Yes, Virginia, there is a connection.
There are those who wonder why I mess around with glue and paper at all, when I can command significant money for spending the same amount of time writing. A logical question, I suppose, but painfully obvious to the terminally creative. 🙂 Visual art stokes up the old idea machine in ways that often surprise me. I have come to believe, even a short distance into this particular journey, that my collage and polymer clay work ARE, in some difficult to define way, integral parts of the writing process.
I wax philosophical today because I’m nearing the end of yet another book–“Dylan”, (Book 2 in the Montana Creeds series, to be published next spring.) While I’m always happy to be finished, so I can start a new story, there is some letting go involved, too. I’ve spent a lot of time with these characters, and learned to love them, and even though the book will be in print for a good many years, most likely, this is still a good-bye. I’ve compared it often to sending a beloved child off to college–you’ve worked hard to prepare them for progressive degrees of independence, but you still have to stand in the driveway or the airport and smile bravely as they leave. Sure, they come back for visits, and books do, too, given the pre-publication process, etc., but not to stay. And things are never quite the same as they were.
On the bright side, Tyler and his lovely Lily await, ready to tell their story. (Book 3–Book 1 is “Logan”). When I get home from London, I will rest for a few days, and then dive in.
In London and Paris, I will no doubt make magical discoveries–Portobello Road is a favorite source of collage elements–and these collages, in turn, will awaken new ideas, new insights.
Have I mentioned lately that I absolutely love my crazy, mixed-up, glue-sticky life???
