DJ Geribo's Art Apart Newsletter
Winter 2018
Having trouble viewing in e-mail?
View this e-mail in your browser

Welcome!

A New Addition = No Writing, No Painting, No Sleeping!


So this is completely self-inflicted but nevertheless, it is consuming SO much of my time right now. I know that soon it will not be an excuse, not that I am looking for one, but shortly there will be no reason for me to not complete the list of books I have put on my short ‘to be completed this year’ list.

The new addition is a puppy! We have two older girls, a Pomeranian, Kitsu, who is 12 ½ and a Min Pin, Jacqs,  who is 14. And now we have a Pomeranian puppy. This is my favorite breed of dog so I imagine we will always have one or two of them running around the house. We lost my favorite, Kameko (aka Meko) a year and a half ago and I’ve been talking to Jim about getting a puppy for at least the past six months. We also looked at a 1 year old but it had some health issues and after what we went through with Meko (she had IMHA), we decided not to purchase him.

But this new little puppy, Felix, has brought out the worst in our older dogs (they growl and snap at him when he bothers them), although just recently, Kitsu has been playing daily with him, often initiating the play. I think he is bringing out her maternal instincts and I saw her even licking him as his mother would do. She has taken on some of the baby-sitting responsibilities which I am thrilled by – I knew she would be a great influence on him since she is such a gentle soul. And he is mostly sleeping through the night although this does seem to be the time he does most of his bowel elimination, which never fails to wake me.

This is just another example of how life gets in the way of writing and/or painting. Of course, winter is not my painting time since I keep the temp in my studio just warm enough to assure that my plants won’t freeze but not warm enough to satisfy me. But it is definitely the perfect time for me to write and read since I can do both of those anywhere in the house.  

As you will notice in my ‘What I’m Reading’ column, I didn’t do a lot of reading these past 3 months either. I’ve been distracted by magazines I receive and also looking for ‘the one’ and so starting a lot of books without getting too far into any of them. I know this is all temporary and I will soon have a workable schedule for all of my loves: writing, reading, painting, and playing with Felix. And of course, I’ll try to squeeze in time for Jim and the rest of our family of pets!



 
You can now add your comments to my website blogs!!!
 

Writings & Musings

Organizing Life Events


As I began the necessary work on my memoir, I found that I really needed to get the timeline correct before I could talk about the events since several overlapped each other. The time in my life I am writing about happened over 35 years ago and my memories, particularly when each event happened, are becoming a little hazy.

So I have spent some time researching which includes looking through papers from college for journal entries or official documents like class schedules. I also had to check on the year my father died and the year I graduated since there were situations I was in while he was still alive and at home and other situations that happened once we got him into a hospital.  

Of course, if I could go back to that time I would have documented so much more of my day-to-day life, as I now do. There are so many things that happen in our lives and sometimes, when we look back, we can see where things went wrong and how we could have fixed them or how we could have behaved differently. But when we have a crazy time in our lives and we don’t know how it all happened and what went wrong because we have only our fading memories to remind us of that time, we can’t really use this information to help us in the future.



Link to DJ Geribo's Blog

As the saying goes, attributed to Philosopher George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Of course, most of what went on in my life at that time was out of my control. But there was also much that I could have done differently that would have made everything that happened in my life at that time a lot less chaotic.
 

I always give my husband a hard time since he keeps everything from the time we met, over 30 years now and even beyond that, including all his college papers. The first property we bought together, a townhouse, had a leak in the basement that destroyed many of my college papers. I found a few of my English class papers and they provided me with some of the information I was looking for. But there are still a few incidents that I have tried to work into the timeline so that it all makes sense, based on where I was in college and as I mentioned, how far my father’s cancer had progressed and whether or not he was still alive at different times when these experiences happened to me.
 

And then there comes a point where we decide that this is the closest we will get to the truth of what happened at that time. After all, there is no one to dispute it since these were incidents that happened to me. And as long as I feel confident that this is as close to what really happened at that time then I have to conclude that part of my research and start to fill in the blanks of my story.

Since I do not spend much time in my studio in the winter months, I looked back in my inventory and with spring upon us, I thought we could start thinking about fruits, veggies, and florals and that these two paintings would be colorful to show. Also, I happen to love painting fruits and veggies and seeing these paintings again is inspiring me to paint more.

To see more of my paintings, go to my gallery on my website.

 

Another one of my favorite paintings is this acrylic called "Magnolia Sky." I love the colors not only in the flowers themselves but when placed against the blue sky they just pop out. Over the many years of painting I have come up with a few that I love and this is definitely one of them!

