In the past month, I’ve had a lot of changes–good changes (for a change). I have been able to cut my hours at work to part-time, and I’ve spent my time writing and preparing for the baby (due in November). Long story short, I’ve been working on some art projects at night after writing during the day. It has given me something to do beside just let the television roll and in a sense, because it activates different parts of my brain, I can do it even after I have been writing all day.

Part of my motivation, aside from needing an outlet that doesn’t involve wrestling with words, is making sure I can continue to go to conventions and promote my books after the baby is born. Conventions are much more expensive for authors than people realize. We have to pay for our own travel, lodging, and food, and we only make a small amount of profit from our books–especially those of us who are traditionally published instead of self published. I purchase my books for the same price from my publishers as Barnes & Noble and other bookstores do, and therefore my profit margins are slim. Having something else to sell at my table at conventions will help cover the costs of the convention, and I believe that convention attendance is vital to book sales.

I’m working on some mixed media/collage/decoupage art, and I want to focus on doing about six series a year. My first series is dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe. Each collage features the silhouette of a raven and different symbols of some of Poe’s most famous stories and poems. (The picture up top is obviously dedicated to the poem, “Annabel Lee.” I plan to do similar designs in watercolors as well.

The good news: I already have some of my work featured in IONS: A Geek Gallery in Memphis, TN, and my work is actually selling! (I’ll blog about that on Monday. Meanwhile, you can check out the online catalogue they have for my work by clicking here: They had to rush to get over 600 works up online, so the pictures aren’t as intricate as they could be, but I will put better pictures on my website Monday.)

Meanwhile, please check out my new Etsy store, MBWestonConcepts. I will eventually catalogue everything I have in the store here on the website, but I wanted to let everyone know that it’s out there. If you love literature and Poe (and of course, ravens), you might find something that you like.

And stay tuned to the website because my next series will focus on steampunk!