Paerback is Back!

Hello there! I hope this finds you doing well today and excited that spring is just around the corner. I know I am! Not that this winter was a bad one, but I have to be honest...I have been dreaming of summer for weeks now. I miss my flip flops. However, we are almost there and that makes me happy. 

On another note, The Find of Her Life is back in paperback after having undergone a formatting overhaul. I have seen an advance of it and I think it looks great! Be sure to get a copy today. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my reviews come back over, once amazon adds it back to my author central page. I would certainly welcome new reviews though, even if you have already given one. Keep me posted on your thoughts on the new format too. Looking forward to hearing from you!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and if you are in the path of this nor'easter coming, be safe out there.

Anna
Artfully Odd World

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!***

From Our House to Yours~Happy Holidays!

Boy, this year flew by! I can't believe that 2018 is around the corner. The holidays are here again, and for us this season, it's all about family and love! I certainly am blessed with mine! So from our house to yours, we wish you a very happy holiday season, blessings and a healthy new year! Here's to 2018! May it bring wonderful experiences and things to us all! Jingle-Jingle!

(Patten-Gemberling family photo shoot 2017/ArtfullyOddPhotos (C))

Sorry for the Absence

Thank you for being patient with me these past months. I am trying to locate my mojo...it's around here somewhere, lol and I think I know where to look. Sunday begins a new chapter. More to follow!

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

Lost Files-Words & Things

I am always scribbling on paper. I have reams of it all over the house. There are notebooks in a bin by my desk that I write in. When I am gone, someone, (Maddy) will go through all of it and think...what the heck? She was the pack rat of paper, lol! Today, as I was looking for one said notebook, I stumbled onto a poem I had started last year sometime...I think, lol. I never date these things, but none the less, there it was.

Who would have thought? Well, actually, I would have because you never know with me. As I said, always scribbling. So, in the spirit of this new moon and retrograde period...in the spirit of trying new things and opening ourselves up to all the universe has to offer, I am going to share what there is of these scribbles on paper. It has  no title, no form really. Just some ideas that I must have jotted down in between edits this past winter. I have noticed though, after reading this, that I usually write about one thing, lol and it's like this. A working title would be good though....

She walks those darkened hallways

Alone

Barefoot

Red is what she sees the most

It is warm and wet and envelopes her like the embrace of  a lost love

Wet, she feels it on the tips of her toes

The hem of her skirt

Red, like the color of love and life and the blood that she tastes

Wet, with the possibility of a future she could not even imagine

Blood in the silence of cast shadows

She dreams

Red

Wet

Open to the universe

Hmmmm....Definitely needs a title! Need to file this under my Words and Things category and the Lost Files. It's nice to find surprises while flipping through my notebooks. That's probably why I am a serial scribbler. I will be jotting down some more lines to this I hope. Perhaps then I will share how it has turned out. Anyway, I hope that the day has treated you well my friends. Here's to being open to all of this wonderful creativity in this retrograde period! What has been keeping you busy? How are you using this energy?

Have a great evening!

Anna

AO 

1 Snap for 30

Welcome to the 1st of September! As promised, today starts my 30 snaps for 30 challenge. Today finds me running errands. I know, boring right? It must be done though as we have family coming into town tomorrow. So I thought this a fitting that this be my first snap for thirty. Now you all know what kind of car I drive, lol. I hope I have had some takers on this challenge. I am going to use the tag 30snaps and 1snapfor30, feel free to use them too.

Have a great day my friends! Let's see where our eye leads us :)

Anna
Artfully Odd