Linkville Press Anthology

I am so excited to share this news with you!!! The Linkville Press author anthology, themed New Year, is almost ready and will be posted on Amazon in the next couple of days. This anthology will feature seven plus stories from various Linkville authors, including myself and the proceeds for this short story collection will go to charity. I am very happy to be a part of this project. Be sure to check back for the final details. 

***The Anthology is LIVE on Amazon now!***

Updates and Good Reads

Good afternoon friends. I hope that this is finding you all doing well, happy and healthy. It's been a bit since my last post...I am sorry for that. Up until yesterday, I am not afraid to say that I have been struggling a bit. It's been a difficult road for me to put the events of the last month behind me. I just have not been able to find a way to let go of my sadness over my Dads passing, but something clicked yesterday. I am actually not sure what it was, however, I am feeling better. This is not over by a long shot, I know. My Mom reminded me that this is all very fresh and we all grieve in different ways. I have found that to be true in the last few days. I haven't been alright...not by a long shot. Having said that, I really haven't told anyone that except for a small group of people. By small, I mean, 3. So, I am sure that I have looked odd to most in the past few weeks.

I actually shut myself in the house for the past 2 days. I have backed away from friends. It was so bad on Tuesday night, that I actually had to take matters into my own hands. I knew I had to find a way to get past this part in the grieving process. So, I wrote all my feelings out. Everything...out there. It seemed to help. I woke up yesterday and felt lighter. Today, much lighter and I came up with a plan. I have to do something to pull myself up and out. Besides going to work every day which is just basically going through the motions, I have to expand on my art. I have to find new projects, plan new shoots, work on new photos, finish my own edits on my 2nd manuscript. I have to.

So, I am beginning today. I have ordered a new camera and I am going to be offering a special on mini sessions. I will post those details soon. I have plans to work on my edits starting next week and I have started working on photos again. I know that I will never get over this, but then neither will my family or my Mother. I have faith that it will get better though. I am posting some photos below that I have been working on. Let me know what you think. Also, my book was added to Good Reads. This  is a great place to share your love of reading and books. It's a great place to rate, review and recommend books to your friends and others on the site. So, check it out!

I will sign off for now, but keep your comments and emails coming. I would love to hear all about your goings on...how you are enjoying fall. Even if its to tell me how much you love pumpkin spice anything, lol. Life is short my friends. Connecting to our fellow human is what keeps us alive. Enjoying new experiences. I have found that shutting ones self off, starts to kill your soul. So, lets connect! The topic is fall anything :) Go!

Have a wonderful evening!
Anna
Artfully Odd

Rock and Roll Photo Shoot Prints

Here are a couple shots from my recent photo shoot. Looking forward to sharing more information with you soon. Prints available

Model: Bettina Martin
MUA: Bettina Martin

Hair: Anna Patten
Styling: Anna Patten
Guitars: Fender/Bettina Martin/Brian Green
Grip: Buzz Patten

Press Release is Out!

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The Find Of Her Life by Anna Patten View this email in your browser The Find Of Her Life Digging For Love Contact: Giana Elenterio               The Evil Genius Group               giana@evilgenius.nyc               347-228-0180 New York, NY-- Today, Anna Patten debuted her first romance novel, The Find Of Her Life. The book, currently available on Amazon, is the perfect mixture of love, lust, and a life recreated. "This book was ten years in the making, I'm so excited for readers to dive into the book and fall in love with the characters just as I did," said author, Anna Patten. "Between the passion, the mystery, and the erotic ending, I know the audience will be hooked from beginning to end." This is the first book by author, Anna Patten and her writing partner Timothy Lasure. Anna is currently independently working on her next romantic novel with a bit of a historical fiction included. The book is currently available for purchase on Amazon in Kindle and hardcopy form. A hardcopy form of the novel is available to be mailed upon request, a PDF version of the book is available via the link below. "The story shows how even after a great tragedy you can be reborn and find romance.  That we all can persevere and find love even after life hands us a dark moment. I hope the readers enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  You never forget your first,' concluded Patten # # # Anna Patten is an author, a photographer and lover of all things odd. She began her quest to complete her newest novel, The Find of Her Life, nearly ten years ago. A writer since childhood, Anna now fuels her passion for writing into sexy and romantic novels.  Anna currently lives in upstate New York. Copyright © *2016* *Artfully Odd*, All rights reserved. *Anna Patten* *The Find Of Her Life|* Our mailing address is: giana@evilgenius.nyc Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list End

