erbstories-eleanor.blogspot: Frank's ebook

erbstories-eleanor.blogspot: Frank's ebook

concert, gallery

Yesterday, I played portions of the Messiah at Corning Community College. The college has grown tremendously since I was last there and it is a beautiful campus far up on a hill outside of Corning.
There were a lot of good musicians, both classical and jazz besides the good choral group that performed.
I really enjoyed it.
After the concert, I stopped at the West End Gallery downtown in Corning to pick up some of my fish art. It really wasn't the right venue for it, but they  liked it and displayed it.
Finding a parking place was a pain. I had to park about 3 blocks away and the icy wind was whipping down through the valley. Good exercise though.
Everyone who visits the Southern Tier of New York should visit Corning. It is very hip and of course it's where the Glass Museum is located.

Pud & Beaky

Pud and Beaky are now on the website. There will be more of them shortly. Hope you like them.

Logan Festival

The Logan Festival was nice. Not a great amount of people, but they were buyers.
I sold quite a few books, but no art. I had made some small, less expensive art work but it just wasn't the right venue for them. People were mostly interested in the children's books.

The White Cat book sold out, which was surprising to me. I have to get more printed. People do love cats and it is a cute story.

The two little guys in the pictures helped me a lot. I gave them free coloring sheets and 50c for their assistance in bringing stuff in from the car and they wanted to bring me lunch from the choice of menu that was being provided by the ladies in the kitchen. I chose macaroni and cheese. There were many, many baked goods for sale. I chose a homemade lemon scone.

I unfortunately had to visit the outdoor bathroom facility. Awful!!  I even had to wait in line in the snow to get in.  If I win the lottery, I'll put in a septic system for them. But every one seemed to have a laugh about the situation. There were some remarks about it that I won't print.

That was the last event that I will be doing before spring. I am looking into other places to attend. I have found that people who come through where I've been before, have already purchased some of the books, and will not even stop, so I need to travel out of this area.

Have a great holiday, everyone!

Bazaar at the Methodist church

The gig at the Methodist church was fun. I was especially interested in the high school boy in back of my booth. He was a terrific artist and I took his picture looking over the art in my clown books. I know he has a wonderful future ahead of him - he has a great personality to go with his talent.

My wonderful talented violin student passed by and stopped to look at my books. She also has a great future ahead of her. 

I sold quite a few books and a couple of art pieces. I have decided to draw small fish pieces since the large ones are a bit too expensive.

Tomorrow I'm attending the Logan bazaar. It takes place in an old church that is gradually being restored. The only thing I don't like about it is that it has an outdoor toilet. It is really cold on the bum. They get very defensive when I mention that I don't like their bathroom facilities.

Holiday Bazaar at St. Mary's

I had a wonderful day yesterday at the St. Mary's bazaar in Watkins Glen. There were lots of good booths with interesting things to offer. In back of me was a lady who was selling items made by people in Bolivia. She got the items while visiting there as a volunteer. Her items were almost sold out at the end of the day.

There was a lot of jewelry - all very nice and original. The pottery table was nice - the maker had invented a lid that was atop a small deep dish. The lid formed a peak that would hold rings. If I had wanted to spend some of my money gotten for my books, etc, I would have bought one of those.

Good food was offered and there was a long line for a buffet lunch. I chose a meatball sub - so good, but I couldn't eat it all.

I sold a good amount of books - I had to call my husband to bring me more of the A. C. Robat books. Also sold 2 art pieces.

I always try to take a picture of a child to accompany the children's books. There was a darling little girl who was dressed in a Santa suit. She was adorable and her mother gave me permission to take her picture. Took about 5 before she smiled, but we got a good one.

I have directed the designer of my website to delete 3 pages on the site, so they are now gone. I am trying to think of what to put in their spaces. I've got several ideas. Maybe a grown up section with short stories. Maybe a cartoon section, or maybe a "finish the story" for kids.

I'd like to change the stories and pages every month. I already have one ready for the Christmas season.

The 2 critters, Pud and Beaky are in the process of being copyrighted and I think they would be cute on a graphics page that would also change monthly.

Frank's ebook

Yesterday, I filled out Frank's submission form for his ebook, Band Director's Handbook. We are going to put it on Teachers Pay Teachers, where I have some of my Wheel of Arts stories and activities. We are also going to find more music education sites for his book. It's a great book for instrumental music teachers. It is full of problems and solutions for every instrument (except strings).

Site changes and recycling for the future

I am going to replace the pages that I'm taking away from the website with new stories and coloring sheets.
I'm learning that the site can't stay stagnant. I've run a lot of ideas through my head besides the Murph and Pud comics. Several other possibilities in my busy mind.

