My Birthday Week

If you haven't read my late-night, pre-Birthday rant, please take a look - it would mean SO much to me!

I did have a party and it was a lot of fun. It was interesting to note that none of the people that would consider themselves to be my closest or oldest friends, made it to the party. As for Family, my Mom and my daughter were there. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised and heartened by the folks who DID attend! Good food, chocolate, whiskey, and lots of laughter! Thanks everyone!
If you'd like to see photos, follow me on Facebook.

Although, seriously, if you want to see photos, you should follow my MOM on Facebook. Sheesh...

After an exhausting week - which included RE-doing my application for the McDowell Colony Residency, planning the party, packing for my vacation, lawyer emails, etc., and then WAY TOO MUCH DRIVING and chaos - I am, at this very moment... trying to relax and BE on vacation. Well... maybe after I write this blog post. THEN...

So... One week later...

I want to tell you about my Birthday Presents!

If you want to send me a present, or a card, or just insist that I don't look 50... I celebrate all month!
Send it/them here: PO Box 359, Warner, NH 03278.
Wink-wink.

Seriously, these are the Birthday Presents I gave myself in honor of (surviving) 50 years.
(Gold star stickers only go so far).

OK, here's what I wanted (in CAPS) and what I got...

1. FIND A TRIBE -- Midlife Redefine
I did a promo piece for Emily Clement a while back and I've worked with Emily as a Life Coach - she is so much fun and so inspiring! I was whining about how I wished I could continue working with her (private coaching is out of my budget right now), when she told me about a membership group she is starting later this month.

Yes! Life coaching AND instant friends!!! Dream come true!
If you are curious, look here:
www.emilyclementlifecoach.com/midliferedefine
And this is a video Emily made that gives you an excellent idea of what it's like to work with her, and some great ideas to get you started now:
https://youtu.be/5uPAfegkazk

2. MAKE A CHANGE -- Solar Panels
Yes! My very own power station was installed just before my Birthday. Still a lot of things I'd like to do to my house to make it energy efficient, but this is a start.

I got my panels from Granite State Solar through the Solarize Kearsarge program. There was funding available through VSECU (a VT credit union) and 2019 is the last year to take advantage of the awesome solar tax credit!

3. PLAY! -- Lego Ninjago City
I know what you're thinking!!
But, yes, I'm pretty sure this city will fit above my kitchen cabinets with the rest of my city.

There are still three other buildings that I don't have - Assembly Square, the Corner Garage, and the brand-new Treehouse! But I had been getting really nervous that this one would be discontinued soon - and I really need a "Chinatown" for my city! (Or Japantown). I don't care about "Ninjago" anything but OMG! - there's a COMIC BOOK STORE and a SUSHI BAR!!!! Yes, yes, YES!!

This one will take a LONG time to build, but I can't wait to start on it when I get home from Birthday present #4...

4. RUN AWAY! -- Ogunquit, Maine
I have been almost desperate for an escape!

And this is my Place. Although it got off to a rocky start, I am so grateful to be here.

My mom and daughter were here with me for a few days and my sister came down for a brunch party on my actual Birthday (Sept. 15th).

Now I have the whole treehouse to myself for a few days. And there is a huge table where I have all my comics laid out (no, I haven't done a dang thing yet!)

I've never been here when it's so crowded, but at night, the beach is quiet and beautiful.

And there are so many things to distract me and remind me that I really want to start doing watercolor paintings again (of Dragon Trees!)

If you want to see more pics of Maine, be sure to follow me on Facebook.

5. INDULGE -- Super soft cozy sweater

Well... it was 50% off! And it's SOOOOOO soft and fluffy!! Mmm!

6. CULTURE -- Ticket to "Kinky Boots"

In the 15 years I've been coming here, I've never seen a play at the Ogunquit Playhouse! Probably because it's usually closed (I come here off-season).

But Kinky Boots just opened yesterday- "score by Cyndi Lauper"!! - so I searched every performance on the days I'm here and found ONE single seat available on Sunday! Live theatre is expensive. But I am proud that I could find the last cheap ticket.

