Rip Off Artists?

My editor, Cate Sevilla, over at BitchBuzz has a bone to pick with so-called artists filling up places like Etsy now. One of my favorite quotes from her:

Obviously, artists and designers have been “borrowing” inspiration from each other for centuries, but I find it hilarious that everyone gets very angry when people like Paperchase rip off independent artists’ work and make a giant profit from it, and yet, artist and crafters on Etsy do this all of the time... Sure, artists can always claim they’ve “never seen” the bigger artist’s work before -  but how many lazer cut acrylic moustaches does this world really need?!

Read the whole article: http://home.bitchbuzz.com/the-problem-with-etsy-and-craft-fairs.html#ixzz16DTFfXY0

Here at WLoAD we believe in unique, personal visions. They won't all appeal to everyone, but each comes from an individual's imagination and represents a spark of true imagination. So when you're thinking about gifts in this holiday season, consider supporting the artists of this blog and other artists you know who won't settle for copying someone else's tired idea.

FUNK SOUL TIKI by the fabulous S. L. Johnson (of course!)

Love the WLoADed logo?

You love it.  But a pin and the Journal are just not enough. 

Well, it's your lucky, lucky day: we have Women's League of Ale Drinkers merch available at Cafepress and Zazzle - along with holiday pricing specials. 

Cafepress: Save $10 on orders of $50+ in our shop during the CafePress Friends & Family Sale November 20-23......http://www.cafepress.com/Raven_Wombat...and use code: Friend10

Zazzle: http://www.zazzle.com/Raven_wombat You can get a fab iPhone case at Zazzle!

If you don't see what you want, drop us a line and we will make it available!

A Whole New Mind

In between lots of other duties, I've been sneaking a look at Daniel H. Pink's A Whole New Mind after a hearty recommendation for it last week by another blogger. It's a book I'd like to require all my colleagues to read, especially the ones who fight interdisciplinarity.

The thesis of the book is that the right-brain oriented thinking, which has been traditionally valued less than the cold logic of left-brain oriented thinking, will be key to success in the new internet-fueled information culture. While this book is most often pitched to business audiences, it's got some terrific recognitions of trends we can see all around us.

He talks about the changes brought by Abundance, Asia, and Automation (i.e. high relative wealth, outsourcing of jobs and computers) and the resulting "Conceptual Age" we're living in now. If you want to thrive in this age, you need to be doing work that has significance as well as value, that cannot be outsourced to someone who can be paid much less, and cannot be done by a machine. To achieve this, you should focus on the six senses that this age desperately needs:

DESIGN

We have all kinds of goods that are more or less the same thing and the prices are close enough together that our choices come down to taste. You buy the phone that looks cool to you. It isn't enough anymore that something is functional -- you want it to look good, too. People have become so much more savvy about design: Pink has a font test in the book and the amazing thing is that probably most people could get it right because we think about things like font now.

STORY

This is an easy one for me, because I already know the strength of it, but think: facts have to be memorised, but if you give them in a story, people can remember. How much of history do people get wrong because they know Shakespeare's plays and can remember speeches that never happened, facts that he got wrong? Our brains are wired for storytelling.

SYMPHONY

Or more accurately (but less metaphorically) synthesis: tying together disparate threads, seeing the big picture, making connections that no one has noticed before and weaving them into a coherent whole. it goes against the educational thrust of this country, which is ever-increasing specialty.

EMPATHY

You can tell that businesses have a long way to go with this one, but even they're learning via social media because if you get on Twitter and just shoot off press releases, no one is going to follow you. Ditto Facebook: you have to build a community. You have to listen, forge relationships, actually care about other people. Narcissism seems to have taken over the planet at present, so empathy seems to be in short supply.

PLAY

People do not create their best work if they fear punishment for any mistake. They will always go for the safe and least imaginative response. In play we experiment, let random chance have a role, and laugh. We need that, even in the midst of work. It often happens spontaneously, but we need to assure it has a place in our day.

MEANING

We are bombarded with information from the time we rise until we crawl under the covers at night. How are we to sort through the assault? People want to find meaning, things that speak to their minds and hearts. Some people work all their lives and then try to find meaning once they've retired. People who hate their jobs long for holidays of idleness. More and more people refuse to accept work that is not meaningful to them in some fundamental way. They don't have the same "reverence for riches" that the weird Puritan capitalism in this country created.

