voice is gone

Now that my allergies have caused my voice to go, I am more talkative than ever... and by talkative, I mean ... what's the word?... literary? Writerly? I don't know. I only know that I am still happy about selling my book. My glasses aren't rose-colored. They are pink. I am elated at the idea of meeting my agent and editor in my dearly loved NYC. Wow. How many times can I say... "I'm meeting my agent and editor for lunch..." How many times could I say that out loud before it would lose its zest? I wonder if it ever loses its passion and heart for Stephen King or if he even has to or wants to show up? I bet J. K. Rowling is still reeling. I bet those words still make her gasp for breath. I am a wee manic anyway; I am used to being the underdog. I am used to being, truth be known, abused. Wow. Not for a long time have I been abused. (Now I sound like Yoda.) I am very excited, happy, thrilled, ecstatic, wild, enraptured and delighted at my prospects. If I die today, my book will still live on. Morose? Perhaps. But true. And good. Like chocolate. Like wine. Like red wine and fig newtons and best friends barefoot heel to heel. XOXOXOX Thank you!

The website is up...

www.micheleyoung-stone.com

I am not happy with it so look for a new one on the horizon, but it's there and it will let you know a little bit about my debut book: THE HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS. And a little more about me. ...as if I don't already talk too much about myself. Lord help me.

Thanks! I love you dudes.

shel

NEWS

My website isn't up yet. Merde. I will let you know as soon as it is. For now, Danny and Chrissy and I are planning a January trip to New York to sight see and meet my agent and editor. I am really excited. Having a three-year old, we're favoring the Central Park area (upper west side) instead of our regular and wonderful Greenwich Village.

xo
me

My new website

My new website devoted to literary endeavors:

www.micheleyoung-stone.com

THE HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS

"In a strange twist of fate, two strangers are touched by lightning, and though they've never met, their lives become intertwined as they try to understand what it means to be singled out by the heavens."

a novel of electrifying proportions

PUBLICATION

News: I will soon have a link to my new website--devoted to my writing and the publication process.

We drank the champagne

and boy oh boy but it was good!

PUBLICATION

Great news!!!!!!!!!!!!! My debut novel, THE HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS was sold by my agent, Michelle Brower at Wendy Sherman Associates to Sarah Knight at Shaye Areheart, a fiction-devoted division of Random House. The announcement will appear in print copies of Publisher's Marketplace on December 1st. Within a few days, it will appear online at Publisher's Weekly.

Needless to say, I am tee-totally thrilled. The publishing world is complicated... with editing and copy writers and reviewers... which means the book will hit bookshelves in 2010... most likely spring, 2010.

Let's hope the reviews are as positive as the publication news. Here I come FRESH AIR.

xo
michele young-stone, pink shel

THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS

THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS! NOVEMBER 1, 2008

Tip of the day:

Hypo-mania allows one to sprint great distances for great periods of time. *I do not endorse periodic or chronic episodes of hypo-mania. I am simply stating a fact. XO

Acrylic on poplar 3 1/2 X 3 1/2

bird brain is a good thing: it means that you can fly; my new art is 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 on poplar. Acrylics and ink; some thread; some bobbles.

Only $10 each!

email me at micki888@yahoo.com

ART IS FOR EVERYONE!

Paul Newman

I did not know him. Like everyone else, I knew his films, his love for race-cars and practical jokes. I knew that he was married to Joanne Woodward for fifty-plus years. I knew his charity work, his Newman-O's, better than Oreo's--and his popcorn and spaghetti sauce. I knew him as Butch Cassidy and the sultry Brick from CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. I loved him. He was on my "to do" list--the one you have with your spouse--that says if you ever got the opportunity... well, you get it.

I did not know Paul Newman, but when I read yesterday morning that he had passed away, I cried. I mourn his passage from this world, but one things for sure, he made his mark.

super heroes

Christopher Robin and Georgia Wren
September 2008

Writer's Block

Writer's Block: a myth; an insecurity; an inability to concentrate or expose one's ideas on the page. I'm talking about my ideas. I have left the computer for my black journal... to figure out where Paulo and Gloria are going this sunny hot June day, on the the solstice, a full moon ascending, Gloria and Paulo ripe with angst. Wish me time and luck to figure this out. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoooooooooooo

shel

ARTISTS, CHEFS AND SAINTS

This Friday will be six weeks since I've heard from my literary agent--who I know is very busy, and I shan't disturb her. I will wait patiently for her feedback regarding my first 175 pages. I will keep writing and writing and writing, hoping she likes what I'm making. XOXO

ARTISTS, CHEFS AND SAINTS

ART FOR EVERYONE

I'm on page 230 of my new novel, ARTISTS, CHEFS AND SAINTS. I have a new favorite quote: "I survived because I was tougher than everyone else" Bette Davis, and a new batch of art. I am incorporating text, quotes, inspirational thoughts--acrylic on cedar shingles.

ART FOR EVERYONE! $20 per shingle or two for $30.