One Sheet Press for the Book

One sheet preview!
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Imagine my surprise, when after years of toiling in the publishing world, a wonderful house took me in and said, "Yes, we believe in you! Yes, we like your book!" It was novel day, (see what I did there? lol)  that had me doing back flips down the hall of my apartment. Ok, not actually doing back flips...those that know my apartment, know that I could never do that in there as the ceiling in my apartment looks like this:

 (It's cozy though) However, this gal was pretty excited to say the least. This is all the culmination of a very long journey. There was blood, sweat and even tears that went into the making of this book. Most of all though, there was determination. If I learned anything at all from this journey, it would be that no matter what...NEVER GIVE UP!!! YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU BELIEVE!!! I think that's the single most thing I am proud of. Not just for me, but I showed the ones I love just how much heart I have. Anyway, that's enough about me, lol. Please check the book out. Read it and give it a review. You will have this gals, undying gratitude foreva!

One more note, let's talk about some fine people  I am blessed to have a wonderful team behind me in both PR and Publishing! THANK YOU to Evil Genius Group and Linkville Press for all the support and hard work and dedication! No matter what my anxiety level has been throughout this whole process,  you have been right there with me. I could not ask for more! Friends, I highly recommend them if you are looking for the services that they provide! Team...You raise me up!

Celbration Day

It's celebration day my friends! That's right, we have our little hats on and the streamers are flying in the Artfully Odd household tonight! It gives me great pleasure to announce that the book is done the right way and live on amazon as I type! I have been doing a happy dance all afternoon! Get the scoop and support your local author :)

A big thanks to everyone who helped us on the road to being published. I know I cried and yelled a lot during editing, (Bettina, you remember that night, lol) but this has been a labor of love! Thank you to all my friends and family that stood by me during this process...even with my ugly cry and all, lol! Thank you to my publisher, Linkville and my editor Amanda for making a gals dream come true and making this book look so beautiful. Thank you to my co author, you helped create a wonderful story foundation that led us to this day! A thousand thank you's from a very happy girl :) I hope you all like it!

With a very grateful heart-
Artfully Odd
Anna

Thoughts to Start a Discussion

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be an artist. How hard it is to get noticed today or grind out a living doing what you love. At times its not an easy thing to do. At times...who am I kidding, most of the time, it's not an easy thing to do. At times, I feel like the girl in Kill Bill just trying to get through it all with one piece of my clothing NOT covered in blood. It's a difficult thing to rationalize when, as an artist, you put so much of yourself into your work. That is nothing new though. Since the dawn of art, artists have put pieces of themselves into their work. Some works we can not bear to part with because of that very fact. So, in all of my rationalizing I have come up with a few thoughts. First, let me preface this by saying that I am not complaining. I enjoy what I do, no matter what and joy is a hard commodity to find these days. I am not about to give that up. I am also not trying to push my thoughts off on anyone else. What I am stating here is true for me and I am hoping that by sharing, I will be starting a dialogue about this topic. My thoughts are this:

You can't get noticed unless you have been noticed. In today's world, no one pays attention to your blood, sweat or tears. No one pays attention to the beauty you put into the world. No, its all about how many followers on social media you have in this cult of celebrity we live in. I have to ask...does that seem right? Is that the natural flow of things? Artists have always struggled, but an artist could still grind out a living. If you don't have a million followers today, there is almost zero chance for you to make it. Its all about the numbers and who you know. If you are like me and know no one....well you are kind of screwed. You can't even get a foot in to a gallery if you don't know anyone and in today's art world of appropriation, that's kind of disheartening.

