niyasisk

Making the Pages Fly!

There are many 'how-to's' out there about book publishing; so I won't gum up the pipeline. As I am enjoying the feeling of my book of short stories about to hit distribution, there are a few things about the process that were humbling, exciting and shit stirring all in one. 

First of all, my book of stories was created a few years back in graduate school and added to yearly. Many of the stories have been workshopped raw and edited by the best. Still, the amount of blue call-out boxes in the MS word document my editor sent me was humbling at a criminal level. The feeling of a good editor at your back is something I can't emphasize enough. I came to the conclusion that if I had worked up the courage over the years to put my stories out there and risk embarrassment, then the writing should be well showered when it does embarrass me.

And with that note, I just have to promote my editor here. Di Freeze was amazing—Thorough and advanced in her skills; she completely loves her work. She really cares for the writer. I had to hold myself back from asking her all kinds of questions: "Should I put a foreward on the book? How do I handle reviews and acknowledgements? Are there known issues for naming people in the acknowledgements section?" But alas, she was there to correct typos and punctuation and help me clarify sentence structure, not to be my book therapist. 

The next thing on my mind as I considered publishing for real with full distribution was there couldn't be anything halfway about it. Creating a book poses juicy, thoughtful, moral ambiguities about everything you put into print. So I had to face the fact that, although, I'd spent a lot of time with these stories (I almost wrote children, Freudian slip), I write differently today. So it wasn't just a commitment for this book. It was a commitment to write and publish books in general. This book is the platform, the time in my life when I fell in love with writing fiction. And since then I've written stories that are visually charged as well (film and illustrated novels). So I would need to find media channels for the stories that support the characters and story arcs best. Having the support of Creative Convergence helped me think through the strategic aspect of content creation—open up my imagination to the variety of media possibilities and make that commitment. I now have a year of scheduled activity to take my current stories to the next level: Animation, web series, picture books, short films, possibly a stage play etc.

I needed to think through what I want mainstreamed and what I want published through my company Sweet Bee Books. I really hadn't anticipated how exciting this was going to get. All the possibilities of publishing. Not to mention animating my picture books on the iPad. As a former software experience designer I'm seeing a fusion of books and software. I anticipate there won't be any lines in the near future. It's all about grabbing the story and expressing it in the most powerful way using the technologies (including print) available to us.

The pages really started to fly once I saw the endless possibilities. 

And that's a good place to end this post. A year ago, I only saw two avenues for getting my work into mainstream. A producer would option one of my scripts or a publisher would publish one of books. Now I see lots of options. Some indie, some mainstream, some 'i-world' centered (teaching myself new tools) and some in the oral tradition of simply telling a story. The economic model centers around authors marketing and selling their books more than ever these days. So in a way I see all my work as independent because the work to sell it is on me.

I look at my stories like they are people finding their way; they have different voices and need different vehicles. Some have the personality that is perfect for a VW bug. Others want to walk and need me to buy the perfect walking shoes and hats. Others will have the red carpet and no other. Stories need listeners and as their 'bitch' I need to be their first listener. I should make a t-shirt, I work for my characters - they pay me with countless nights of insomnia but really good coffee and a happy heart.

Bragging Bantering Bawling is available now at Lulu and will be available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon in late June 2011. I have some readings and books signings coming up in the late summer and early fall. I'll announce that here at Niya's Place. And of course I can't leave our little famous rabbit out. His book, "You get me, I love you" will publish in the fall. He's chomping at the bit (carrot stick) literally.

 

Productive Writer ~ Productive Life!

Sometimes we are on the hunt for the right tool, book, or person with insight and resources to help us approach a particular situation. Transformation, organization, clarification, prioritization is needed. And if that doesn't work, a lobotomy would be okay.

I had the good fortune to read The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen a couple weeks ago. It is the exact book I need right now as I mine through 8 years of writing and 2 writing degrees and what feels like an acre of landfill of un-homed, yet, productive work. It was time to get organized, energized and get my faith restored in a big way. To turn pages of landfill into a reduce, reuse, recycle system; maybe even recover a bit of gold; polish it and send it out. This book helped me transform my writers den into a beautiful writers studio that I can't wait to enter daily.