One-of-a-kind
designed and hand-painted by pink shel
affordable

XOXOXOXOXO
micki888@yahoo.com
new pictures to follow soon

and a poem, July 27, 2008 -- for Greg Donovan

What does a writer do?
The work.
A writer writes.
A writer pines
thinks
imagines
pretends
drinks like me
like a fish
white wine
sulfites
to think and write
in the pines
with Leadbelly
"where the sun don't never shine..."
but sometimes:
today.

Wow! I am writing again. Sort of...

If anyone would like to read critically for me as I continue my mad journey into womanhood, let me know. I am on page 120 of my new book. It's the story of a mad woman on a mad journey into the heart of a madman. XO pink shel

"Mad Journey?"

"Mad, you say? I can't imagine any woman mad. Well, that idea, by itself, is mad."

"Mad! Mad! I tell you."

"Ware" does the time go?

I sold JOY on oak (see bottom of blog) at the strawberry street art market and festival Saturday. I will miss having her around. I also sold a ton of recycled wine bottles that can be used as vases. Check it out. Understandably, they're getting wilder as I make them. Flowers come with them. :)

I'll be at the spring art show at the Ginter Park Rec. Center on Hawthorne this Saturday from 10 to 4. The event should be listed in Style Weekly and the Weekend section of the Dispatch. I hope to see you there.

Spring Craft Shows

Details are just below new shots of my Watch-me-grow sticks.
XO
pink shel

Watch-Me-Grow measuring sticks pics

SPRING CRAFT SHOWS

Catch up with all my Kitsch:
Handmade, hand-painted, one-of-a-kind crafts.
Come out and support your local artists.

Buy local !

Mark your calendar:

Saturday, April 12th, 2-6 o'clock SPRING PREVIEW with wine and cheese and crafty goodies by Pink Shel, Kim Lavach, and Jerri Buford. From earrings to recycled artworks to all things fun, pink, and goddess-like, join us at 5007 West Seminary, Richmond, 23227; come one come all.

Saturday, May 3rd, SPRING FLING, 10am to 2 pm, outdoor family event at intersection of Laburnum and Chamberlayne to benefit Ginter Park United Methodist Church.

Saturday, May 10th, STRAWBERRY STREET FESTIVAL ART MARKET AND MORE, noon to 4:30 to benefit Fox Elementary. This day of food, fun, and art gets better every year. A fan favorite! Fox Elementary School at Hanover and Strawberry Street.

Saturday, May 17th, 10 to 4 pm, Lewis Ginter Recreation Association SPRING ARTS AND CRAFTS SHOW featuring the best in Northside-and-greater-Richmond artists and jewelers. Not to be missed!

Thanks for supporting artistic endeavors and making Richmond one crafty city.

Abingdon

We drove to Abingdon to see trains and snowy rains and some days we suffered impatience. We ran five miles on the Creeper Trail, drinking hard the dark, smiling in the light, and the ghosts did come... the ghosts did gather round, like the flies, but no one, not-a-one of us lied dead upon the ground. (Strike up the band.)
She said, "Here you are."
"That's not me!"
She adjusted her hat, pulling it tighter over her right ear. "Is so you."
"Is not!"
"But I'm sure of it. You're destined to be here."
"God damn it," said Brigitte, who never liked to take the Lord's name in vain, "it's not me." She took a deep breath and dropped her bathrobe. She'd forgotten her makeup anyway. What had she to cover up? It settled in the dirt. She was raw and exposed. She smiled, and looked around. She luxuriated, as they used to say, tracing her gentler fingers up and down her arms and bosom. "It's all me," she cooed, her hands finding her face. "I'm going to hell. What do you want from me?"
Then the song that no one, not even Jesus expects to be a Jesus song begins.... it's an REO Speedwagon song, and if those guys are Christians, I don't want to know:

It's time for me to fly; I've got to set myself free. It' s time for me to fly. That's just how it's got to be.

I make you love me; you make me cry; I believe it's time for me to fly. Yes, it's time for me to fly.\

I've got to set myself free, time for me to fly, that's just how it's got to be.

I know it hurts to say goodbye, but it's time for me to fly/

i lOvE bRiGiTte

WATCH-ME-GROW sticks

New in 2008: WATCH-ME-GROW Sticks by Pink Shel

WATCH-ME-GROW Sticks
Hand-painted, one-of-a-kind,
*personalized 4-ft.-long mountable stick for
marking your child’s height/growth.
Something you can keep forever

$35.00 (excludes shipping)

*Contact Pink Shel—Michele Young-Stone—to
personalize with child’s name. Girl and Boy themes available.
micki888@yahoo.com

Order by email or through www.pinkshel.etsy.com

WATCH-ME-GROW sticks

New: Hand-painted. Personalized by theme and name. Big sticks, mountable at two feet and reaching to six feet, to mark your child's growth. This is a great gift. Sharpie included. $35. Photos to follow. If you know a kid, you love it. :-)

Happy New Year

Remember to BrEaThE. To paraphrase my friend Marie, "We always complain when bad things happen, but when life is good, we don't always appreciate or revel in it."

Don't sweat the small things.


happy new year