I am going to diverge here for a bit. I have been thinking a lot about people who don't have the money to buy clothes for themselves and their kids. Or, for that matter, for all of us who would like to save money.
Here are my ideas:
1 - Take your old clothes and fashion them so that they look like the modern ones in the shops. Just look at magazines (I get a ton of them in the mail every day) or in the newspapers.
2 - Get together with friends who have large houses with a room where friends can set up sewing machines. Take yours there if you have one and make all kinds of stuff - dish towels, baby blankets, quilts, smaller sheets from larger ones that are tattered, skirts, etc, etc. We have enough stuff right here in our country that can be recycled rather than buying it "Made in China"
3 - We can start our own styles right here in our country. Use your imagination!
4 - Visit junk shops and find old tables that you can paint with shiny colors.
5 - Make a home fashion statement with different style dishes that aren't chipped that can be bought for a nickel.
6 - Don't buy a lamp made in China - find the base at a garage sale of junk shop, spray paint it and find a shade to fit it at the same places. I painted one and it's adorable.
7 - Old dressers are in - find one that's beat up at a junk shop and paint it.
9 - Find sturdy boxes at junk shops or yard sales. Paint them. Turn the tops facing the front and stack books or folders in them. No need to buy file cabinets made in China. Also use them for electronic equipment.
10 - Find sturdy branches from trees and hang colorful fabric from old clothes on them. Put them on your walls for art.
11 - There are millions of old chairs hanging around junk shops and yard sales. Drag them home and paint them. Make colorful pads out of old clothes for the seats and backs. Nothing there made in China.
12 - My kids loved cardboard boxes to play with more than anything I ever bought from the store. I found all sizes and I made bean bags out of old clothes with beans inside. Game 1. The most difficult game was tossing the bag in the inside of the smallest box. Put little boxes inside of the biggest ones. On and on - your creative mind can come up with stuff better than what you pay for the trash that comes from China.
13- It's time now to be more creative than ever before. Reuse and make it different every once in a while with paint, cloth, paper, markers, etc. I wish we could open some of those old factories that abound in towns. They are just waiting for the creative mind to do something with them. We don't have to pay a fortune to build anything - they are right in front of us, waiting for someone to fix them up for the future of our country's economy. You could even start a winter garden in them!

Calla & Bela vist

A beautiful fall weekend when granddaughter Calla and fiance Bela came down from Rochester to visit. It isn't often that they get time off, especially together, from the rotation schedule in Med school. They are usually tired and hungry. They are also hungry for walks and activity. They hit the sack at 8:00 last night. Bela mowed the lawn today and Calla helped me with my blog, with which I have had a hard time getting published. I think I can make it work now.

A lot of bazaars, signings and festivals are coming up, so I have been getting prepared with the books, t-shirts, cards, art and some coloring books. I love doing these events.

erbstories-eleanor.blogspot

I had a busy July with the books. There were 3 successful book events. One at the West Elmira Library, a signing at the Seneca Lake General Store and one at Mackeral Sky in Honeoye where she is stocking my books. The General Store in Watkins is also stocking the books. Little by little I'm getting there!
Saturday I will be doing a book signing at Scandia House in Hammondsport. Looking forward to that. Meanwhile I have started 2 new writing projects.
The website is being redesigned and should be good by the end of August. I am offering some of the books as ebook formats. I'll be anxious to see if that works.

Week of visitors

We have been visited by my granddaughter and her finance this week. They recently returned from El Salvador after spending a year there as medical volunteers.
Another visitor came with them. He received his medical degree last week at the U of Rochester Med. Sch. He is now Dr. Patrick Francis. He is also a terrific violinist and he and I played duets all evening. We are going to continue playing this morning after he returns from hiking with Calla and Bela.
Calla and Bela will begin their 4th year at U of Roch. in July.
It is wonderful when they can get down here for a weekend.

erbstories-eleanor.blogspot: Fish paintings

erbstories-eleanor.blogspot: Fish paintings

Fish paintings

I have painted a lot of fish now and have left them at various galleries. I'm thinking of doing a web site with just those. Here is one:

I've been all over visiting wonderful little shops and children's stores. Went to Hammondsport yesterday and found a unique shop called Lime Berry. It is mostly an art gallery. They have wonderful carpets and one of a kind gifts with a Southwest flair. The owners are from Colorado and are so interesting.
I have to go back there and stop in at a children's shop to show them my books.
The library in Hammondsport is new and I want to visit that too to see if I can get a children's reading session set up.

ellysblog: book trailer

ellysblog: book trailer

book trailer

The Ring of Rats is on YouTube now. There is already a lot of good feedback.

Festival of Women in the Arts

Last night I attended the Festival of Women in the Arts at the Montour Library. I told about my background and showed and read from some of my books.
It was interesting to hear the poetry that was read. There are so many gifted writers in this area. I was honored to be part of it.

ellysblog

ellysblog: "Gandley The Goose!"

