Posts from — May 2009

The semester is over and I’m frantically getting jewelry pieces finished for a show in Ruidoso Memorial Day Weekend. While preparing for the show last week, I found out about a polymer clay bead contest spons0red by Beading Daily. So I went to work! I needed to create some polymer clay focal pieces anyway, so here are a few of the beads I came up with using a fun technique that involves translucent clay, metal foil, and alcohol inks:

I had a hard time deciding which bead to enter, but ultimately I decided on this one, which I named “Cosmic Canyon” because it looks a little bit like a surrealist Southwest landscape:

I was surprised by a sudden flurry of sales at my Cafe Press shop recently, so I decided to go have a look to see who was buying these items and where the people were from. While I was there I was excited to see that there were some new products I could put my artwork on, so I spent a little time this morning and revamped some artwork to fit on the cute little Mino Flip camcorders. There’s a hummingbird, a fox, a raccoon, and an angel/fairy playing the flute. You can find these new Mino Flip camcorders in my New Items section. There are two types, the regular Flip Mino, and the Flip Mino HD.

If you like Christian fiction featuring Amish characters, you just might want to look for first-time author Amy Clipston’s book, A Gift of Grace. I’ve read a few stories featuring Amish characters, which I’ve enjoyed, but what intrigued me about the premise of this book was the idea of two teenage girls from the “English” world who, after the death of their parents, come to live with their aunt and uncle in the Amish community. Instead of a budding romance that grows, this book is about a marriage tested to its limits. The cultural conflicts are just as strong, but this time they are coupled with the story of a family coming to terms with the death of someone they love, while at the same time two motherless teenage girls also struggle to come of age in a community that is steeped in tradition and completely foreign to their experiences in the modern world. 

For the girls’ Amish aunt, Rebecca, who wanted more than anything to have children of her own, the struggle to be a good mother to her nieces while being a good wife to her husband makes her feel “as if her world is being torn apart by two different cultures, leaving her to question her place in the Amish community, her marriage, and her faith in God.”

Interview with Amy:

How did you get involved in writing?
Writing is like breathing for me.  I was writing silly stories and sharing them with friends in elementary school.  In junior and high school, I turned to writing fan fiction.  After college, my fan fiction transformed into sweet romance novels.  Later, I felt the calling to turn to inspirational, and that was when I found my niche.

Where did you get the idea for A Gift of Grace?
I’m half-German, and my father immigrated to the United States with his parents and siblings in 1929.  He once told me the Amish speak the same dialect as our relatives, so I feel a connection to them.  I’ve always had a great respect and fascination with their faith and simple lives.  I began reading other Amish authors, and I was moved to create my own series.

What do you enjoy most about the writing process?
Brainstorming and plotting are the most fun.  I love getting to know my characters and playing around with storylines.

What is the most difficult aspect of the writing process?
I would say rewrites are the most difficult.  While the end result is always much better than the first draft, reworking the story forces the writer to sometimes start over and also reach deeper into his/her soul to find the story. [Read more →]