Tag: workshop week

And also, Neurodiversiverse, Paranatellonta

Award for The Neurodiversiverse

Minerva Cerridwen

Hi!

I’ll continue the quick flash update style of my previous post, since I have a lot of short messages.

1) Great news about The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters, the anthology which includes my short story “The Space Between Stitches”: it has won the Silver IBPA Book Award in the category Neurodivergent Communities!

2) In the first week of June, I’ve participated in Workshop Week for the third year in a row. It’s always so much fun to learn new techniques that I will no doubt apply to postcards soon. Here’s a tiny glance at the pieces I learned to make with teachers Type Affiliated, Mabz Brisson, Shayda Campbell, Aurelia Thomson, Lindsey Bugbee, Julie Marriott, and Terry Runyan. You can still follow my artsy explorations on my Instagram.

This image shows small versions of the results of 7 Workshop Week projects: a handlettering piece saying "wishing you a very happy father's day", 2 floral pieces, a grandmotherly character, a hummingbird with flowers, a floral cat, and a swallow filled with calligraphy.

3) Yesterday was the 15th day of the month, so of course Fie and I also posted a new edition of Paranatellonta – number 404!

4) In May, I had my Storytelling exam, allowing me to mark my third year at Knst academy as successful. I’m continuing the Storytelling course next year with great enthusiasm! If you’re in the area of Hasselt, you can start your first year in September with the same brilliant teacher, on Mondays from 19:00 until 21:00. (Mind that this course is taught in Dutch.) Info via this link, scroll down to “Storytelling 18+”.

5) Ulla Thynell, the artist who created the cover of my novella The Dragon of Ynys, will have a book out with Atthis Arts soon! Faraway Dreaming is an art book and story of forest, peace, and a calming night journey. Dragons, hills, and magic to soothe your soul. I know I’m ordering several, both to keep and as gifts. The Kickstarter is already successful, so the book is definitely happening! Rewards start from $1. Go take a look!

6) Speaking of cool artists affiliated with Atthis Arts, Dhiyanah Hassan made this amazing handdrawn dragon fairy portrait of me! I’m still so delighted with how it turned out; I really feel seen. You can commission your own portrait from Dhiyanah via this link.

Handdrawn portrait of a smiling white person with horns in the colours of the ace flag, glasses with purple tentacle details, long brown braided hair, a green t-shirt, rainbow scaled dragon wings, a couple of purple tentacles, and lots of purple flowers all around. Stars are scattered over the atmospheric green background.

7) I’m looking forward to a week in Denmark in July! I’m sure it will bring lots of inspiration and relaxation. And I’m going to see the H.C. Andersen House, which feels extra special as my first published story ever, Match Sticks, was inspired by one of his fairy tales. 

That’s all for today!

Have a wonderful summer!

Minerva

 

And also

A Bookstr Interview and Lots of Art

Minerva Cerridwen

Wow, have I really not written any blog posts since February? Oops…

Well, hello! Time sure is flying, and lots of things are in the works, though none of them have come to the point of any Big Announcements yet. If anyone is making lists of skills writers need, don’t forget to add “having patience”.

I’m writing to you today because I gave an interview! Book website Bookstr asked me and 4 other asexual authors all the same five questions about the reasons why we write and our experiences, and I found it very interesting to read the answers of the others as well. You can read the full interview via this link. Enjoy!

I also wanted to tell you that I participated in Workshop Week last week and made quite a lot of art! You can see all the results on my Instagram; I learned new techniques for handlettering, watercolour painting, portraiture, and sketching flowers, and had a lot of fun with all that! I’ve already been applying what I learned to some new cards today.

Tonight I participated in the end-of-schoolyear performance of my spoken-word Storytelling class, and I’m very happy with how it went. I can feel how much I learned and improved since we started last September, and can’t wait to see how our skills will evolve as the class continues. Even in my writing, I can feel its influence.

I hope to be back soon with some publishing news. Fingers crossed!

Love,

Minerva