Sage Cohen has a gift for balancing compassionate support and insight while thoroughly answering every question a writer may have about creating a productive, continually inspired, successful life. From capturing ideas to how to organize your research for target agents and publications to facing your fears. She demonstrates her own process and systems while sharing sweet anecdotes of her own life. As a reader, you are left with an arsenal of powerful thoughts and techniques in uncovering and managing resistance. Especially powerful is her gentle suggestion to let the pleasure, desire and heart touching affect of your ideas and writing into your life. This alone is no match for resistance and other unproductive tricks we writers cope with daily. 

For me, after reading her book, I got busy in my office. It was the same office set up I'd used for a decade. I demolished it, took it down and asked how I would restructure it around my writing goals this year. I'm working on an illustrated children's book, editing 2 film scripts I wrote in LA last year, and creating a new book of illustrated essays from this blog. I plan to circulate all of the above to potential agents, publishers, producers this year. I realized that I had a lot more resources than I thought i did, and a lot more that I didn't need. I ended up recycling 4 bags of paper, boxing 3 boxes of books to go to the used book store or give away. I organized my bookshelf to be all about the children's book I'm working on. See photo: Note my favorite children's book Sam Bangs & Moonshine — this little book inspires me daily. 

The black books on the left are just the stories I intend to edit and send out, everything else is archived on my hard drive, and I got rid of the abundance of paper. I have just the books that I'm referencing now to help me get the children's book circulating. Also I wanted a bit of warmth around my computer (for balance of electronics and textures). Beauty for me inspires words from that other place in the late hours of the night, so I made my actual desk a bit more aesthetic:

 

Sage's ideas for how to utilize 3x5 cards are nothing short of brilliant. I now have blank cards planted in strategic places in my home, car, purse. From a snippet of conversation about a particular agent or publisher, to ideas that she calls 'acorns' and for me they have always been shimmers. It took me a long time to trust those little shimmers. I thought they were the beginning of a migraine. They turned out to be the ideas with the longest life span — the ones that work on a writer until they've had their way with you.

I don't know that I can do Sage Cohen's book justice in this short blog post. I only know that after using her book to help me design a writers studio, it's helped with much more. I'm not overwhelmed. I'm just working. I'm still working out the kinks of 'flow'. But guess what? I now have a new way of organizing that balances inspiration and practicality in a really cool way. So, productive writer for me, is productive life!

I'm grateful for people and books like this in the world. A powerful little book packed with real life necessities from an author we can trust. It's clear that what she teaches she is doing now in her own career and life. So thank you Sage Cohen! Sage also has two published books of poetry that are quite wonderful. Here are the links:

The Productive Writer

The Path of Possibility (Sage Cohen Classes, Events, All Books)

Sage on Facebook

A dear friend of mine told me once, as I complained about being completely overwhelmed - he said, "it's all about tools". He is a successful artist who spends 25% of his week on systems that enhance flow and productivity. I value this book The Productive Writer for that reason. It's a tool and a friend at the same time — a steady pressure that helps you turn your life around if you let it. It's a special author who inspires such energy. 

Oh, I almost forgot the most important part of my writing studio. 

Now the writing studio has a bit of magic to it!

Thank you, Niya C Sisk

 

65 Creative Non-Fiction Essays with Rabbit, Dakota ~ Becoming a Book!

I started Niya's Place, Chronicles of Life, Love and Rabbits in 2005 after adopting the most human rabbit I've ever met. That would be our main character in these essays, Dakota. I liked him right off the bat when I went into the feed store in Portland Oregon. It turned out he had earned a reputation in the store as the 'troublesome' rabbit. I was advised to wait for another 'better behaved' rabbit. They tried to charm me by showing me all the other 'better' rabbits. She picked up Dakota and he let her know immediately he didn't like her much. He managed to turn his hind legs up and kick her in the face. She sprayed him with a water bottle and if looks could kill she'd have been buried many times by this guy. I asked if I could give it a shot. I put him in the crook of my neck and he relaxed so fast I thought he was dead. His back legs dropped and he lay there like he hadn't slept in days. And that was it. I took him home and his brother for company to him. He's been a hellion and a lover his whole life. He lets you know exactly what's okay and not okay. He seems to think he's way taller than any human on the planet. And I'm certain I broke his heart when I didn't crawl into his pen and sleep with him on his first night and every night after because we have completely and utterly fallen in love.