Not sure what I mean? Well, sometime this fall an artist took other peoples Instagram photos, blew them up hung them in a gallery and sold them for more than 20,000.00 a pop. Because its considered appropriation, it was perfectly acceptable for him to do this. Why should this bother us? Well, because the person who's photo he appropriated is most likely trying their hardest to get into a gallery themselves and because they don't know the right people, they can't get in. But someone who has the right contacts, can basically take their work and get obscene amounts of money for it. Fair? I guess, if you consider it fair every time Lucy pulls the ball away from Charlie Brown and he falls over backwards. Yea, fair.

So, how do we exist today as artists? I am not so naive to think that we can change the system. But maybe there is something we can do about it. Maybe forming our own boards and galleries is a start. Maybe by working together we can get the system to budge just a hair. Maybe, if we supported one another instead of trying to tear each other down, we can do something good. Put something beautiful into the world together.

What I am trying to do here is start a discussion. I want to know how my other artists out there feel. If you feel I am wrong, I want to know. Change my mind if you can. If you agree, then I want to know what you think can be done. Can we budge the system? Lets discuss. Lets educate each other. Let's stand up and do something.

Rant over
Anna
Artfully Odd Photos
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Let's Work Together

Recent Shots

Hello there :) I hope that this finds you all doing quite well and enjoy this lovely spring weather. Everything has started to turn green here and not too soon in my opinion. Even though this past winter was not bad by any stretch of the imagination, I find that I have been antsy for the warmer temps to get here. How I long to wear a tank top and sit outside with my tea. It's the little things, lol. What's the down side to all these nice temps and prettier colors in nature? My allergies, of course! They have been at def-con 11 for days now, but I will take it in exchange for some sunshine. 

A friend of mine said, not to long ago, that she thought it was odd that I had not written anything or, for that matter, picked up my camera in months. Until she said this, I hadn't even noticed to be honest. As I said, this winter was not bad at all, but it had an effect on my. Sort of put me in a malaise state. (No, there were not meat helmets involved or anything shorn, lol) I had been sleepwalking through my life! So, a couple weeks in a row, I made sure that my camera was with me when I went out. I have been snapping whatever catches my interest and I think I have gotten some great shots. I have also noticed my art evolving a bit. Taking on new shape and form. So, in a round about way, I suppose stepping away from it for a bit was not such a bad thing after all.

I hope this spring is treating you well and I hope you are enjoy all it has to offer. Looking to schedule a portrait session? Trying to find new artwork for your wall? Email me for more information on my work, if you are so inclined :) Have a wonderful Sunday my friends and keep me posted on your springtime adventures!

A
Artfully Odd Photos

 NYC 2016

 NYC Met 2016

 NYC 2016

Thought For the Day

I am trying to make it! Trying to change what I can! Never give up!

Oh My Gosh, It's December!

My title says it all really! Where on earth did fall go? Looking back at my posts, I realize that its been some time since I jotted anything down here. I am sorry for that. Fall was a really busy season for us, including our vacation to Niagara Falls. We had such a good time and if you follow me on Facebook, you have seen what a lovely place it is via our photos. However you spent your fall season, I hope it was a good one! Now December is here!!! Can you believe it? We are currently busy getting ready for the holidays. We are looking forward to having a quiet and calm season with our daughter visiting shortly after. I am looking so forward to a calm end to 2015, (It has really been quite a year! The good and the bad.) and all that 2016 has in store for us!

On to artistic endeavors...I have been working on some new photography projects as well as taking on new photo shoots. Its been a lot of fun and I must say, the creativity that I am enjoying has been amazing. I have a new series in the works that I am really excited about! Can't wait to share it all with you. I was lucky enough to have just finish a fantastic shoot with the lovely Kim. She wanted to do something special to honor her family and I think the creative concept we came up with was pretty cool. I am sharing a few shots from the session here and I hope that you like the creativity that went into it. (On and ending note, Kim got permission from the church and the cemetery to be there and shoot photos there. We did this all with respect to her family as well as the other families there.)