These are all innate human traits, but ones that quite often our left-brain leaning culture has suppressed as less valuable than reason and logic. We need reason and logic, but we need purpose, play and fulfillment as well.

Ten Q: Justine Graykin

1. What name(s) do you go by?

For the most part, Justine Graykin will do nicely. However, I do pen some non-fiction

newspaper columns and articles under the name of Mel Graykin.

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?

JustineGraykin.com is probably the best place to start. That has links to all my published work plus samples of other stuff. And of course the fabulous Journal of WLoAD.

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

Depends on who I’m trying to impress. And how.

4. How did you learn your skill/craft/discipline?

Practice, man, practice. And studying the work of writers I admire, such as Ray Bradbury, Terry Prachett, and Shirley Jackson.

5. What inspires you?

I read every science article I can get my hands on. I have “The Scientist” website bookmarked. There’s copies of Smithsonian, Discovery, and National Geographic all over the house. I read Sagan, Dyson, Feynman, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, James Burke and Michio Kaku, listen to Symphony of Science and watch Star Trek episodes. I have more ideas than I know what to do with. If all else fails, I go hiking and just think about how mind-blowingly amazing the cosmos is on every level.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

Hide in bed with my laptop and write. Or read. Or hike. A supply of Guinness Stout doesn’t hurt, either.

7. What are your goals for your work?

Get as many of the ideas in my head crafted into excellent stories as I can. Getting published is fine. I would enjoy success and praise for what I do. I’d be thrilled to be able to earn enough to live on, so I could indulge my obsession with writing all the time. Who wouldn’t? But I go by the principle of Sibi Scribere. If I don’t enjoy reading it, do I really give a damn if anyone else does? There’s enough popular crap in the world.

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD

members?

Success is never worth making yourself miserable for. The odds against your achieving it are still staggeringly great no matter how much you want it, visualize it, and sacrifice for it. And even if you achieve it, you’re always running scared that you’ll lose it. Instead, strive for contentment in a Zen balance between what truly satisfies you and the possible (which, contrary to popular belief, has its limits). I also recommend employing the phrase “To hell with it,” whenever anxiety looms.

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

Put aside a sum sufficient to generate a comfortable annual dividend, and then see what

good I could do in the world with the rest. Probably something to do with education.

Like buying good science texts for schools blighted by poverty or Intelligent Design. Oh,

and acquire a really nice matched set of the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

Depends. Vodka gimlet straight up with lime wedge is a standard. But I’ve been known to do shots of Cuervo with salt and lemon when I’m serious about the business. I’d never turn down a good merlot, or chardonnay. And then there’s champagne, of course. One’s wrist must be flexible.

Ten Q: Adrean Darce Brent

What name(s) do you go by?

Adrean

Where can we find your fabulous work?

Online only for now: Cosmic Life Sketches

What piece would you want to use for a “first impression”?

“A Hammer Of An Afternoon”

How did you learn your skill/craft/discipline?

Writing – academia and corporate research
Photography – doing and formal coursework

Who inspires you?

People who stand up for justice, even if they stand alone.

How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

Relax, reflect, do something different.

What are your goals for your work?

Writing – Branch out into fiction. Revision my previous limited circulation publication titled “The Brent Bulletin” into a platform of creative and conscientious work.

Photography – Create a website of images that are available for purchase.

What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD members?

When an opportunity presents itself, take it – it may never come around again.

If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

Live again (and forever) in Paris, France. Establish a salon for conversation and creativity.
Continue learning and exploring.

WLoAD stars need not actually drink ale: what’s your fave bevvie?

Here are my favorites in various drink categories:
Beer – Leffe Blonde, Leffe Brune
Wine – Red Bordeaux, Champagne
Mixed – White Russian, Kahlua Sombrero
Hot – Hot Chocolate, Cappuccino
Cold – Whole Milk, Diet Coke

Ten Q: Sue Menhart

1. What name(s) do you go by?

Sue Menhart, Rock Star

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?

www.suemenhart.com
Independent record stores in Connecticut
iTunes, CDBaby
This cute little women’s boutique in Montville, CT called Mesh.

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

The Choice

4. How did you learn your craft?

Listening to the radio, even leaving it on all night while I slept, which subsequently imbedded catchy lyrics, instrumental hooks, and awesome chord progressions into my subconscious for when the time was right to start creating my own.