Ever since then, his attitude has a life of it's own that I can only honor in observation and creative writing. Thus, Niya's Place. Since it began it's remained devoted to his expression and the drama of his life as it's unfolded. Now as he ages, he's become as old men can, more affectionate, more dependent, hornier for his mate, Caila (he seems to have forgotten he was neutered to calm this constant urge), and more like a person. He's become family and he keeps everyone together (3 rabbits total now).

I've also matured as a writer by writing this blog over the years. I had finished up my MFA in fiction when I adopted him and had written a few stories from an animals point of view. I have a big appreciation for writers with this type of empathy and imagination. Paul Auster is a good example. This blog was great practice for me. It's opened my eyes to the world in many ways. By observing Dakota and turning that into verse I've learned that whatever we love consistently and nurture changes and changes us as well. A garden, a product, a book, a painting, a relationship with a child, mate, etc. Rabbits aren't meant to live in tiny cages and neither are our imaginations or hearts. 

All that said, I'm now in the process of transitioning Niya's Place into a blog about developing a writers life (and all that entails) while producing Dakota's journey into a book of the 65 essays written here. My hope is to create a book full of high quality photos, the essays from this blog and illustrations that exposes audiences to how wonderful rabbits are as a household pet. And my hope is that more rabbits are treated with the love and respect of dogs and cats as people write the stories they experience (and they are more and more). Rabbits give as good as they get (and more). But so many people don't know this because our exposure to rabbits as a culture is that they are coyote snacks or they sit in a box in someone's backyard. Still though, it's changing. Rabbits are becoming the new dog. Rabbits are intensely family oriented. They bond and that's it. You are their family and it's quite an honor. And they are very amusing! 

So, onward. I'm very grateful to Dakota for being the complex little macho rabbit he is. And to my audience who follow his page on FB and comment here and have given lots of love and support. We love you back!

Stay tuned. Announcements within the year about the new book with these essays. From here on out you will see more posts about developing as a writer seeking an agent and publication of several projects. 

Thank you!

Sentence Envy

Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. 

First of all. Thumb envy? No.
Not having the opportunity to be a brain surgeon because my thumbs are too large... Or the idea of having the freedom of bowling ball size thumbs that gets me hitched into the car of the next driver who may or may not value my life as much as I do? 
Nah.

But to tangle up sentences into brain candy about a girl with huge thumbs that keeps my thumbs (pun intended) doing the good work of page turning...well I'm all over that.

"She twirled her thumbs like the hula hips of heaven" he says.

Re-reading this book has caused me some stress. Not the story, or the read. But enjoying it so much. And the achy thought, what authors are having this much fun today? Practicing their talent hard! Serving up sentences up from your feet, that circles your heart a few times and then plunks smack into the middle of the wild brain? So much reading pleasure you can hardly stand it. 

Where are those authors today? 

On NPR the other day there was an interview with a man (who's name I didn't catch) who said people are flinging content around like coins in a slot machine. Hoping to capture fame. But nobody knows what fame is anymore. 

My ambitions in writing are to treat words like a really yummy chocolate desert. Words are beautiful to me. And when they twirl around the axis of two large thumbs that plummets me into adventures I've never thought of...I'm over the moon. 

I hope we never loose these writers or the relevancy of the untethered imagination that a simple sentence can bring.

Welcome to the New Digital Cafe

 

 Niyas Place is Growing.

With an accumulation of over 60 essays with an opinionated macho rabbit's
point of view, it's time to put them into a book now and transition the
conversation at Niyas Place. Creative impulse control is not my strong
suit. Combine this with a passion for coffee and a good conversation, you
will see some new action at Niya's Place.

So expect random acts of writing in the future. And please join us with a
cup of coffee, your wild and wonderful thoughts and let's jam in the cafe
before the work day. It's a no commute zone.

...........................

ps: I can't promise Dakota won't have a thing or two to say about
stuff. But I can promise he will be brief and to the point.

KSVY 91.3 Interviews Niya | Doggie Art and LA Screenwriters Expo

Ken Brown interviews Niya November 18 about her holiday doggie art business--(Dogz Cafe) and somehow the conversation goes in the deep waters of the role of silence in film. Only on KSVY,  could this happen. Sonoma's beloved Radio Station. So listen and enjoy. Its just over 10 minutes long. Niya is donating 10 % of all proceeds of the commissioned dog portraits for the holidays to KSVY Sonoma.

