You know, any day you get an email from your favorite author, it's an awesome day. It's an even more awesome day when the email gives you his blessing to paint one of his poems, because he likes your art. And if he signs it, 'love'?... I'll be on the fainting couch if you need me.
Read Moreyour wordle for the day
book expo
And I also don't know how to even tell the story without sounding like a name-dropping ass -- so I'll just list the highlights: Mark Smylie giving me the complete set of his Artesia graphic novels for the low price of gas money; Talking with Jeff Smith about what a nice person Colleen Doran is; Spotting Wil Wheaton across the hall as he was walking with a man who turned out to be John Scalzi; Slash being yards away from me as he signed books; Sherman Alexie doing a drawing in my copy of "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", because I gave him a drawing; Having the man I was chatting with at the bar turn out to be Marty Davis, who taught at Watts when I was there, and spending the next couple of hours geeking out about art; And finally meeting Neil Gaiman in person, and discovering I had inadvertently given him something related to Chapter 5 of The Graveyard Book.... I probably still sound like an ass. So many wonderfully kind, brilliant, and talented men were there that I thought I might faint or swoon at several points during the day.... But here's two very small and quick sketches I did as studies of Neil, during the breakfast panel: I didn't think to take a photo of the one good sketch I did in ink, before I gave it to him.
Read MoreGet out of your own way
But when I can shut down my ego, and just focus on doing what I need to do, and keeping my inner demons where they belong -- then not only does my work go more smoothly and flow, but all kinds of crazy luck comes my way.... Most people learn the technical side of writing first, and then discover they're hamstrung, because then the emotional side they never knew about comes out and kicks their ass. … I'm reposting it here, because it's worth saying again.... You might have some of the best training out there, but get absolutely flattened when it comes time to create something new, if you're not also prepared to deal with the issues that surface when you try to create.
Read Morethe one where I meet wil wheaton
Yesterday, J and I went down to the Stone brewery, home of Arrogant Bastard Ale, where we planned to drink a lot of great beer, and listen to Wil Wheaton read from his new book, The Happiest Days of our Lives.... For the last couple of days, I'd been trying to think of what cool thing I could bring Wil, and thought about maybe doing a painting of him and his wife -- but the only photo on his site of the two of them was in Halloween kit, as zombies.... He surprised me by recognizing me and thanking me; we chatted a bit about writing and art. I told him about having wanted to bring him a cool painting of him and Anne, but they both totally jumped on the zombie portrait idea.
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