OK, that's enough presents for now. I'm hoping to get some sleep. Draw some comics. Talk to the ocean some more. Listen to its advice. Drink at least one more Chocolate-Caramel Martini by the fire pit - hopefully with someone cute to gaze at over the flames- otherwise I'll have to keep drinking until they ARE cute, and get some more definitive images in my mind of where I want to steer my Life next. I'm running everything through the "Hell-Yes!" and "Hell-No!" filters.
Stay tuned!

Graphic Medicine ComicCon

I was trying to think of how to sum up the past... month.
"Things went as expected, but not as I'd hoped."
That's the Optimistic-Pessimist in me. Truth is - the hormones, the surgery, the pain, the PTSD, the insomnia... things have not been going very well. I'm not exaggerating or looking for pity - just, it's been really rough.
An example? At the 7 week post-op exam:
Doctor: "Hmmm... that doesn't look right. Huh. Would you mind if I have my colleague take a look?"
I HAD warned her! I'm not like other people. The tumor wasn't "normal", my body doesn't react to surgery or heal like normal peoples', and my brain doesn't think like normal brains do.

What I really needed was a project. With other cool people. (And by "cool" I mean "total geeks"!) I needed a Purpose and Hope - something to look forward to and work towards.

A while back, I had signed up for the Graphic Medicine ComicCon to be held at the UMass Medical School in Worcester, MA. It seemed so far in the future - surely I'd be all healed up by THEN!? Well, THEN suddenly became NOW and I was in a panic about whether or not I could do this daring thing...
• Leave the house (it's been 4 months!!)
• drive
• be in a crowd
• talk to people

Turns out? Yes, I can.

Bill left a note on the door

My very comfy hotel room and recharging station

Room Service!! (My room even had a Doorbell!?)

Hot bread and sweet potato and crab bisque

Garlic sauce and calamari!

Seriously? It's been warm-ish and sunny for days, and now, it's 36 degrees and SNOWING for an hour!? And I have to walk to the far side of this photo, across a highway and behind a huge parking garage... maybe I should just stay in the hotel and go back to bed?

Hey! Did you know that fancy hotels have courtesy taxis on speed dial!? Awesome!

The keynote speaker was Rachel Lindsay, whose new graphic novel is called "Rx" and is about her hospitalization for manic depression. We were all given copies of the book. I was in awe of her bravery - and she's an excellent speaker too. www.rachellivesherenow.com

What made my day? During lunch, I went up to her to get my book signed and to give her a copy of my "We Will Never Leave You" comic and some Demon pins. She signed the book and drew her character in it. When I showed her my comic, she said, "I have your comic! I got it at the Graphic Medicine conference last August! But I really want a pin!" So cool!!!

I also went to the workshop about Creating Science Comics with Maki Naro. That was really interesting - his style is fun and I encourage you to take a look at some of his work online (www.makinaro.com)

 To illustrate the importance of Accuracy, we played a comic version of the game, Telephone (see the upper right corner of the sketch notes). The image below is one of the examples...

Out in the lobby, there were tables with paper and colored pencils and idea prompts and big boards to post our comics on. The comics also served as entries for the raffle (the prizes were graphic novels of course).

The Self-Portrait comics

Close-up -- Maki Naro's self-portrait

My self-portrait! I also combined it with another challenge "What do you do?"

Marek Bennett's "What do you do?" comic

LOVE this one!!

I chatted with people during lunch and walked up to total strangers and said, "Would you like to pick a Demon?" How's that for an ice breaker?! That made it really easy to explain that I'm a cartoonist and illustrator and I draw comics about mental health. I really enjoyed talking with people. There was a mix of medical librarians, HS and college librarians, other medical folks, and a few cartoonists. I couldn't sit for the afternoon lecture, I drew my comic challenge (self-portrait) but ended up staying for the whole conference!

I walked all the way back up the hill to the hotel (hoping I didn't bust anything else internal or external!) and crashed on my bed.