Women In The Arts

I will be reading from some of my books at the Festival of Women In The Arts event next Tues. at the Montour Falls Memorial Library. There will be other writers and poets reading some of their works also. It will be interesting to hear what others are doing. 

ellysblog

ellysblog

New Reading

I have been to a few libraries this week with good success. I will be doing readings for children 3-8 in a couple of them. The others haven't gotten back yet as to when an event can be scheduled. Steele Memorial Library in Elmira has a date set for  book readings on April 29. I will be reading the clown books to little ones. I'm really looking forward to it.

I took some books to a library today for a possible reading and book signing. 

On the way home, I stopped at Chequagua Falls in Montour Falls to take a picture of the melting snow from the hills, raging down over the rocks.

It was awesome with the bright blue sky. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Then, after coming home I saw hundreds of geese flying north. I noticed one white goose in the gaggle. I think it might have been Gandley The Goose!

ellysblog: Gandley The Goose

ellysblog: Gandley The Goose

It has been suggested that I share my experience with my self-publishing journey. I think it's a great idea.
So I would like to hear from anyone with questions about how I started and what I've done. I would be happy to help in any way that I can.

Lots of stuff

Between the snow and getting some stories out there, it has been very busy.
Today the snow is still falling and we have a "snow muffin" on the patio. That's what it looks like - a muffin that would melt (pardon the pun) in your mouth. It's about 18" high and round, since it is on a picnic table. The table is covered with a tarp for the winter.
I am finally getting the book " The Pink Shoes" done. This book has tried my patience. There have been a lot of glitches with it getting printed. But next week, hopefully, it will go to the publisher.
Also the book trailer should be ready next week.

Special feature on Etsy

Today I put 2 of the clown books on Etsy showcase. It can be put on for one day as a feature.
I'm trying out all of the opportunities that are offered that don't cost a bundle. It's not enough to just have a website.
The book trailer will be coming soon. I've had to change that a little. It's going to be really nice.

I put a picture of my circus art on on Etsy. No takers yet, but the items can stay on longer than ebay and it's not expensive.

Today I signed up for Etsy. It's a wonderful site where you can put your handmade stuff on. It was suggested that I put my art on it, so I put about 5 circus art, 2 fish pieces and an abstract music watercolor on. It's easy and very inexpensive. I plan to put on some books too.
I put on a watercolor of a dolphin that I did a while back. Sometimes I hate to let them go.

This week

I have a book trailer coming soon. It will be on U Tube. The Ring of Rats is featured on it. I'm excited about it.
Today a high school Senior came to the house and helped me get some of the books on TeachersPayTeachers. It's a wonderful site that allows teachers from all subjects to sell their lesson plans, experiences in teaching, books, reading materials and lots more. I submitted the Wheel of Arts, The Pink Shoes and All The Things I Might Be When I Grow Up. I plan to put more books on it.
I hope I can learn the steps for doing all this technical stuff before the young man goes to college next year. I try to write all the steps down as he flies through them.

This week I have had to correct a lot of my text pages on one of the books because of margin errors. I've learned from that. Also when you do a cover for your book, the margins have to be correct. If you are self-publishing, you need to be very aware of all those details that the printer will ask for. Writing the book is easy - all the picky things afterward aren't. But when you get your book after it's done and it's all beautiful, it's worth it.

January sparkles

The snow is sparkling and beautiful today and the sun is finally out. The road is plowed and I am going out. 

Yesterday the boys across the road brought their sleds over and they slid down the little hill that goes down to our glen. I envied them. 

The deer come down to the fish pond in the glen every night and Bridget, our Cairn Terrier goes wild. She has a barking session until we make her come in. 

It's a lazy time and good for writing more stories. I'm wracking my brain for the plot of the 3rd Mary Warin book. Ruthy and Fiona will be, no doubt, getting into more trouble. Fiona will be the ring leader.  That much I know.

website

I'm sitting here watching the huge snow flakes as I wonder if my blog is really drawing anyone to my website.

I need viewers to look at my site; www.windowsillstories.com and critique it for me. I would so appreciate that! I am thinking of removing the WHEEL of ARTS from the site and creating a website just for that. I want to make a CD of the music I have written for the WHEEL. Tell me what you think. I will orchestrate the music with fiddles, pipes, piano, and banjo.

Here is a sample of one of the short stories on the WHEEL.

SATURDAY NITE
Every Saturday night, over at the Grange Hall, there would be a square dance and a covered dish supper. The Grange Hall was a Farmer's Association. Thay had their meetings there and their wives helped out with social happenings in the farm community.
The covered dish suppers were oh, so good - I loved all the casseroles, like Scalloped Corn and Spanish Rice. And the homemade rolls were so good that I ate a lot of them with homemade butter. Then there were all the relishes that had just been put up. I especially liked the piccalilli relish on those rolls. Then the pies - oh the pies - cherry, apple, blueberry - those were my favorites.
Afterward, two fiddlers played waltzes and square dances 'til late at night. All the elders sat around the outside against the wall and sometimes you could hear a cane hitting the floor in time to the music.

There are arts activities to go with each story. Music, Art, Drama and Dance.