is also the author of the young adult novel, Restoring Harmony. The Right & the Real is a gripping, action-packed story, full of heart (and a bit of romance, too!). Here's what others have to say about it:

Fast pacing and a strong first-person narrative voice combine to make this coming-of-age story a harrowing page-turner. PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY

“Nail biting tension and a plot that just won’t quit. The Right & the Real is a romance with attitude and a romp with heart.” – Tim Wynne-Jones, award-winning author of The Uninvited and the critically acclaimed, Blink & Caution

“The Right & the Real has everything a reader could want: a gutsy heroine, romance, betrayal, and a pace that will keep you reading late into the night. Anthony’s character shows us what it takes to survive in a gritty urban landscape when all you have are some unlikely allies, your own wits, and belief in your future.” –Eileen Cook, author of The Education of Hailey Kendrick and Unraveling Isobel

Wondering what The Right & the Real is about? Watch this trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1va1-_Ehsbw  And as Joëlle says, for best effect, CRANK UP the volume. The guitar is fantastic.

For more information, go to http://www.joelleanthony.com

There was a moment, about five days before my art show opening, when I had a rush of anxiety, asking myself, "Will anybody come to it? Will they ask me questions? Will I sound like an idiot if I don't know the answers?"—all useless anxieties, but very telling. I got out my journal, wrote them all down, took a good look at my list of fears, and realized that they were all variations on the "not enough" theme. On my list, I could plainly see my anxieties about attendance of the event, the amount of food that I was preparing for the event, the knowledge of the artist (me!) not being adequate to satisfy curious minds, and so forth. And the list made me realize that I was following fear rather than following love—doing the opposite of my intended philosophy of life, Follow Love, Not Fear.

Love has many definitions. In this case, if Love is Abundance, then Fear is the lack of trust and lack of confidence and lack of support and lack of whatever I needed to have an Art Opening. Simply stated, Not Enough is the opposite of Abundance. And there are so many survival fears attached to not having enough—who can't relate to that one? We've all felt survival fears. Haven't we all had desperate moments of hunger, poverty, friendlessness, or all of the above simultaneously? Well, of course. We're all human.

I'm happy to report that my fears of "not enough" changed to the thrill of abundance when 5 p.m. rolled around and the crowds of friends and family began to roll in. It was a fabulous feeling, to see everyone arrive, to have everyone in one space and all for the purpose of supporting me. Me! And my art! Wow. Had that ever happened before? Had I ever been that blessed? Had I ever been so lucky and well-loved? Why did I doubt for even one moment that Abundance was the rule in life and not the exception? That Love was always the path to follow? Gee, I really don't know. (Sheepish grin).

Thank you to all of you, my friends and family, my new friends at the Estuary, and anyone else out there who supports my art or anyone's art! Thank you from my heart. If you missed the art opening, I hope you will see the show while it is still up during the month of February. Thank you, once again! I feel mightily blessed.

Hello, again. It always amazes me how much time goes by between these blog entries. I meant to say this much earlier: Happy 2012! So far, it's been a happily busy and productive year for me. As I mentioned in my last blog, I'm having an art show (!). It will be in Nashville, Tennessee, at The Estuary, located at 1711 19th Avenue South. The art show officially opens on Friday, February 3, with a reception that night, although the paintings will be up and available for viewing by January 20. Yes, in one week! And I'm ready for it, except for a few last-minute details. I've been doing new paintings, framing, making greeting cards from two of the images, and deciding on titles. I've also written a new bio for the Estuary's monthly newsletter. Here is what I wrote for their newsletter, more or less:

About me, and why I paint:
I have always done art, as soon as I could hold a crayon. Watercolors are my preferred medium. Watercolor painting is a lot like life...once you get rolling with it, it is impossible to control the outcome. With watercolors, spontaneous surprises are constant! And I adore spontaneity, even if it first looks like a "mistake". In my studio, I do a lot of laughing at my own foolishness. My art has always been a lifeline for me...a place to explore my dreams, confide my secrets, recall memories, and empathize with the lives of other earthly beings. When I paint, I use my imagination and intuition to feel the energy of people, animals, flowers, trees, and entire landscapes. Often, I paint my own feelings—like a snapshot of my soul. I usually don't do any sketching—I just pick up a paintbrush, load it up with watercolors, and begin.

