Wistful NA ~ MODEL POSITION & an Attitude of Gratitude

Kitsy Clare on FACEBOOK

A wonderful lady and very talented writer is splatting her signature on the Graffiti Wall! I've shared her work here before, but today I'm helping her celebrate the release of her very first NA title.

*Alleywalkers cheer, toss confetti*

Meet Young Adult and New Adult Author Catherine Stine aka Kitsy Clare. WEBSITE | CS on FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOG

AMAZON | B&N

In Manhattan’s glitzy gallery scene love and art are perilous games. 

Will Sienna dare to play?

All too soon, artist Sienna Karr will graduate art school and be flung out into Manhattan’s glamorous but cutthroat gallery scene. Luckily, she’s just met Dave Hightower, heir to the hippest gallery ever. He’s asked her on a date, and offered to introduce her to the gallery owner, his intimidating Aunt Lydia. Sienna’s excited! Now she’ll be able to climb the ranks and make those all-important art connections.

Trouble is, she’s falling hard for the sexy live drawing model, Erik, whose sizzling green eyes seem to pierce right into her soul. Dare she risk losing those potential art contacts for love? Erik insists that Sienna is a real talent and her painting stands out above all the others. But she worries that he whispers this come-on line to every pretty art student who flocks around him during breaks. And her friends worry, is Erik up to her pay grade? What kind of guy chooses modeling for a living? Who is he, really? Her choice may be her ruin… or not, but she must decide fast. Everything in Sienna’s super-organized life is turning to terrifying yet sweet chaos.

Guest Post:

The Importance of Gratitude

By Catherine Stine, and writing romance as Kitsy Clare

I learned from my first serious career, painting and showing work in galleries, that it’s valuable to acknowledge and celebrate each milestone. God knows, both the business of creating art and writing novels is hard, gut-wrenching work. It means many hours alone in one’s studio, sweating out plot lines or visual compositions.

In the case of the visual artist, he or she has one show a year with a one-month display. Then it’s back to the studio. At least in a writer’s case, a novel plays out in the world for longer. And books are a heckuva lot cheaper than paintings. I laugh when I hear folks grumbling about the high cost of ebooks “$3.99 for a novella, harrumph!” Really? A painting costs upwards of $3,000, and even a fancy pants coffee confection at Starbucks costs more than an ebook. Plus stories are spicier, sweeter, more satisfying—to the body and soul.

I learned from an art critic early on that it was essential to develop leathery skin, iron determination, a compulsion to create and a genuine spirit of gratitude to keep afloat no matter what kind of turmoil swirled around me.

I also discovered it’s good to write a gratitude list, and periodically update it. It’s quite helpful to read the list on those days you’re down and insecure—but also on any day, to celebrate your hard work. Here’s my gratitude list:

Take your writing seriously: I’m grateful I got the confidence to take my writing seriously by getting an MFA in creative writing, where I met a core of fellow aspiring writers who I’m still in touch with, and whose accomplishments I help celebrate.

That first sale: I’m grateful that my MFA thesis was sold and published as my first YA (Refugees).

Side jobs that teach you things: I’m grateful that I got a ghostwriting job that taught me I could plot and write a novel much faster than I thought possible (I wrote VolunteerVets #12/End of the Race in one month!).

How rejection can help push you: I’m grateful that my editor at Random House turned down my next novel because I’d written the teen’s mom as a pot addict (“Why write a mom like that?”) because it made me realize that if that editor didn’t get why, she wasn’t the right editor for me. It also helped compel me to try indie publishing. (Fireseed One and Ruby’s Fire). I still want to publish that novel about the girl whose hippie-come-lately mom is a pot addict!

The community: I’m grateful for the online community—awesome people like you, Sheri—who are talented, savvy and generous to others in the blogosphere!

More about the pool of talent: I’m grateful to the super-accomplished editors, book designers and art directors who I jumped to hire when they became freelancers after the economic collapse (Many got laid off from big pubbers). These folks are now getting tons of work from indies in the publishing revolution! Oh, and there is so much indie editorial talent too!

Grateful for past experiences: I’m grateful that I had exhilarating, frustrating and quirky art experiences to pull for story material in my newest venture, a new adult romance novella, Model Position, set in the Manhattan art world. (Out with Inkspell, under my pen name for romance, Kitsy Clare)

Risk-taking can be valuable: I’m grateful that at heart I’m a risk-taker, that I had the nerve to try my hand at writing romance. I learned that I really enjoy it.

What would you put on your gratitude list?

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