5. Who inspires you?

People who have figured out how to make a living from their Art, without having to succumb to corporate conformity.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

Def Leppard

7. What are your goals for your work?

To move people - not all the people… just some of the people, some of the time.

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD
members?

Never give up

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

Would create a foundation that would absolutely ensure that no school, nowhere, at any time, could ever cut the Arts from public school.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

Anything that’s in the cupboard.

Ten Q: Natalie Rauch

1. What name(s) do you go by?

Nat, Knit2death, Patience (for death), Hey You! Weirdy Girl!

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?

Facebook

Etsy

Crafty Ewe in Ticonderoga NY and Nangellini’s South Street Philadelphia (soon)

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

Meow DelMuerte hats. I think people love the cuteness of the kitty ears and earflaps but also the novelty of the handmade buttons that decorate them.

4. How did you learn your craft?

I learned to crochet from my grandmother because I was hyperactive and had ADD. I crocheted everywhere with my tongue hanging out the side of my mouth. Doing multiple things at the same time is the only way I feel comfortable. I learned to knit later on and really put some effort into when I was in college and an insomniac. Now I can’t stop and it’s still about keeping myself busy but now also about learning to develop it into an art form.

5. Who/what inspires you?

My friends who are very creative and don’t let any hang up keep them back inspire me. My friend Regina from Crafty Ewe and Nature Buttons is what I call a real Renaissance woman and I definitely look up to her.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

I scream, I kick rocks in the parking lot, I cry like a baby, and then I get over it and force myself back out again.

7. What are your goals for your work?

To keep trying new things, to teach others and most of all to teach people that anything is possible. Once you get past the mental block you can do anything you want.

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD members?

Just what I wrote in the previous answer… The biggest battle is getting over the things we do to ourselves mentally to hold ourselves back. You can work and be a mom, not have a lot of money but still be creative and out there doing what you love. You are amazing. I know it, now you should too.

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

Community programs for people of all ages to learn skills, education and arts. Places for people to go to practice music and get lessons from others and lots of programs for kids to learn and do these things after school.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

I live in Philly, beer is a passion here but I’m a nasty bastard without a connoisseur's limitations. I can go from an Orkney skullsplitter to Old English 40’s in a split second and Yuengling (Lager as you would order it here) goes well with Jaegermeister, Oatmeal stout is a favorite as well. When it’s not beer it's vodka and when it’s not liquor or beer (which it definitely doesn’t have to be) it’s organic ginger beer or just good, clean water.

Thank you, Natalie! You've supplied a fascinating perspective and your knitting is fabulous!

TenQ: Victoria Squid

1. What name(s) do you go by?

Victoria, Vicky, Ms. Squid.

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?

In the pages of the Journal of the Women's League of Ale Drinkers, available for just 99¢!

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

I mostly do performance pieces that are gone once they're over, so there's little tangible to show. I suppose there's always this.

4. How did you learn your skill/craft/discipline?

By slow degrees and via many mistakes and wrong turns...

5. Who/what inspires you?

Artists who refuse to fit a label or a pigeon-hole; people who refuse to live in accordance with consumer society, who make their own art, play their own songs, write their own stories and never worry if anyone else is going to give them permission to do so.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

Martinis, martinis, martinis.

7. What are your goals for your work?

To be brilliant, to rule the world (not necessarily in that order).

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD members?

Dare much, follow no one, trust your instincts.

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

By traveling the world.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

A very dry martini -- think Sahara, Mojave -- olives on the side. Nice view of the Thames. Or a glass of Zubrowka, seemingly the official drink of the League (oh irony).

Ten Q: K. A. Laity

TEN Q FOR MYSELF (which seems odd) to celebrate the release of our first issue of the Journal of the Women's League of Ale Drinkers, a bargain at only 99¢! [link to your left!]

1. What name(s) do you go by?

Kate, Kathryn, formerly Kathe, sometimes Kit Marlowe :-)

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?

In your local bookstore (if they don't have my books, ask them to order them!), at my website, and Kit Marlowe's website and on Facebook and Twitter. I live in upstate New York.

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

Ooh, that's tough. Um, whatever I write next? Just go to my bibliography and pick something at random. I do of course recommend "Fear and Loathing in Deptford" which you can find in the inaugural issue of The WLoAD Journal.