I've kept a daily journal since 8th grade, full of poems and pictures. At age 18, after filling my head with mysticism and romantic notions about art, I built a cardboard house in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains and lived there all summer (like Thoreau at Walden...ha, ha...) while working as a portrait artist. It was a fine adventure, full of creatures and oddball characters, and I am currently writing a novel loosely based on this teenage experience.

Afterwards, back in Knoxville, I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, got married, had two wonderful kids, made Gallagher guitars, got a Master's in Historic Preservation, restored multiple houses and commercial buildings, conducted oral history projects, studied yoga, wrote poems, and painted as if my life depended on it. Which, at times, it did.

Currently, I am a student at the School of Healing Arts at the Estuary and am learning more about energy, how to see it and sense it— a wealth of information and self-knowledge which is already finding its way into my art work.

If you'd like to know more about The Estuary, a nonprofit organization that offers classes and individual sessions in energy healing, their website is http://www.theestuary.org

The art show opens in February in Nashville--hooray! I'll give more details later about when and where, but for now I just wanted to say how very pleased and happy that I am to have another opportunity to show my paintings. The last show that I had was in November of 2004 at the Belle Meade Plantation's gallery...that's seven years ago, and it seems even longer. A lot has happened since then and (hopefully) also a lot of personal growth as an artist. Here is a sneak preview: one of a series of hummingbird watercolors that I've been working on recently. I'll post more later, after Christmas. Happy Holidays to all!

I started painting hummingbirds last summer. This winter, with grey skies outside and no visiting hummingbirds to watch, I am painting these birds from memory. They will all be in my art show, in February, 2012. More information on that later.

This is one of the sketches that I did at the last meeting of our illustrator's group.

I missed a couple of meetings, but last week I returned to our monthly illustrator meeting in Nashville and had the opportunity to draw with my fellow artists. We had a live model again this time. She was Mary's yoga teacher, Taunia Rice, doing yoga poses as we sketched. Taunia did several quick poses of one minute each and then held longer poses of five minutes or more. Here is a sketch of her lotus pose, which she held for 15 minutes (thus giving us plenty of time to get in a few details). She was a great model and we hope to see her again at another illustrator meeting. Here is a link to her website: www.tauniarice.com Thanks, Taunia!

I just got back from the SCBWI-Midsouth conference in Nashville, and once again I am amazed at how much information and inspiration can be packed into a single weekend! The faculty this year was wonderful. The presentation by Linda Sue Park was inspirational, and also very funny and moving. She reminded us that the STORY that we are telling is what really matters, and if we are to see our story become a shared story as a published book, we must get our own ego out of the way as much as possible. She said that we should not worry about "me" but worry about the story that needs to be told. Believe in your story.

I loved every minute. Seeing old friends was so much fun, and this year there were at least 50 first-timers there, too. I got to meet a lot of new people and share the enthusiasm for writing and illustrating children's books.

If you'd like to get a sample of what happened and what we learned, you can go to the Conference Blog at http://scbwimidsouth2011.blogspot.com/

People who have dropped by my site have told me that they like the little painting (what they can see of it...). And that reminded me that I forgot to mention that you can click on the image of the hummingbird if you'd like to see it slightly larger.

I'll be posting other new watercolors soon!

Every year for the past six or seven years, I've attended the annual conference of the Midsouth (TN-KY) chapter of the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. As always, it will be in Nashville. But now it has grown from a single day event to a quickly sold-out 3-day conference with wonderful authors and illustrators, editors and agents attending as well as dozens of aspiring writers and illustrators.

This year, I'll have a picture book critiqued by my peers and my YA novel critiqued by an editor. The feedback will be much appreciated!

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new folks, too. And I've got less than a week to wait!