Well, that's all for now. I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful week and wish you a lovely weekend!

Artfully Odd
Anna

Just a Thought

We as people, should be lifting each other up, not stepping on each other to get to where we are going. That goes for artists as well. How much better would our world be if what was put out was goodness, compassion, and the like? Just a thought....

Have a wonderful week!
A

Let's Create Something Good

Hello! I hope that this finds you doing well today. So, I am getting ready. For what you ask? Well, I am getting ready to get back into it. Shoots that is :) As some of you know, circumstances beyond my control have kept me from picking up my camera more that I would like as of late. But I am ready now...Ready to get back to the drawing board and plans some amazing things! I will say though, that this time away has given me a chance to hone some of my editing skills. I think I have grown leaps and bounds in that department and I think that my vision for the fantastic has grown with it! As I have learned this past year, it doesn't matter how many times you fall down on your face. The thing that matters is how many times you pick yourself up. How much you fight against the things that try to keep you from your goal. It's not always easy...believe me, I know that. I have lived that. The trick is how you arrive at your destination and how whole you are when you get there. I am happy to say that I did not lose too many pieces of myself on this journey, which is why I am so happy to get back to doing what I love!

So, if you are looking for some portraits, prints or a fantastic fantasy shoot, please contact me! I am always looking for new models to shoot as well. The time has come! Let's create something beautiful!!!

PS- I am also always available for styling. Because of my love of vintage and all things shiny, I have a small, but growing room of stuff to help style a shoot.  Hit me up, you never know what I might have :)
A
Artfully Odd Photography

For Mark

Well hello there. How have you all been since my last entry? Good I hope. Fall arrived here in Upstate quite quickly. To be honest, the changing of the seasons came, literally from one day to the next. I am not complaining though, because I love this time of year! Crisp air and the smell of wood smoke in the air...ah perfection.Our leaves are changing here, but slowly. I hope that in another week or so we have some really good color. Yea, photographers dream! I hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as I am.

On to other things...I was talking with a friend this morning about writing. He heard that writers should write every day no matter what. No matter if its good or not, just get the words flowing. This is true and something I tend to do every day no matter what. My house is littered with little scraps of paper with scribbled words on them, notebooks filled with stories that I write when I have writers block. Sometimes an idea will come to me while I am in the shower and I will have to jot it down as soon as I am out. Like this thought I had today, 'What would a con look like in the 1600's? And if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were really Vampires, would they be a part of it?' You know, something ala Oceans 11 maybe. I jotted it down and it went right on the pile of scribbles. Whoever cleans out my place after I am gone will be in for a treat, lol! Lots of paper, words and library books. Did I mention that I buy old library books? Our library here sells old books, $2.00 for a bag full. I always get my bag full :)

Anyway, on to the writing. Yes, its true...writers write. Sometimes every day. I generally wake up with a mission to create something every day if possible. Photos, Painting, Writing...I try to do something every single day. That's what it's all about, isn't it. There is so much beauty out there in life, in this great big world...I like to contribute to that beauty when I can. No matter if its good or bad. No matter if anyone likes it or not, because that's what its all about. You can choose to be positive and fill your space with words that feed your mind or art even when the world outside is hard. It can be a comfort food for your soul and a soft blanket for your mind. Create my friends and see what beautiful things start to bloom! Feed your soul...

 So Mark, this is what I wrote today. It's rough, bad even, but I find it very funny and funny is good right now!

They Never Call:

Castle

Stone walls

She waits

Endless fields of green

Spread out over the vastness of time

She waits

Line of sight on the blue horizon

No horses today

She waits

Tear stained cheeks

Feelings of love lost

She waits

Years fly past

Time stands still

She waits

The Reaper’s at the door

He knocks with bony knuckles

She’s dead

Death took her in his arms

Her love never called

She waits…………..

No more

Have a wonderful week my friends.

Light & Love~Anna