Amazingly - I slept through the night (first time in many, many months) - and when I woke up for a few minutes, very early in the morning - I saw a gorgeous sunrise over the city! (Then went back to bed!)

Mauled by Pugs

My plan was to write a post that caught you all up with everything I've been working on and my recent adventures... but I've been whining a lot lately about how I really want to start drawing comics again... something like "Oh! That would make a great comic!? I really have to start drawing again!"

So, I started drawing yesterday's adventure to Rhode Island and I kept drawing. And drawing. And I forgot to eat dinner. And I drew... and now it's Tomorrow and the Adventures were TWO days ago!? But I did finally finish a comic!

I hope you enjoy it!

The Middlebury Diary, Part 2

I updated the first blog post with the photos, so take a look at that one HERE.

Saturday was the BIG event! The Non-fiction Comics Mini-Fest at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, VT. I was surrounded by amazing cartoonists!

Marek Bennett (in the hat) was responsible for telling me (MANY years ago) that there was a little school in Vermont devoted to teaching comic creation, and I should go there... Steve Bissette, in the center, was one of my favorite teachers there (at the Center for Cartoon Studies), and Andy Kolovos, on the right, invited me to the Vermont Folklife Center for the mini-fest!

Steve signing his new dinosaur books...

Isaac Cates - oy! If you haven't seen the Cartozia series, they are AMAZING! Literally, some have mazes. And maps. a whole mess of amazing cartoonists creating a round robin type of comic - working off each others characters and story lines.

To the right of Isaac is Dana Walrath. She was a visiting artist at the cartoon school and is known for her book "Aliceheimer's: Alzheimers Through the Looking Glass".

Seated is Joel Christian Gill who was also a visiting artist at the cartoon school. He creates a comic of "Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History" called "Strange Fruit".

Sarah Rosedahl (left) is ALL about chicken comics - comics ABOUT chickens... not FOR chickens. "What the Cluck?" love the title! And Stefanie Zuppo (right) - juggling comics, The Ladybroad Ledger comics newspaper, AND a new collaborative art studio in Essex Junction, Words and Pictures. Whoa. Superhero.

Robert Waldo Brunelle Jr. - his comics Explain it All!

Below: Kevin Kite (left) was my tablemate - he does science comics with very cute characters.  And Gregory Giordano - with the cool mustache - who created the Vermont Comic Creators group (I'm a member!)

Not pictured, but also awesome, is Bryan Stone - who has been emailing me advice on how my daughter can get started in the world of Dungeons and Dragons! It was fun to finally meet in person.

Oh yeh, and then there was ME! Yes - I know I look a little... perplexed...
I brought my dummy for the picture book I just finished, "Ready, Set, Gorilla!" and the new science comics - also JUST finished.

Photo by Robert Waldo Brunelle Jr. 

I want to take this house home with me!! It’s so quirky - looks like the house of a cartoonist, right? Or a tiny house for the Addams Family. One of the best parts of driving through these Vermont towns is seeing the amazing houses! I would never be able to choose just one.

As you can imagine - my brain was fried. By Sunday morning, the social hangover was kicking in hard! I slept through 8 alarm snoozes and decided to go "walk it off" at The Montshire Museum of Science.

It was nice and quiet there until later in the afternoon when folks realized that 90 degree weather is the perfect reason to take advantage of the science waterpark. I walked out to the other water features...

I’d walk for a while, then sit and “think”. I usually do this by the ocean, but this waterfall had to do the job. And then a lake... I’d think of a subject that was giving me trouble, and ask for a sign. The Studio? Money? The Fireman? Etc. I had no answers, but I was feeling a lot calmer than I had in...months.

I was deep in the forest when my phone buzzed - with a text from The Fireman. Seriously? Does that count as a sign? What does it mean?

I turned my phone off. And kept walking.

I had my lunch under a tree and when I couldn't put it off any longer... I finally drove home.

Minou let me know that she had been very well taken care of by Laurie - and I admit - for a minute or two - I thought about getting back in my car, and returning to Vermont!