 Download KSVY-Niya_dogz_expo.mov

PS: Yes Dakota is peeved that this one isn't all about him as promised, but I'm working on it. I'm a bit of a queen just like him! 

Vignettes of Provence: Exhibit of New Paintings by N I Y A

In March 2008, on a painting commission Niya stayed in a small traditional French Village, Carces, just north of Marseille. She discovered a place completely unto itself—so un-enchanted by the ‘new’. She has created a new a new series of paintings in scenes: People, Pizza, Pink Haired Women, Century Old Vines, Dogs, Food, Vino and so on. The stories accompany the paintings expressed in graphical themes.

Here is her statement:

“Whether I was sitting in the middle of a dirt road while the wild boars had their midnight snack in front of my car or woken by the soft, warm winds of North Africa in the morning looking out over the village rooftops, one thing was certain, Provence clearly held in its daily life, a force of imagination that flattened any goals or ambitions I had coming into it.”

Come and see the stories for yourself at the Sunflower Caffe in the month of June! And please eat, drink and be in the villages of France with us for an evening. 

 • • •

What and when: The artist’s reception will be Friday June 13, from 5 till 7 at the Sunflower Caffe.  The Exhibit will remain up from June 1 till June 30. 

Where: The Sunflower Caffe is located at 421 W. First Street on the Square in Sonoma.  Go to the calendar at www.sonomasunflower.com

Links: The Villa Artist Gallery where the commissioned work from the Villa Owners is displayed: Our Place in Provence ARTISTS

Niya Christine Paintings Website: www.niyastudios.com

Tune in to KSVY Sonoma FM| 91.3| June 4th at 9:45 a.m. to hear Niya being interviewed by Sonoma Mayor and host of 'Mornings in Sonoma', Ken Brown.

Rakish Reeds of Rabbit Money

I’ve come to believe that everything you were as a child, you are now.
Yes, there’s some editing involved as we become adults and trade out what’s possible for what’s practical. Zzz...

But, as I look back on everything that’s good in my life now, somewhere along the line I was…like a gymnast spotted in some awkward but successful contortion. I was shown in life that inspiration could meet success if I was bored enough, brave enough, and mischievous enough to try.

When I was nine years old I raised angora rabbits and sold them for five dollars a piece to be shorn for yarn making. I was a rather fashion hungry fourth grader and my Mom’s taste in school clothes didn’t cut it for me—(she’s gotten better over the years). I didn’t plan it this way. But after my neighbors gave me a couple of angoras, I woke up to find many babies, little white almost furry, golf balls in the cage. This was on a farm in Redwood Valley Ca. A small farm with an abandoned caboose, and a pig next door that loved to eat purple morning glories.
Inside the abandoned caboose was where my first boyfriend became my boyfriend when he put his arm around me... on a rotten, flea invested, sprung mattress. It was the scariest, most romantic moment of my nine year old life. And then, he ‘went with’ my best friend Susan when the school year began and asked if I would be his summer/caboose girl (don't go there) while Susan was his winter school girl…but this is another story altogether.

One day, about a month after the baby angoras were born, another neighbor came by and offered to buy the litter. He asked how much? I fumbled, sputtered, and I glimpsed at how much I would miss them but thought about school clothes. I thought about looking good for caboose boy, and yes, competing with my best friend (she says shamefully). I said, “Five dollars a piece.” And so, began my first entrepreneurial business.

After graduating from University of Santa Cruz, although my motivations were a bit more complex, they weren’t any less excited than when I sold the little rabbits. I was working at NeXT Computer and I wanted to use my psychology degree towards something artistic. I was interested in brains processed creativity. The most interesting conversations seemed to be around designing the faces of all the interactivity in computing we're experiencing today. So, I would show up at NeXT at 5:30 a.m. and consort with people around this question “What makes an intuitive design?” Iconography, color, and words, interactivity and the psychological patterning of our brains got me as excited as...well you don't want to know, because geek will come to mind... (And, yeah I was there when Jobs was around shaking it up, but I'd rather talk about the relationship between five dollar rabbits and sputtering career advertures.)

