New release novel: cover reveal, unboxing and book signing

Three author rituals —DONE! — for “The Clerk and the Ink Drinker in the Outer Lands Mission” by N.G. Swett

It surprises me to find that I haven't said much here on this blog about my biggest, longest running project: my novel! I've been working quietly on it for a decade. It's coming out now, ready or not.

You know and I know what authors do when there’s a new book to launch. There are three main rituals:

• the cover reveal

• the unboxing

• the book signing

I performed these virtually and posted the videos (see below).

Thank you to friends and family who helped with the cover design, it made a HUGE difference.

Obsessed! Making art cards

Video | “Floral 1” series art card production start to finish

Bus Excursion

Escape artist | “Summer Waltz” by NG Swett | acrylic painting (& video)

“Summer Waltz” by NG Swett 2024 | 14x11” acrylic on canvas board

I herein reveal…

• what made me want to paint this scene

• what I was trying to express

• how I think it came out

• how I made the video (below)

• and more

Heat wave! It’s been so hot.

As much as one wants to go outside and enjoy the summer, IF it’s cooler inside, then one would like to stay inside.

By looking out the window at the beautiful summer day, one can feel FOMO — the fear of missing out. Summer is here, but it won’t be forever. Summer is the season to recreate, enjoy life, and take it easy. If not now, when??

What made me want to paint this scene

I spotted this lovely scene out the window and I thought I would set up my paints as if I were outside painting, only I would do it inside where it was cooler.

I saw a chance to play around with the indoor and outdoor scenes and have some fun with paints — and my smartphone!

The scene outside the window was so summery, breezy and lovely.

And the scene inside the window was also lovely. A bouquet of flowers that our daughter brought sat on the dining room table near the window. The striped curtains fall around the scene like theater curtains.

But there was also something not so lovely: the feeling of not really wanting to go out into the extreme summer heat, feeling a captive inside the house because of that. Of separation from nature. Of watching and waiting. The emptiness of the lounge chairs on the lawn and the chair at the table…

What I was trying to express

The process of painting the two scenes together in one painting — one a kind of outdoor plein air scene and another as a kind of indoor still life — showed me a few things:

• initially I felt fear and trepidation, which is visible in the video — doubt that I could make a good painting or a good video

• the sense of aliveness in the natural world I try to capture using a dabbed impressionist treatment

• gratitude and appreciation for a longtime home, a place near and dear to my heart and where my family lives, albeit a more staged and less changing indoor setting

• longing, yearning and meaning of empty chairs but also of possibilities

• challenged — demarking the window screen as the focal point, the exact place where indoor and outdoor meet; it picks up sunshine along its thin silvery grid lines

• defiance! The curtains lent themselves to a modernist, expressionist treatment — very satisfying! Like, I could make these curtains more exact or prettier, but I just did ‘em how I felt like doing them

• the lovely flowers, though challenging in their detail, came through best for me using some abstraction

How I think it came out

I mean, I like how the painting and the video came out. Works for me! I always think it’s a miracle when my painting ends up looking like anything at all, let alone forming a complete picture.

I really had fun with the digital and video tools, too.

Here is the video:

How I made the video

Here are some notes about how I made the video:

• I videotaped with my smartphone and a tripod

• I edited the video in Canva

• the waltz soundtracks are all from YouTube’s free audio library (for YouTube use only)

• the scenes of me inside the painting are done with the image of the painting overlaid with a video of me with the background removed

Nan Patience on strike: top 10 reasons why

Click here to download Women’s Strike 2024 image (FREE; public domain)

Perfect for printing on adhesive shipping labels from a thermal printer.

I designed this as a vertical story format size in black & white for thermal printing. You can download this one or make your own!

Hey You, it’s Nan Patience!

A Women’s Strike has been called for June 24th. Tell the others!

Here are my top 10 reasons why I’ll be striking on June 24th, counting down from #10 to #1 on the 4seasonshelf YouTube channel:

Reason #10 : to send a message

Yes, yes, to send a message for sure, but in a mad yet fun way! So clear your calendar and drop everything on June 24th.

Reason #9 : all of our work should count

Women are priceless, yes, and no you can’t put a price on love, but you can put a price on labor in the marketplace. Fun fact: did you know that unpaid women’s work adds over $200,000/year in uncounted value per household? That’s not just women’s math, that’s actual math.

If women didn’t contribute this much unpaid labor, jacking up the economy every day, falsely inflating the official numbers by leaving out the foundation of most families, then what? “Women’s work” is important labor and needs to get more R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Reason #8 : fairness

Women do more than our fair share of emotional labor, caretaking, preserving family legacies, coordination, celebrations, events, upkeep, planning, holding everything, homemaking, and household labor. At one point, it’s ridiculous. Each of us — men, women and children — need to pull our weight in this area.

Reason #7 : women’s health

Women’s health needs attention. Much of medical science and research is based on men’s bodies. Too little is known about why women are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases, cancers, and dementia. In many ways, women are getting poorer quality care than men. Women’s bodies are not well understood to this day in ways that they should be, putting strange ideas into people’s heads. I mean, menopause is an enigma wrapped in a mystery.

Women are in danger due to mass confusion and massive government overreach regarding abortion and contraception, among other gender issues.

Reason #6 : financial insecurity

Motherhood is penalized when it comes to retirement benefits. You’d think mothers didn’t work at all. There may be decades of supposedly being out of the labor force. Solution: credit parenthood generously in Social Security benefits. It’s fair, and it would help families. Start Medicare at 55 for everyone.

Reason #5 : childcare crisis

Quality childcare is unaffordable even if we can find it, putting children in danger and behind academically. Children like to be with other children from a very early age, and they like to play and grow together under the guidance and care of qualified, experienced teachers, nutritionists, and administrators. Children with early education have better outcomes in life.

Reason #4 : school & work schedule craziness

For five days/week, schools let kids out at 3 o’clock and employers let workers out at 5. Not to mention kids get summers off, they get sick sometimes, there are many, many other days and weeks off, and this is all very stressful. Let’s make up our minds.

Reason #3 : unequal pay

Women are still paid less than men in the workforce.

Reason #2 : fear of violence

Violence against women, guns and mass shootings.

Reason #1 : on June 24, 2022 the Supreme Court handed women over to the barbarians and said, do whatever the heck you want.

June 24th is the day the Supreme Court created a second class of citizens for women in America with no sovereignty over our own bodies.

So… I’ll see you out there on June 24th!

~ Nan

* Note: my strike is for women’s solidarity. I’m lucky the men in my life are great, so this is in no way a comment on any of them. Heck, I even dedicated my book of love poems to my husband. Love you!

Stay complicated!