Upcoming Show

New England Authors Night By the Sea
April 15 - 2pm to 6pm
Red Hook Brewery, Portsmouth NH

This event is free to the public!

Stop by to say 'hi!' and check out my books!

My Books
Update to Seven Storied Houses

I am happy to announce that we are getting closer to completion for this book. We now need only two more illustrations and after one final edit, it will be ready to go into production/layout. And then onto the printers. Hopefully in time for the Expo I will be participating in on April 15. 

This has been quite a journey getting this book to publication. But there is a reason for that and it has everything to do with going on the internet to find illustrators. One of the illustrators who has been the most responsive is one that I will be using for my next book, a fable, with the working title "New Earth Seekers." Cori Caputo has been one of my favorite artist/illustrators for a long time and I'm happy that we can finally collaborate on a project or two.

Sometimes it is easier when you are living in a box and have only yourself to depend on to complete a project. It can often become more complicated when you enlist others to help you with 'your' project. Something that is a priority and important to you doesn't have the same sense of urgency for them. They have their lives and their own priorities. Even if what you are offering them will be a benefit and free advertising for them.

We are all at different places in our journeys and this is where patience plays a huge role, if you can wait it out. Personally, I'm finished waiting which is why Cori and I will be creating a couple of illustrations each. It has now been a year since I completed the book and after several edits, I am really ready to get it out and available for purchase.

 



















Of course, since "Seven Storied Houses" is still in the pre-order state I will continue to honor giving a copy of "Eddie Easel and the Case of the Missing Green" for free. And on our short list is offering "Seven Storied Houses" in e-book format. 

To pre-order "Seven Storied Houses" go to  www.BBDPublishing.com.

All of my books can be ordered from BBD Publishing:
  1. The House at the top of the Trees
  2. Mouse Bound
  3. The Miracle Dog
  4. Eddie Easel and the Case of the Missing Green (FREE with your Pre-Order of "Seven Storied Houses")
My books are also now on Amazon!

" Friends, they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams."
                                                                            
                                                  -Henry David Thoreau

Story in 6
 
"Gone for Good"

A horse stands in the middle of a field. His owner hasn’t visited him for days. The horse whinnies for his oats, his water, his blanket. On the fifth day, the horse begins running in a circle around the field, following the fence that encloses the area. In one giant leap, the horse clears the wooden fence and heads down the hill away from the field and toward the neighbor’s house. He runs past the ‘Free Horse’ sign stuck in the ground next to the fence.

Authistpreneur

author/artist/entrepreneur

Someone who is an author, an artist, and an entrepreneur.  Any person who writes or has a published novel, who paints fine art/illustrations, and also has established businesses using the combination of artistic talents.
                                                                - DJ Geribo

 

What I'm Reading

 

When I checked my reading list and what I had read so far, I was quite surprised to find that I had read only 3 books this winter season. I did cheat just a little since one of the books I had been reading over time (a collection) and finally finished it.
 

It seems I have started more books than I can count, most of them short story collections. The list is longer than necessary but a few are: O.Henry, Wallace, Pritchett, and Carver. Other books I’m ‘reading’ are: A Man Called Ove, Olive Kitteridge, and Empire Falls.

 

Bird by Bird – a handbook, of sorts, for writers, this little book by Anne Lamott is one of my favorites. This was my second reading of the book and like most great guides I get something out of it with each reading. Or I said, oh yea, I remember this section and find it refreshing all over again. I have no doubt it will be on my reading list once again in years to come.

Still Writing -  along the same lines as Bird by Bird is this book by Dani Shapiro. Somewhere in my reading I came across her name. I found she, like Mary Karr, writes mostly memoir. Although I have read a few books on memoir, mostly collections, I haven’t read a lot of individual memoirs. But since this one was more focused on writing, I thought I’d check it out. And I loved it. She brought her life into the book along with great tips on beginnings, middles, and endings of books you are writing. Another treasure I know I will re-read in the future. 
 
By the Book – a compilation of writers on literature and the literary life from the New York Times Book Review. I’ve been reading this book over the past couple of years since it includes 65 contemporary writers (also actors, political figures, and other celebrities who have written books) discussing literature, their reading habits, and other authors. For this reason it was a gold mine of reading resources since this is often how I find the next author whose work I want to read.
 

Go to My Blog to See What I'm Currently Reading

I hope you enjoyed my newsletter. If you did, please share on Facebook, Twitter, or Forward to a friend. I welcome your comments!
Share
Tweet
Forward
Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved.