MK forum

I was very fortunate to receive an email last week from Iwillflyagain, which kindly had some artwork attached.

I was staggered at how good this art was and we have been discussing since how it would be best to publish this work, with possibly some of Iwillflyagain's excellent poetry.

As most of you know, I'm stuck in a little country, where the whole population could be stuck into New York a couple of times over and still have plenty of room, so there is little market down here for specialised art forms. However the U.S. is of course a much bigger scene and I'm scratching my head to give competent advice on how to approach it.

Does anyone have any contacts or useful advise? I've suggested contacting Paul Young and/or his agent, as he is a fellow MK. I know from personal experience what it is like to be a writer and trying to get established and the disappointments of those rejection letters and people who take what you write and disappear with it for their own use and I'd hate to see this happen to someone just starting out. I've derived enormous pleasure from writing for radio, medical journals and other media outlets, but my talent is humbly woeful when compared to the artwork I saw last week.

So what say thee good fellow Fanda Eagles, any bright ideas or contacts?

Yes, iwillflyagain's artwork is incredibly beautiful and impressive.

I am a big admirer .... but not a good source of the type of idea you are asking for.

Me neither...but I would love to see it getting published!

You are all sooo kind. My heart says "thank you" to all of you for your support. I'm so glad to be able to call you my friends. I really appreciate each of you very much. It seems that needless pain has brought us together, but it has also blessed us with each other. I feel blessed!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Bemused!

You are more than welcome. You have a very special talent and if it is your hearts desire to share this with others, I think the least we can do is support you and put our collective brains together and see what we come up with.
I get quite a few messages from people who really get a laugh and have their day made brighter by the poetic exchanges we have on your other thread POEMS in "PURPLE"....are what I have to say!. But look how many others contribute, who thought they could never write poetry or humour, and look how fast that thread is growing.

Alas your artwork is unseen by most of us, because of the confines of the structure of this forum, but it is truly amazing. None of this modern art rubbish, pure good skilled brushwork.

So here we are two writers who can make people laugh and respond with our crazy stanzas about purple tutus, flying birds, non flying birds, e.t.c. and sometimes we write serious poetry. But only one of us can paint, at it ain't me. We've done well in our little niche of purple patch on Fanda Eagles, but imagine what you can achieve on a world stage, if you can find the outlet that such a talent needs.

The person who will crack this is you of course. But we can cheer you on and we can throw ideas into the pot for you to think over.
And we can be here for you when you get those rejection letters, because you will, I have had them. But it only takes one person who can see the potential you have and take you with it to where you are now only dreaming of.
It happened for me with my medical childrens stories and then my radio comedy slot. It can happen for you, because you have an extraordinary talent.

Firstly believe in yourself. Secondly decide which market you are most interested in reaching (be prepared to change, I wrote kids stories that ended up in a medical journal that few kids ever read, but their parents did) and which genre you are hoping to use (you can write as well as paint, so you have two options, combining both sticking to just one).

One thing you might consider, is to only show publishers, marketers or agents a selection of your work, with the clear message that there is far more in your portfolio. This makes them keen to see more and you then call some of the shots.

We publish "publish on demand" as it is the cheapest way to go. I am not in the know as to the procedure but you only publish whatever you want at the time. If this is new to you or of interest I will ask my husband the details. Full stop.

Oops that was supposed to be a personal message. Sorry.

So that let the cat out of the bag re Crossview.