4. How did you learn your skill/craft/discipline?

Mostly by reading lots and lots of books, but I suppose the PhD in Medieval Studies helped some :-)

5. Who/what inspires you?

People who dare, who try to create something from their vision even if no one else is interested. People who are self-directed, wise, and full of joy and laughter.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

I talk to my friends, go for a walk in the quiet of the woods, watch something with Peter Cook in it or a Marx Bros movie.

7. What are your goals for your work?

World Domination.

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD members?

Follow your vision and surround yourself with positive, uplifting people who urge you to do your best always.

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

I think we should bump that up to ten million at least. I'd move to London and walk along the Thames every day and go to lots of plays.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

Zubrowka! Bison power!

Ten Q: S. L. Johnson

TEN Q FOR JOINING THE LEAGUE! (or in this case, FOUNDING it!)

1. What name(s) do you go by?
 Stephanie, S.L. Johnson and, of course, Queen of Everything.

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?
http://ravenseyrie.wordpress.com/
http://www.zazzle.com/Raven_wombat
http://www.smokingantrecords.com/
http://wloaded.blogspot.com/

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?
The WLoADed logo or ‘Deadly Dirigibles’

4. How did you learn your skill/craft/discipline?
School and self-taught

5. Who/what inspires you?
Other creative people, nature, music.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?
It varies- speaking to friends, switching projects, sometimes just doing nothing.

7. What are your goals for your work?
That my work is enjoyed by others. It’s also nice to sell a piece here and there, too.

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD members?
Have creative friends that are not in the same discipline. Take chances and put yourself out there even if it kills you!

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?
Open up a center for the arts. Or create a venue to encourage all artists to participate and be shown.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?
Bisongrass vodka. 

Thanks, Stephanie! We'll be profiling other contributors throughout the month. Stop back and enjoy and of course don't forget to pick up your copy of the Journal of the Women's League of Ale Drinkers! A bargain at only 99¢ and chock full of fun. Click the link to your left.

WLoAD #1 is here!

Step right up and get your copy of the fantastic, spanking new JOURNAL OF THE WOMEN'S LEAGUE OF ALE DRINKERS! A bargain at only 99¢ and you get all this plus a lovely cover by our own resident artiste, Stephanie Johnson:

Contents

Vicky Squid - Editorial Pronouncement

Justine Graykin - The Necessity of Creation

Alessandra Bava - To Emily Dickinson

Wendy Goldberg - Quantum Poetry & Summer Tomatoes

Sue Menhart - Sue Menhart Band

Stephanie Wexler - Arching & The Summer's Dusting

Judy Holder - Land of Textures

H. Byron Ballard - My City Mother Has Risen From the Dead

C. Margery Kempe – A Literary Concoction

Wendy Goldberg – The Wrong Word

S. L. Johnson – Night Lady

Adrean Darce Brent - No Forwarding Address

Natalie Rauch - KNIT2dEATH

Nancy Parent - Red Hot Stove Tops / Rivergods

Elena Steier - Lydia Sick

Wendy Goldberg - Dreaming

Alessandra Bava - Almost Sidereal

Stephanie Wexler - Knotted

Judy Holder - Blue Door

Adrean Darce Brent – Freakonomics

K. A. Laity - Fear and Loathing in Deptford

We'll be spending November getting to know the contributors to this issue with our TEN Q questionnaires. It's not to early to start thinking about the next issue which will be out in time for Beltaine (that's May Day for the mundane). The deadline will be March 21st so mark it on your calendars!

The Journal

Lovelies --

We have some wonderful submissions and your delightful trimulierate of talented women are hard at work assembling the disparate threads of this endeavour into a coherent whole. How to wrangle such individualistic works into a comprehensive unity? That remains to be seen. But you will doubtless be delighted by the outcome because there's no way all this fantastic inspiration could disappoint. And no, it's not a bit like this ;-)

Disgust

Coburn, DeMint Block National Women’s History Museum Because ‘Quilters’ And ‘Cowgirl’ Museums Already Exist

This week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) made the “unilateral decision to end legislative activity in the Senate.” In co-opting complete control of Senate business, DeMint has picked up the mantle of veteran obstructionist Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) in blocking any bill that does not meet his personal “parameters.” Now, both Coburn and DeMint have joined forces to target a bill celebrating women’s history. Read the rest at Think Progress.

