Dear Internetz:

So I've been debating jumping on the bandwagon and starting a Pinterest or Tumblr account, not only because all the cool kids are doing it (and I love a ton of the pages out there!) but because I imagined that I could create a "visual playlist" to help me organize my thoughts into a sort of montage of imagery that would feel like the world I'm trying to create and share it with everybody. Since I'm not a music maven like many writers who can type along with aural stimulation, I thought this would be perfect: I'm a visual arts gal myself and this speaks to me! There are lots of pretty pictures and people who capture what I'm trying to do perfectly and to see it all together would be like dropping into a vatload of awesome. It's new tech and sort of scary to add one more thing to my plate, but wouldn't it just be ~*shiny*~?

Well, yes, it *would* be shiny...but then I read this, which is something I already knew, but it really hit home because this was a blogger and an author like me. Roni Loren got sued for using photos on her blog, something we're all encouraged by the industry to do, to show off our favorite thoughts/ideas/eye candy/cat pictures of cats that aren't ours/etc. with the universe at large and build our platform/audience/database of followers in order to justify that we're really out there because people who know us are statistically more likely to buy our books. Blog posts get more hits with photos and video, we're told. But few of these images are "common use" and even though I (like many) am careful to mention where we got these images and thank them for it in the subtext, even provide links back to where the images came from, it's still making no money for the artist whose permission was never granted.

Now I'm not going to use the excuse that "everybody's doing it." As an author (as opposed to a disgustingly Lawful Good person who wouldn't run a red light in the middle of an empty desert), I don't like it when people pirate my (or, more likely, Big Name Friends') work and am quick to say that this takes away from the earnings I work hard for in order to feed my family, too. Of course, as an artist, I also know the power of WoM (that's Word of Mouth, but it sounds like some deity from Ghostbusters, doesn't it?) and using a cover image on a book or a snapshot of a model showing off couture or a bit of comic with a link is hopefully helpful in encouraging someone else to read the book/buy the clothes/become a fan and pass the word along, but I can't guarantee that this will happen. Just because I go all agog for M.T. Anderson or Myco Anna or Faith Erin Hicks doesn't mean that sharing pictures of their work online will translate into sales (or fangirlish glee), but I hope it does because I *love* their stuff and hope that you will, too, the way that good friends hope each other like the movies/books/restaurants that they recommend one another...but this doesn't mean I'd steal an appetizer from Simon Pearce and smuggle it over to you so you could take a taste and see if you like their food enough to go out to dinner there yourself.

Take, for example, my userpic. I found it for use and credited the creator. But while I own the box set of Firefly episodes, I didn't credit Jewel Staite for her portrayal of Kayleigh or Tim Minear for his help in writing the character or Joss Whedon for creating the world itself. Of course, many of these people want their art to be shared and passed along and do not expect compensation at some level derivative of their original work (made over 10 years ago now...gah!), but at what point do we say that? Aren't there trusts from families who are still benefiting from original works made by their spouses/grandparents/great-grandparents years ago? Where is the line? When is it crossed?

There are common use licenses and art made for just such a purpose--book covers and movie posters are designed for the express purpose to be shared and recognized to build "buzz" for the product--but that is different than sharing the product itself; when artists share their cleverness, their talents, or their designs online, how do we share it without giving it away? After reading the threads generated by Roni Loren's article, I saw so many artists angry at how users of Facebook, Tumblr & Pinterest steal their work with no permission and no compensation and they felt so helpless and I knew how they felt. So despite wanting to blog pretty eye-candy and squee over art, I find I'm more than a little reluctant to do it. I know that this leaves me well in the dust of the "hipper" and "cooler" crowd who have the blitz and the bling, and thus the followers and the buzz, but I can't do it until I figure out how to do it right.

Bottom line: I'd rather be respectful than cool any day, (check out my wardrobe for proof!) but how do other Tumblr/Pinterest users do it? My mind boggles at the permissions process or the costs that would be involves for proper use. Or do they care? Is this something only Old People worry about in the age after Napster and words like "e-piracy" in the dictionary? Anyone who uses these platforms willing to chat about the "ins and outs" of it when you're not just a fan, but also a creative business onto yourself? It's these sort of mires that make me bound for the tar pits while others evolve wings and fur to survive this great New World out there.

Prehistorically yours,

Me

This summer, I've been taking a break between projects and spending a little time doing other things...like becoming obsessed about NEW projects! My husband and good friends know that when I get a wild idea for some new crafty insanity, it's best to step back and smile in a non-threatening manner until the dust settles or I fall over unconscious, whichever comes first. The last major fever was when I learned how to make clothespin dolls and spent the next few months making roughly three a day. It wasn't until later someone told me the idea was to create angels or little girls as the nearly two hundred that festooned my shelves comprised of everything from elvish warriors to juggling clowns to puff-coated Victorian ladies walking golden-leashed afghan hounds and Native American families in beaded costumes with pet water buffalo.*

So since I'm writing a steampunk-y WIP, the fever almost predictably flowed over into impending doom. Some people have stars in their eyes--I have gears. I was seized by the idea of making some steampunk art. This may turn out to be a good thing as my walls are bare save for sticky notes and calendar reminders that I'm often late for something, and I gave myself a very small budget in which to indulge. I remember Holly Black advising that it's good to do other arts to fuel our writing because it uses a different part of our brain, forces us to use our hands and think in new dimensions. And that was just what I needed! Herein lies the first attempt:

It all started with a cheap frame and an old book with faded pages.

Then I destroyed liberated some images from magazines, old notebooks, calendars and those helpful free guides to pet care found in unsuspecting stores. Add to that some craft hooks and gears (shamefacedly admitting that I am actually putting gears on it and calling it steampunk and not even ones I scavenged honestly from broken watches; I'm too impatient for that right now).

I comforted myself that the images that were coming together were inspired by Philip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy, which has legitimate steampunk elements inherent in it and I wasn't wholly pandering. I think of it as a peek into the mind of Dr. Marisa Coulter, one of my favorite characters from the series. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find an image of the golden monkey or an ermine for Lyra, but the polar bear was awesome as was adding a curl of blond doll hair!)

Finally, we pull all the insanity together behind glass and drill some tiny holes into the top of the frame, screw in the hooks and thread some machinations for Dr. Coulter with old brassy beads I used for the dolls and voilà:

My first attempt at steampunk art! This is the sort of thing that's been lurking in the back of my head along with the chattering crowds of three untouched WIP ideas and a ton of useless errata like what's for dinner and when to pick up my kids from camp. It will reside here on a library shelf until I make its mate and hang them up together on the wall.

I hope that you have some similar exiting geekery happening in your world to fuel your through the summer months and really get those synapses cracking! Care to share? I love to hear other people's inspired insanity!

And I'm already thinking about the next Steampunk Tea Party... Bwahahahaha!

* No, I'm not kidding. My madness is a blessing and a curse...often repeatedly while gluing @#$%^&*! tiny pieces into place with a tweezers and a hot glue gun.