Thursday, September 29, 2022

Writing Into the Void

 *

Maybe that's what I'm doing here. 

This is not Substack. It is not Medium. It is not Conversations. It is not Patreon content. It is not any of those other here-let-us-sell-your-words-for-a-fee sites. Which I'm not against. This just is not that. 

This is a space I created for writing. I had some thoughts toward goals when I set it up many years ago. But, as with many things, I did not make a plan.

I'm not a planner. Not in my writing. Not in my comics making. I'm just not. Which is not the same as never having a plan! No! I just ... I guess I build it as I go. I've said for many years that - in terms of my writing - if I tried to plan out what I was going to write, I would surely miss all the good bits.

Which I believe to be 92.5% true. When I can get in 'the zone' and write write write, good things can happen. If I get out of my way. Which I can do when I give myself time and space.

So here I am. All these years later. 

In this space.

My space.

Is anyone reading?

Is anyone out there?

I know I had one faithful reader, who died a year ago. I hope she's still catching my words now and then. I think she is. 

But is there anyone left who still sees what I type? What I throw out into space? Either way it's okay. This is my space and these are my words. This is also a place where I hold space and there are a few memories and, because I'm terrible with (some) dates, this is also a place of time markers.

If I ever turn this space into that bigger dream, maybe I can retire this part. Or hide it somewhere. I don't think I want to delete it because - good or bad - this is part of the journey I've been on.

Now. Back to the words on paper that I'm editing. And notes I'm making. And comics I playing with, doodling, drawing. 

Holding a space in time.

*

Friday, September 16, 2022

New Chapbook and a special deal

 **new in August 2022**

Illusions of Time :: Haiku Comics 
is a collection of graphic haikus by Dot Hearn. The haikus include traditional and modern haiku conventions, and include three types - haiku, haibun, and haigga - as well as wordless haiku.

$15 includes standard shipping to the lower 48 US states. If you need it sent to another country or expedited, send me an email and I will check into pricing.  

Published August 2022
64 pages. 
Page size 5.5 x 5.5 inches.
Perfect bound.
Black & white cover, with color comic on front; interior b&w.

Purchase "Illusions of Time" for $15 via PayPal

 
Orders will be mailed within 3 days of receiving payment, excluding weekends and holidays. You can also order at the Literary Kitchen, where you can purchase books from other Wayward Writers and see what class offerings are currently available.

________________________________________________

 ** special combo!  ** 



Purchase both books, Illusions of Time and Pickle Blanket Chronicles, together for a discounted price of $25, which includes shipping to the lower 48 US states. (See below for more information about Pickle Blanket Chronicles.)

Click here to purchase both books at the special price of 
 $25 via PayPal
 
Orders will be mailed within 3 days of receiving payment,
excluding weekends and holidays.
 

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Current Projects


My book, "Illusions of Time: Haiku Comics" was published in August. It is available to purchase it on the BOOKS by Dot tab (or click the link *wink). Also, if you don't already have a copy of my previous chapbook, "Pickle Blanket Chronicles - A Flash Mixtape," you can purchase that. Purchase both books together for a discounted price!


I am also working on final* edits for the hybrid memoir. No publication date, but I will post it here when available. [*"final" means, final for this round. After this edit, I will be sending it to an outside editor to put their eyes and experience on and see what I get back.]

The printed manuscript has its very own soft-yet-sturdy pebbled sangria-colored leather carry-bag, which is also plenty big to carry pens, sticky notes, a notepad and other editing needs. I need the printed manuscript because I am currently doing what Ariel Gore calls "sonic edits" - which means that I read the entire book aloud, making notes as I go. I find reading my writing aloud to myself tedious and want to skip it. Simultaneously, I remember that every time I've read a piece of my writing aloud - whether in preparation for a reading/spoken word event, or in preparing a story for submission - it has been immensely helpful. There are tips and tricks to optimize the experience - and .every.time. that I read my work aloud, it gets better. I know this. So I grit and grin as I take it one page at a time, remembering that the book will be better because of it.

I am continuing to work on developing my comic making skills. I still attend the Friday Night Comics from SAW (Sequential Artists Workshop) when I can, and I am currently in another online Haiku Comics workshop with David Lasky from Seattle, hosted by Pull/Pull in Seattle. David's teaching style is perfect, in my opinion. He is an experienced artist and author, he gives us history and examples of haiku and comics, there are drawing demonstrations. He give us time to create, as well. This late summer comic haiku class, he added information and exposure about using watercolor in comics. He is competent and calm and I appreciate his classes, his art, his teaching very much. (He will be doing another Haiku Comics in the fall.)

I will be doing "The Wayward Writer One-Year Maven of Mythmaking Certificate Program" with Ariel Gore in 2023. This is a new offering in The Literary Kitchen and it looked like exactly what I have been yearning for, for several months. So I signed up. A full year program! Registration is now full, though there is currently a wait list. A month or so ago, I also signed up for "Gore’s Grotto: A New Way to Structure Memoir & Fiction," a one-day workshop via Zoom near the end of October. This end of October workshop is perfect timing, because ...

... I will being doing NaNoWriMo again - my 15th consecutive year! But, for the first time since 2019, I will be taking my annual NaNo writing retreat at the coast. The cozy cabin I love in Oceanside was available for the dates I wanted. It is a nice, quinessential Oregon coast cabin, with a full kitchen, two bedrooms, a living room, a can't-be-beat view and front row seats for miles of weather and ocean activity. And it is mine (and my writer/friend/covid-pod-mate's) for six days of writing in November.


I'm missing our boy today. He was an excellent cat and we loved him. 
Cats get old and get cat diseases and then it's time to let them be at peace, 
even though the decision is not easy.