People have asked me whether we really need something like WLoAD. Yes. Yes, we do. While idiots like this rule this country (and many others), yes, we do.

Inspiration: K.A.Laity

Co-founder K.A. Laity is truly one of my muses: so many conversations with this witty, funny and intelligent writer have popped wonderful images into my head.  Here a few examples of Kate's wonderful influence:

all images (c)2010 sljohnson

Ale Popularity Grows!

There's a story in the Guardian about the increasing popularity of ale among both women and younger drinkers:

Real ale revival continues as women and young buy more

Report says sophisticated drinkers are keeping cask ale sales buoyant, despite pub closures and a declining total beer market

• Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
• The Guardian, Monday 27 September 2010

 

Judge Melissa Cole assesses a beer in contention for the champion beer award at the Great British Beer Festival 2010. Real ale is enjoying a revival in the UK, according to a new report. [[ Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Image]]

 

Real ale is enjoying a revival, a report reveals today, as younger drinkers and women embrace a drink which may be shedding its traditional "flat cap" image.

Despite declining total beer sales and pub closures, research shows that cask ale has outperformed the rest of the beer market for the third year running, increasing its share of beer sold in pubs and clubs and recruiting 100,000 new drinkers.

According to the Cask Report, Britain's National Drink, 2010-2011, published today, the real ale market grew by 5% in 2009 to £1.4bn, against a 2% decline in the total UK beer market, which remains dominated by carbonated beers such as lager. [read the rest]

More good news: The editorial board of WLoAD -- Stephanie, Vicky and me -- met in Northampton MA this past weekend to review our submissions. The site was chosen because it's about the same distance from each of us. What a great bunch of submissions! There are some fabulous creative women who are eager to be part of our project. We're starting small (this site and a journal) but we have big ambitions. Baby steps for now, but look out when we gather some steam!

Inspiration: Anaïs Nin

We have a guest today, the lovely C. Margery Kempe who wants to tell us about one of the women who has inspired her.

Hello! I'm proud to be a member of the League. I write erotic romance, an increasingly popular genre today. Its success had been helped, I think, by ebook revolution which allows you to read the raciest stories while still looking demure.

There are lots of great erotic classics that inspire me, from early practitioners like John Cleland and the Marquis de Sade, to more recent classic authors like Pauline Réage and Terry Southern. But the one writer who inspires me most is Anaïs Nin.

I grew up in the Midwest in a family where touchy issues were avoided at all costs and silence was the rule of the day. When I wanted to find out about something, I always turned to books, too embarrassed to admit to my friends just how ignorant I was about things like sex. Like most kids I knew, I did a lot of bluffing that I knew more than I did.

Delta of Venus was first, I think. I can't remember anymore if I read her diaries first—they're so closely intertwined—but I do recall buying Delta because I was terrified that I would be stopped or carded or worse, that alarms would go off, blaring "she's buying a book about sex!" But it was the local mall book chain, so the clerk just rang up the purchase without a second look (it probably helped that I was tall).

I devoured the book. It was so specific! It was one thing to read feminist handbooks about sexuality and quite another to read Nin's passionate words about how it really felt. I have written elsewhere about how she rescued me from relying on the ineptitude of teenage boys for experience and taught me to expect so much more. She also made me want to write about those feelings and to try to capture them in words, something I kept to myself—or a select audience—for many years until Lori Perkins announced the launch of Ravenous Romance and suddenly the penny dropped. Hey, somebody might want to read these stories just like I read Nin!

Nin had an interesting and complicated life that included incest and bigamy, which show up in her stories, where she often seems to be examining and healing the eruptions of life. The very first story in Delta features both incest and rape which shocked me, but didn't stop me. I hungered for the vicarious experiences both of her characters in the erotica and of her own life in the diaries and novels. I loved how she used writing to transform herself from a banker's wife into an artist surrounded by like minds: writers, painters, dancers, filmmakers.

Nin not only gave me the power to understand and explore my own sexuality, she also taught me the power of writing to transform. I had been raised to dream small, but her adventures helped me learn that I could expand my world if I were willing to dare to do so. I'm still learning that lesson, still finding roadblocks I create for myself. I have to remember her words:

"Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living."

Thank you, Anaïs!

