| VOLUME 7 | * * All Arts News On the Web * * | October 2, 2003 |
ArtBits always features a calendar of the goings on of Franklin County artists. Check out these events around Franklin County. Each issue includes the entire text of our weekly newspaper column. STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS
Stop in for live music and more at the Fairfax Music Sessions at the Foothills Bakery in Fairfax most Saturday afternoons at 1 p.m., at ChowBella in St Albans 8-10 p.m. most Wednesday evenings, at the Kept Writer in St Albans most Friday and Saturday evenings, at the Bayside in St Albans Town most Sunday afternoons, and the Cambridge CoffeeHouses at 7 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of every month.
These gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and occasional workshops. The booked performances and acoustic Open Mike Nights feature music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.
"When you look at a blank piece of paper and have an idea in your head and you develop that idea, you could just float to the sky," said Enosburg writer Lauren Young. Her new children's book, Comfy Cozy Tales is now available from Trafford Publishing. COZY
A "cozy" is an English mystery for grownups but Comfy Cozy Tales, written by Ms. Young and illustrated by Kevin M. Lane, "is educational, entertaining, and it is a mystery" for children. This cozy includes Jack Jester in which Alison hears singing while playing outside her grandmother's house. The singer is a sad little wooden jester who once made the kings and queens of England laugh. When he no longer made them laugh, they shipped him off to Las Vegas. Ms. Young wrote Sock Feet when her grandson Ian was born although the much older six-year-old Chris helps his five-year-old sister Ellen solve the mystery of her sneaker. Cozy also includes It's Okay to be Little, and All in a Day's Work.
Writers are always at work on the next project. "'Comfy Cozy Tales Two' is coming soon," she said.
The books are written for children aged 4-7. "Over 100 children read the manuscripts and I got their feedback. I wanted to make sure the stories were interesting enough," she said.
Each story has a message for everyone who reads it.
"I've always loved children," she said. "Children should be cherished but they also need guidelines."
One way kids can find guidelines is through literature. "Reading inspires [kids'] own imagination. And to know that it's okay to be them." She also used an e.e. cummings quote in the book. "Success is being yourself in a world that is trying hard to make you like everyone else."
Lauren Young is not only a photographer, poet, and children's writer, she also takes an entrepreneurial approach to her ventures.
"Some of my photography has poetry running through the pictures," she said of her line of custom and stock poetic photography. She creates custom orders for any occasion, offers unique greeting cards, and has published two earlier childrens books, Fish, Fun, and Fantasy illustrated by Susan Pritt, and Meadow Mystery illustrated by Shawn Larivee. She has exhibited photographs at the Vermont Statehouse, in the Robert Paul Gallery, Barnes & Noble, and in several galleries around the state. Her own gallery is Lauren's Lyrics in Enosburg Falls.
Trafford Publishing, a division of Trafford Holdings Ltd., has physical offices in Victoria, British Columbia, New Bern, North Carolina, Crewe, Cheshire, UK, and Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. They offer Print on Demand services.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America states that print on demand is a printing technology that produces a complete printed and bound book in minutes. POD companies such as Xlibris, iUniverse, and Trafford charge a fee for the publishing services they offer to writers who are also entrepreneurs. It is a reasonably cost-effective means to produce books in lots as small as one or two and it eliminates the expense of warehousing books until they sell. Authors typically earn income as a royalty on sales. Although most reviewers and booksellers regard the fee-based PODs as vanity publishers, they can offer attractive, professionally designed books at a lower cost than self-publishing, and they eliminate some of the pitfalls. The principle downside is that POD books, like e-books, are often available only through online sources and less than 10 percent of all book sales are made online.
SWFA maintains extensive information about the joys and the pitfalls writers face. Click here.
Since this is Print on Demand, the book is harder to find in a traditional bookstore. It will be in amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and chapters.com shortly. Ordering through a traditional bookstore "takes about three or four days" because each book is printed on demand and shipped. "With Publish on Demand, [bookstores] don't have inventory." Schools and libraries can get a substantial discount.
Another interesting marketing idea Ms. Young will try is the Vermont Restaurant and Lodging show at the Sheraton on November 4.
Lauren Young lives in Enosburg with her husband, Robert. She received a diploma from the Institute of Children's Literature for for writing for children and teenagers in 1996.
Comfy Cozy Tales is available online at .
Josh Givens emailed me recently to let me know his website is up and running. Having a good site is an excellent marketing tool, but sending interested viewers there is even more important. The All Arts Council maintains a list of links to more than 60 AAC members and other Franklin County actors, artists, composers, dancers, musicians, photographers, poets, publishers, sculptors, theater companies, and writers with work that is available for sale or public exhibit. All Arts Council if your site should be included or updated in the www.AllArtsCouncil.org/features/listing.htm MARKETING IT, II
DERBY LINE--QNEK Productions at the Haskell Opera House celebrates its tenth anniversary with two performances of Nunsense, the musical comedy by Dan Goggin, Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. ON STAGE LIVE
When Sister Julia (Child of God and convent cook) accidentally poisoned several of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, the remaining sisters need to raise money to bury the departed. "Each of the Little Sisters of Hoboken," Goggin wrote, "is based on a real-life nun."
In celebration of their Tenth Anniversary, the Vermont General Assembly passed a State Resolution to acknowledge QNEK's work in the field of arts and entertainment in the Northeast Kingdom.
Seating is limited. Call 802-334-8145 or qnekproductions@yahoo.com for tickets and info.
MONTGOMERY CENTER--The Covered Bridges Garden Club presents writer, photographer, and naturalist Brian Pfeiffer on Wednesday, October 8, at 6:30 pm. He will discuss Butterflies in your Garden.
Bryan Pfeiffer is co-author of the newly published book, Birdwatching in Vermont. He has written articles and essays on nature for the New York Times, Vermont Life, Field and Stream, and Northern Woodlands. He hosts the award-winning radio show, For the Birds, and is the on-the-air naturalist for WCAX-TV News.
The meeting will be held at the Public Safety Building, Route 242, Montgomery Center. Admission is free for Garden Club members and $3 for non-members.
The All Arts Council board met last week. On the agenda were committee assignments, our Executive Director search, the new membership drive, and our long-awaited calendar/artists register project. MEETING NOTES
The AAC will return to monthly meetings with a speaker or presentation of interest. At the October meeting we will invite a Native American artist. The Executive Director committee has several applications and will set up interviews in the coming days. We need volunteers to send a membership mailing before Christmas. The Vermont Arts Council approved our request to continue our online calendar/artists register project.
St. Albans resident Joshua Givens, 27, has studied landscape design but left college to focus on painting. He is self taught and hops from style to style to find techniques that express his feelings in paintings. He has explored techniques from applying thick, sculptural paint, to flat layered washes, to impressionism. His usual subjects are music and animals. His new site has a gallery of Abstracts, Animals, Architectural, Landscape, Music, and People. CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK
ArtBits features a quick weekly peek at the bookshelf or night stand of the folks you know in and around Franklin County. That popular feature has a page of its own at the Franklin County Bookshelf here on the AAC site. FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF
Dick Harper, Chair
P.O. Box 1
Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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