But about a year ago, sitting with some great people I realized that times had changed and we could build this dream ourselves.

So… Check it out! 9inspired is an idea that will hopefully entertain and inspire.

We’ve got a Quiz App called Quizzes 4 Life (and Quizzes 4 Love is coming soon).

Quizzes 4 Life Quiz App

Feng Shui

We’ve got TWO books and Apple has named BOTH as “New & Notable from the Apple iBookstore in the categories of Health, Mind & Body; Children & Teens; and Non-Fiction!  ”Your Official Guide to Fabulousness – Feng Shui Secrets” & “Feng Shui Diaries Volume 1: Ruby.”

Please check them out & if you can, pick them up!

For me, this is a nice nod to the patience that some ideas need – for the right time and the right people to come along.

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What a journey. We dreamed up a concept, committed to complete it, shut down the TV (like cancelled that distraction), and bit by bit, took many, many moons to complete this personal project on our own time.

And today the Canadian Apple iBookstore posted it on their “New & Notable” Children’s section!

If you can, we’d appreciate if you check it out at fieldguidetofarts.com – download and review.

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In recognizing them, I revel in them. Feel grateful for them. Some are fleeting – but maybe that makes them all the more fragile & beautiful.

Concept.

There  is a magic in dreaming where all possibilities are still endless. Before the point of locking anything down tight. I’m at that point with this project (with Neil). Possibilities are big. (Also, for this one I was experimenting with hiding fake espionage messages in fake newspaper want ads, so THAT’s cool.)

(Neil Hooson – illustration)

Collaboration.

The moments when your team is in sync and everyone’s rallied and passionate about an idea and you just KNOW that when creation begins it’s going to make your heart pound. I’m at the point with this project – SUPER fun to work with like-minded creatives on something really unique. Check more of it at www.facebook.com/9inspired Jay, Kelly, Neil

Rework.

I know this isn’t everyone’s fave. But there is something very beautiful about editing. Cutting. Chopping. Honing. Paring ideas. Simplification. Because when it’s done and feels how you wanted it to feel, there’s nothing like it. I won’t show you this one cuz it doesn’t look the least bit sexy. I’ve got a BUNCH of this going on in numerous xl docs… writers have to do that bit, too.

Out in the Ether.

By far, the thing that keeps my creative self alive is having a project out floating – where someone’s looking, considering, that time when you’re not sure where it could land, but everything is possible. It’s a feeling of anticipation and nervousness and hope. We (with Neil Hooson, illustrator on both below) have a couple of these kinds of projects out in the universe at the moment.

What are your favorite creative moments?

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I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

I love that string of words. Sometimes it runs through my head, unexpected, when I need it to. So simple. Full of conviction.

Hope is an art.

Sometimes, from nothing, the act of conjuring the sparks of dreams and nurturing the fragile enchantment of blind optimism – even in the face of darkness – is a creative endeavor. I strive to perfect this art. I will always.

Ezra & Ella

From a recent project with Neil is this quiet hero, Ezra, who embarks on an unexpected journey. I have hope for it.

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Sometimes it’s so slow. Exhausting. You want to resist it. But you can’t because there’s something about the idea and you won’t let go. Compulsion. Obsession, even. Edits become hours and days and years. Like four years. Like tens of thousands of words chopped and then rewritten. And then again. Finally too dusty, damaged, deformed. So you left it all in a disgusted sigh in the hat box you bought after you printed out the very first draft. Even the hat box won’t close now, warped with all that’s happened over the last years. You’ve even bruised your leg on it. Tripped over it. But you refused to throw it away.

Sometimes it’s impulsive. Sharp and toxic. Shards of bitter, stinging, ugly. The words must be floating nearby. You’ve always told yourself that. There are infinite words to grab. At your disposal. INFINITE. Alas, they eluded your grasp – taunting and spiteful – and when you finally reached the end of that thin line of sanity the laptop slammed shut so hard that the cold coffee (mostly untouched because it was the morning’s fifth) bled out onto the steel table. And then, ashamed, those words were hidden. Buried in the unnamed folder with draft emails you never sent and that photo on the beach you always hated.

But sometimes…

Out of the blue. Beautiful.

Something unexpected.

New collaboration. Ideas.

New platforms.

New brains & heart.

Brilliance and sparks.

Suddenly it’s fresh and exciting and something works that never ever did before. And then you feel so very grateful for the death. Because without it, this new thing could not have been born at all.

The post Sometimes… appeared first on Deanna Kent-McDonald.

It is my experience that the best creations come from collaboration. And when really good collaboration happens, sometimes things get messy. Despite my love of more technical solutions, sometimes it’s best just to dig in the dirt… messy whiteboards for concept brainstorms, a messy desk cluttered with post-it notes. And here, even my kitchen table is quite a disaster – an ode to a first-ever attempt at a picture book dummy with the illustrator.

We literally took concept drawings, words, and then used scissors and tape (plus quite a lot of coffee) to try and get things just right.

explorers...

a rare purple bee...

And the beautiful mess isn’t limited to the physical. There’s an enormous challenge in negotiating which words get hacked, which illustrations get embellished, what’s the best order and placement for pacing… all of it simply trying to create the very best user experience. A picture book has many eyes to get through even before it can ever hope to find its way in front of a child.

I’ll let you know how this particular mess looks later on. We hope to submit this work sometime in the New Year.

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Below is a first pass at color palette on some characters Neil and I have just started concepting as we embark on the beginning of what we hope to be our very first graphic novel…

Can’t say much yet – Can you guess which character is the vegan? Who’s the con artist?

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• I am not naturally a runner. (Like I’d hoped.)
• I am slowing getting better. (I don’t have to run in the dark of the morning anymore for fear of ridicule.)
• I will continue until I can do 5 km and not want to die.

There are really, really great Apps for this kind of self torture. I like the Nike one – with limited functions (I still don’t get how anyone would want to “publish results to Facebook and Twitter”) plus I can run it with two other Apps I like (I know. nerd-o-rama).

But the COOLEST thing about learning to run is that I’m going to one day be able to do a triathlon with my offspring. Both of them are triathletes. My oldest since he was five. And my youngest did his first one last year and was a bit hooked after he felt the shiny medal around his neck.

They inspire me.

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The other one, perhaps not SOOO educational, but absolutely hilarious: Dav Pilkey’s The Adventures of Ook and Gluk – Cave Men From the Future.

It’s important to be diverse with your lit… don’t you think?

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I’ve been reading some of the psychological side effects of clutter – Psychology Today says it’s hard on the brain. So it’s especially important to clear out your space if there are kids around. For me, it’s enough of a challenge to maintain positive order and focus on life’s good stuff if the path is clear…

This weekend we re-scrubbed the house, organized all the Lego, got things set up for less-stress winter gear, and then there was time for the good stuff & fun one gets to have when it all feels simple again.

Speaking of good stuff:

the gingerbread lattes this season are especially decadent…

a fun little app called Cut the Rope…

long lashes for Christmas Party glam…

a sister who helps shop for new jeans (thanks, my fabulous sister)…

and most importantly, an enchanted hearts-in-morning-coffee collection continues…

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