C. Margery Kempe

Inspiration: Georgette Heyer

Fashions come and go: writers who were fêted and champagned in the past can be forgotten in later times, or remembered by only a select few. Such is the fate of the trés chic writer, Georgette Heyer. I learned of her from fellow Leaguer, K. A. Laity who tells me she in turn learned of Heyer from the ebullient Stephen Fry.

I for one take notice of anyone Mr Fry recommends.

Heyer is a delight: if you love Austen (and if you do not, pray do not speak to me) you will lover her romances, especially the gloriously witty Regencies. Are you interested more in mysteries? She's got a bunch of those as well as other mainstream works. There are so many who appreciate her unique abilities. Try reading some for yourself.

I find it inexplicable that her works have not been seized upon to capitalise on the Austen audience's eagerness for more. Yet only two of her novels have been turned into films (with little success). You can watch one on YouTube, the land of uncommercial works that people nonetheless hunger for --

Inspiration: Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë was a wild woman -- who lived quietly. One of my favourite quotes from her is:

 “There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.”

I use it on my main Facebook page because it captures that derangement of the thoughts that proves essential to creation. What seems like disorder is really a calculated chaos, one from which I can choose the things I need and put them into a coherent format in my writing. But that step into madness is needed. I suppose the important part is coming back from that state.

Brontë's best known work, Jane Eyre, is a wonderful book, originally published under the pseudonym Currer Bell. A middle child (third of six), she wrote elaborate narratives of imaginary lands with her sisters and brother -- the best early training. While we tend to think of this talented family as alone on the Yorkshire moors, Charlotte acutally worked as a governess and a teacher at a boarding school in Belgium, the latter supplying inspiration for Villette and The Professor, which supplies another of my favourite quotations:


"I must follow my own devices -- I must till the day of my death; because I can neither comprehend, adopt, nor work out those of other people." 

That attitude infuses her most famous character, Jane Eyre. While some people find Jane harsh and unsympathetic, I've always admired her zeal to achieve what she will -- will being an important word -- and her unwillingness to compromise her values, while at the same time refusing to bend to society's requirements if it did not reflect what she knew to be true in her own heart.

Hurrah, Charlotte!

Call for Submissions

"Passion. Vision. Daring. Humour. Any alone will be intriguing--but to have them all is to be sublime."

That is the mandate of the new journal for the Women's League of Ale Drinkers, for which I am editor. We seek only work that meets these criteria, the output of creative women who may feel that their vision and passion has been overlooked elsewhere, that their daring has brought only disapproving stares, that their humour has met with stony silence. We delight in work that crosses traditional genres. We do not ask for your credentials, awards or publications. We ask for your heartfelt work.

The inaugural issue will be out for Halloween. The full colour PDF format will be a showcase of talented women.



DEADLINE
September 21, 2010


FORMAT

Writing: fiction, drama, humour or non-fiction up to 5k; poems up to 100 lines total; submit as RTFs (or paste into an email).

Images: scans of paintings, drawings, multimedia, etc. or photos of handicrafts, sculptures, etc. or original digital designs in JPGs (resolution of 300dpi).

Music, Sound and Video: via links to your site or host site (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)


And if we select your work for WLoAD, we ask that you wear the badge proudly -- link to our site and your fellow artists, promote the journal assiduously and celebrate this forum (i.e. comment on the issue and your colleagues).


Submissions should be sent to VICTORIASQUID@GMAIL.COM

Be sure to include links to your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc., in the email with your submission. Thank you!

Inspiration: Dorothy Parker

Hello darlings!

Today I want to add to the list of inspiring women my muse, Dorothy Parker. Okay, let's admit it, her life was a shambles, filled with tragic losses, bad love affairs, ambivalence about her Jewish heritage, institutionalized barriers to women, far too much drinking and too many small dogs. But her poetry formed the blooms that rose from all that fertilizer -- and what exquisite flowers they were. A brief selection of some of my favourite bon mots:

Brevity is the soul of lingerie.

I don't do any thing. Not one single thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.

A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.

I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true.

Résumé

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smell awful;
You might as well live.

Symptom Recital

I do not like my state of mind;
I'm bitter, querulous, unkind.
I hate my legs, I hate my hands,
I do not yearn for lovelier lands.
I dread the dawn's recurrent light;
I hate to go to bed at night.
I snoot at simple, earnest folk.
I cannot take the simplest joke.
I find no peace in paint or type.
My world is but a lot of tripe.
I'm disillusioned, empty-breasted.
For what I think, I'd be arrested.
I am not sick. I am not well.
My quondam dreams are shot to hell.
My soul is crushed, my spirit sore:
I do not like me any more.
I cavil, quarrel, grumble, grouse.
I ponder on the narrow house.
I shudder at the thought of men.
I'm due to fall in love again.