A month later, I had created a mock portfolio and was off to interview with several companies on the East Coast for visual interface design positions. At Lotus Corp., it was the same rabbit selling moment. How much would you charge to re-design the face of our leading business product?
What made me blurt out a random number that I thought was way too high, but turned out to be too low was the same feeling I had when I realized the rabbits could make more rabbits. As long as I keep drawing pictures and studying how our brains process interaction, I’ll have more interviews--more chances at this. They wanted to see sketches. So, on the plane, instead of the usual coffee and cream, I ordered Vodka. It was good. I’d never had Vodka straight up. I drew a bunch of crazy pictures and faxed them the next day. They offered me the contract. But, another offer was in the works--a lead visual design job at Claris Corp. And, it was in CA. so...there you have it.

From Rabbits to Entrepreneurial adventures in Design. All of it feeling about as silly as a girl could feel. As a director at Macromedia said to me once, you consultants always have your bare asses out on a very long limb of a very high tree.

My response:
But when I get dressed, damn I have good clothes!

--------------
Dakota doesn’t understand why I don’t wear fur like him. I tell him because if I did this would change our relationship considerably. Like I wouldn’t be talking to him in person, it would be on some other level. He SO doesn't get the whole eating rabbit thing. When I talk like this he gives me a stern look like I’m making no sense and then he gets very busy and ignores me altogether.

Script Done. Redhead Undone

FADE IN:

INT./EXT. BUSY STREET - CAFE - DAY

REDHEAD walks towards a chic cafe on a busy street. She's wearing a sun dress and flip flops that are too big for her feet. She has more freckles than ever from the non-stop ninety degree days. She has a large worn out leather purse on her shoulder with an iBook in it. It's lunch time so she stops an ice cream truck driving by.

ICE CREAM TRUCK MAN
How can I help you?

REDHEAD
An ice cream sandwich please. Do you have other flavors besides chocolate for the outside? Pesto for instance? Or basil, raspberry? Fruits and vegetables are important in any healthy diet.

ICE CREAM TRUCK MAN
(pretends not to hear)
Vanilla or chocolate?

REDHEAD
(sighs)
Vanilla. I mean, I guess...I'm still getting some of the food groups; protein and wheat.

ICE CREAM TRUCK MAN
(no expression)
That will be $1.35.

REDHEAD
(looks at him curiously)
I think this would be the perfect job for me right now. Do you have a job application I can fill out?

ICE CREAM TRUCK MAN
Mam, I'm a solo act.

Kids are lining up. An ice cream frenzy is building behind her.

REDHEAD
(enthusiastically, like she's found a partner in crime)
Me too--at least right now, I'm down the last five scenes in my screenplay. It's nerve wracking. I haven't spoken with any of my clients in weeks. I've been writing for sixteen days straight. My house smells funny. You should see...

ICE CREAM TRUCK MAN
(looking nervously over her head to the excited kids)
Mam, you need to move aside, I have a business to run here.

He waves her off.

FADE OUT:

• • •

The above is a fictional parody -- a metaphor if you will, on the emotional landscape of my past month.

Backgrounder:
I pitched a novella I wrote to producers at a conference in June.
Five of five asked to read the script I had not written and didn't know how to.
I took a month off work to learn and to write it. I figured two weeks to learn and set up notes, two weeks to write.
I completed the first draft, 111 page play in 18 days.
And now am in the rewrite phase with high hopes to send it out by the end of August.
First I need to chum up to two upset, neglected bunnies and get over the bronchitis I got in the mix of stress-- and eating...well, not so great.

Owners manual for anyone seeking a life that includes both art and business:

1. Should you take a month off work to learn something completely new, like: Write a novel or play, learn a musical instrument, a new language or paint a series of paintings. Make sure you have your cupboards and refrigerator stocked, a message on your machine that says, "I'm in artistic purgatory, and believe me, I absolutely can't wait to get back to you, but it will be long past your interest in talking to me; please forgive me in advance."

2. Don't work naked. It scares the neighbors. And believe me, they are already scared of you!

3. For Writers: Make sure you have at least one friend who makes you laugh and knows your drink. This is very important. Otherwise, your characters suffer your grumpiness.

And, they don't deserve it.