Penelope

In the pathway of the sun,
In the footsteps of the breeze,
Where the world and sky are one,
He shall ride the silver seas,
He shall cut the glittering wave.
I shall sit at home, and rock;
Rise, to heed a neighbour's knock;
Brew my tea, and snip my thread;
Bleach the linen for my bed.
They will call him brave.

Theory

Into love, and out again,
Thus I went, and thus I go.
Spare your voice, and hold your pen ---
Well and bitterly I know
All the songs were ever sung,
All the words were ever said;
Could it be, when I was young,
Some one dropped me on my head?

Bless you, Dotty. I aspire to match even a single line of your wit.

Inspiration: Marje-Leena Rathje

Yes, it's a kind of Finnish-themed week. I want to celebrate the stunning visual artist, Marja-Leena Rathje, Finnish-Canadian printmaker, photographer and visionary. I find her work breathtaking. We bonded over photos of ancient rock paintings. I had gone crazy photographing them in Finland, but I sure wish I'd had Marja-Leena along to take the photos instead. Her eye is amazing. See for yourself and drop by her site to tell her what you think:

This image from her ARKEO series has particularly strong resonance for me as I finish edits on my novel tentatively titled Owl Stretching or maybe Birdhead or perhaps Another Green World.  Bird women images are very powerful.

Inspiration: Ulla Suokko

I want to celebrate my friend Ulla Suokko: she's a wonderful musician, but that's only the beginning of her many skills: musician, teacher, healer. I first saw her at the original Mythic Journeys conference. I had never seen a bass flute before and was fascinated by the sensuous curve of the instrument and the amazing way Ulla played it creating all kinds of unexpected sounds. Ulla demonstrated so many of her talents throughout the conference and we became fast friends. I find her music, storytelling and wisdom endlessly absorbing. Here are some examples of her work, though there are several other videos on her website. At Mythic Journeys:








With our friend Gerry Henkel at FinnFling:






I was lucky enough to be allowed to use some of her music from Bridge of Light on my latest book trailer: I think it fits perfectly -- of course!

Inspiration: Joan Jett

Joan is inspiring for her tenacity, consistency, longevity and integrity: listening to years-old interviews and more recent interviews demonstrates that she is very much the same person today as she was when she was all of 20 years old.  I appreciate anyone who keeps her private life to herself, especially in this age of overexposure, who does good works and is a great musician and  entertainer.

Inspiration: Tori Amos

I think I will let her speak for herself:

Inspiration: Stephanie Johnson

Hello, darlings! Vicky Squid here. I get to kick off this month's celebration of women we find inspiring. You're all invited to join in -- just send an email to any of the team. In this traditionally hot and humid month (in the northern hemisphere anyway), when so many people take their holidays and few people feel all that energetic, we thought a brief tour of the women who delight our minds and replenish our inspiration would be a fantastic way to idle through the month.



I chose co-founder Stephanie Johnson as our first shining example, because she has exquisite taste -- of course -- but also because a whole slew of her art is newly available online. You can always visit her Repository of Visuals, but do yourself a favour and drop by Smoking Ant Records to see an orgy of delights that show just how varied her style can be. That nimbleness of mind proves to be a rare quality, but one SLJ has in abundance. You can see how each page suits the character of the band whether old school or new world jazz spunk or off-kilter power pop. Johnson's art has cheeky good humour and inventive dazzle. Every design makes you grin with pleasure.

And guess what? The music is terrific, too. Win-win! No surprise, I suppose -- why not surround yourself with the very finest people? Works for me.

More on the journal tomorrow, my dears. Must dash now.

Who is Vicky Squid?

Victoria to those she has not met formally. An enigma? Her origins remain unclear, lost not in the mists of time, but the whirlwind of her life. It's said she rubs elbows with the crowned heads of Europe, but there are also those who claim she is more likely to be found in the shadowy alleys of artists' mews and garrets, in fact many say she has been captured in oils and in marble. While her shape has been reproduced, no still art can imprison the spark of inspiration that fires those restless rambles across town and country.

For Vicky is a traveler, seldom content to linger in one location beyond a season, always seeking new adventures, new partners, new inspiration, new fashions. A bon vivant, it's true, yet so much more than that dissolute tag implies. Not for her the mere thrill of new experience. She searches for the unknown, the unheard, the unseen—jewels of inspiration not mere oblivion or sensual pleasure or novelty.

Asked once what excites her interest, she was reported to reply, "Passion. Vision. Daring. Humour. Any alone will be intriguing—but to have them all is to be sublime."

And that is the mandate of the new journal for the Women's League of Ale Drinkers, for which Vicky will serve as editor. We seek only work that meets these criteria, the output of creative women who may feel that their vision and passion has been overlooked elsewhere, that their daring has brought only disapproving stares, that their humour has met with stony silence. We delight in work that crosses traditional genres.

We do not ask for your credentials, awards or publications. We ask for your heartfelt work -- writing in RTF files, art in JPGs, music and video via links. We ask that you tell us why the piece embodies your reason to live, to breathe -- what the work means to you, even why you think it may not have received an audience before.

And if we select your work for WLoAD, we ask that you wear the badge proudly -- link to our site and your fellow artists, promote the journal assiduously and celebrate this forum (i.e. comment on the issue and your colleagues).

Our first issue will be available in full colour PDF in time for Halloween. Submissions should be sent to VICTORIASQUID@GMAIL.COM as RTFs, JPGs or as simple email text with links to your MP3 or video files. Be sure to include links to your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc., as well as your account of the extraordinary work you are offering us. We look forward to your genius.

Tomorrow, Vicky kicks off our celebration of creative women who inspire. If you have a woman you'd like to celebrate, contact us and we'll give you a spot.

More Enigmatic Hints

The Anachronism (Official Trailer) from Anachronism Pictures on Vimeo.

and

a dash of Valentine de Saint Point...

Another Clue

Any guesses what's coming from WLoAD?

Shhhhh....!

Secrets to be revealed soon. This video contains a clue...

Women's League of Ale Drinkers: The Film!

WLoADed Mugs!

You know you want one....or three....

Please visit the shop at Zazzle.com....

http://www.zazzle.com/my/products/public?cg=196188254829505024

WLoADed: Elena Steier

We've got a new format for introducing new members of the League, and we're trying it out with the fabulous Elena Steier. We'll be introducing a few more people in the next few days. Don't forget to share the links and pass along invitations to the creative women you know.

TEN Q FOR JOINING THE LEAGUE!

1. What name(s) do you go by?

Elena Steier

2. Where can we find your fabulous work?

http://editorialcartoonists.com
http://greatstufforama.com
http://gothscout.com
http://janequiet.com
http://striporama.com
http://queenofthecosmos.com

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

You can use a goth scout cartoon. Pick one, any one. [Okay! Click for full size]



4. How did you learn your skill/craft/discipline?

Learn? Hahaha? I only pretend to know what I'm doing.

5. Who inspires you?

My dad. He's no longer extant, but when I think about him, he finds ways of giving me strength.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

Discouraging usually means things have gone wrong in the social end of things. I recenter by thinking what would I do if I were all alone in the world, what would make me happy. People can be real dicks.

7. What are your goals for your work?

I do hope to draw really well some day. I'm getting there.


8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD
members?

Never give up the opportunity to go on an adventure.


9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

I really want to start a cartooning school. A place where kids can go after school and work on cartoons, animation and illustration along with other like-minded kids. A million dollars would be great. I could work with that.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

Campari and orange juice. Yum. Yum.

In Anticipation of Women's Month

Last year's celebration of women during Women's History Month went so well on my blog, I'd like to invite participants to be guest bloggers for this March. All you need to do is pick a day and send me (in advance, please) a blog post. Please feel free to link to your own work or sites that are important to you. This is a chance to celebrate fabulous women, so set aside those culturally ingrained notions of humility and carpe bloggem. You don't have to talk about yourself. As long as your post celebrates women and/or women's history, I will be cheered. I already have a few people on the calendar, because I mentioned this on Twitter, so choose your day soon even if you don't know what you're going to write yet (but do try to have your post ready at least two weeks before the live date).

If you've thought about maybe blogging, here's chance to dip your toe in the water safely. If you blog regularly, build your network further and share at Wombat's World.