They wait patiently for your attention and come to life with the slightest sliver of it. They entertain you endlessly, they love you, they hate you, they don't notice you, they are insecure and overly confident. They are a huge stack of imperfection--so treat em' well, treat yourself well and the clients who come back to your when it's all over. Because they are the real thing!

4. For those of you who can work full-time and write at night and weekends. I'd give 100 freckles to be like you. I think and brainstorm from Friday night to Sunday night and the real action starts to write itself on Monday when most people go to work. I risk a month of client-free living to write. I'll let you know how it turned out as soon as I know.

5. You may think this is a romantic venture. You may see yourself as I did, like this:

BUT IT'S ACTUALLY MORE LIKE...

6. Practice your passion whatever it is. Even if you get sick like I did you're still smiling from your internal organs--your heart, your kidneys, your liver...they are all happy. Even if the dishes in your sink are growing mold and your rabbits show you their backs more than they used to.

7. Buy a bunch of great music. If you aren't a smoker it will help curb the desire.

8. Remember, even if doing what you love most of all obsessively looks incredibly selfish to others--keep the faith. When you're happy you give 3 X's more in the end.

--Make sure you stock your closet with rabbit food. I'm still catching shit on this one!--

 

The Blue Grit of the Creative Life

Recently I’ve endeavored--so far mostly in my head--to live a creative life from one focal point; though the resulting products may be many. This train of thought began a couple of months ago when I added up all the time it would take to do every project in my head . It equaled only five years of a potential forty (such the optimist) years left to live. And I hadn’t accounted for the fact that all these ideas would likely be traded in for new ones in a month or a year or even a day. Ideas are sneaky that way; a ball of fire that refract off your heart like the sun to water—mostly compelling, always disposable, changing and like the coyote, tricky.

So I've begun to see art as the art of building the spaces in one's life to embody the river of the ideas that come through. And, that its very important to purchase a really cool raft to jump onto when necessary so that one doesn't drown.
I used to think I had to act on every idea I had. That if I didn't, I was somehow spitting in the eye of the Gods. But imagine what my daily existance would be like if I acted weekly on a new import of ideas such as this list:

• Illustrate novella and sell to a publisher who publishes to the audience of weird off beat fiction.

• Finish next series of paintings in a month. Get representation.

• If bored with next series of paintings go back to silk painting but finish series of welded screens to stretch them on. Sell to local restaurants.

• Brand projects for the organizations and people I believe in, no corporations for a year, just earth, animal, food and wine friendly folks. Gear website towards this goal.

• Buy a sustainable trailer and build an art studio on a plot of land with a lake to swim laps daily. Start a blog on the process.

• Continue fundraisers to raise money for underdog causes to raise awareness. PR.

• Create a series of bunny books to brand bunnies as the next cool fad (like penguins, only Dakota wouldn’t be caught dead holding onto an egg for months, more likely he would try to train it be yet another adoring female in his harem and when it didn’t work he’d likely stomp on it).

• Finish novella in Provence France where the novella actually ends. Call it research. Write it off. Oh yeah, I don't have a publisher. That won't work. Try anyway. While there take some dance classes in Spain. Buy a stringy dress and don't let anyone at home catch you dead in it. Only wear this dress in Spain. In fact, buy a dress for every travel experience of the year...

The list goes on. But every idea has its marketing tasks associated and I'm just not that Type A. I need my hot tub, my morning spacing out on the sounds of the birds, planting herbs and cleaning out smelly ol' ponds (new chore this weekend) and just plain not thinking of anything creative and laughing about stupid things, made up things with a friend for the sake of laughter.

I've decided that ideas are like the water I give my garden. Necessary for the sake of creative fertilizer, quality of life, learning and the reward of reaching. And its good to have people who enjoy this type of creative musing; to have lots of outlets and creative spaces to engage in (see next blog on how the architecture of a space influences creative decisions). But perhaps take more of an attitude like Dakota:

If Dakota could speak on creating --for him this mean babies that look exactly like him:
"So what! I can't make babies with Caila, its spring so I'll try anyway. We'll have fun, we'll roll around in the grass. Sometimes I won't know which end is what; which is North or South. No matter. I have carrots, I have a lot of room to run, I have water, I have food, I have love, and when I don't have those things I sulk, I think deeply I write dark poetry in my head and I clean my fur for the females. Its good to stay clean and smelling good no matter what's going on because you never know what good things could happen.