How you holding up?

I can't leave the house, which is only a little different from when I just didn't leave the house.

How's everybody holding up? This is a small newsletter that goes to a small number of people, and some of you hit reply and email me directly, and we end up having nice conversations by email. Lots of you come out and say hi to me when I'm traveling the country.

So I feel like I know you-I mean, I do know a lot of you-and I think about you and wonder if you're OK, in your part of the country, and whether you've watched all of Netflix yet, and if you're trying to assume the role of schoolteacher without drinking on the job, which I'm pretty sure teachers are not allowed to do.

I hope you and yours are well and safe. I'm thinking about you.

I'm hunkered down here in Portland. I can't complain. Our supply of toilet paper is a bit precarious, but we've managed to order some kind of weird enormous industrial rolls online, which won't fit our TP holder and will no doubt last us years once they do arrive sometime in late April. Fortunately, my next door neighbors turn out to be notorious TP hoarders, and they have assured us that they have squares to spare.

Other than that, I'm working on revisions to book #7, which will be out in fall 2021, and I'm frantically trying to reschedule a bunch of spring events to fall 2020, when I hope we will be out in public again. (The sixth Kopp novel, Dear Miss Kopp, is still on schedule for a September 1 publication date.)

My friends and family are well, and that's all that really matters. I fervently hope the same for you.

I'm keeping a coronavirus sketchbook

That sounded weird. It's not a sketchbook of the virus, you understand, but of my world during the shutdown. Now that I've spent all this time researching the lives of people who lived 100 years ago, I'm more aware than ever of the value of written (like, written on paper) letters, diaries, scrapbooks, and sketchbooks.

Just like I take a sketchbook when I travel so that I can remember the trip, I'm keeping a sketchbook of this moment in time. It'll be a mixture of collage, paint, drawing, writing...whatever I want to put down, to make a record of this moment that historians will surely study 100 years from now.

My husband and I even interviewed each other about how we felt about where things are and where they're going. (I'm not sharing that page, but it's in the book!) Whether our predictions turn out to be accurate or not, it'll be interesting to look back and see what our perspective was at the time.

I'll post some of the pages on Instagram as I go.

I just signed up for this free online class

I thought I might like to do something different in my new sketchbook--something more abstract, more collage-based, so I signed up for this free online class with Laura Horn. I think her work is really charming and lovely. Maybe you'd like to take it with me.

Oh, and if you're stuck inside without art supplies, remember that the big art supply companies are still shipping, and they're fast and helpful! The places I order from include:

Dick Blick

Jerry's Artarama

Cheap Joe's

These are good, reputable companies that I've ordered from many times. Also, don't forget your local art supply store, which might be offering curbside pickup or local delivery/shipping.

Also, I made an art class

Hey look, I'm teaching another art class! This one involves ink, tracing paper, and watercolor. It's very simple and fun and it doesn't just work for drawing cocktails--Andy Warhol used it to make pictures of shoes and cats.

Go here to see the class on Skillshare. This link gives you 2 months free access to all the courses they offer. It's a good time to try something new. They have loads of classes on art, cooking, writing...just about anything that can be taught online.

Here's a Way to Help Out Your Local Indie Art House Cinema

Have you heard about this thing called Virtual Cinema? It's a way for you to watch new indie/art house films from home, while supporting your local movie theater. Just click the Virtual Cinema buttons by each film, and you'll see a list of which theaters can benefit when you stream the film. I'm supporting my wonderful local theater, Cinema 21. They're just a couple blocks away, they serve great local beers, and my life is infinitely better because I get to go see wonderful films there. 

Asked and Answered...

Ask me a question and win the book of your choice! This month's winner is Sarah from Byron Center, MI

Sarah asks: Are you going to do a museum exhibit on any of your other books? I really enjoyed the Wicked Plants  Exhibit.

For those of you who haven't seen it, there is a traveling exhibit based on my book Wicked Plants. Go to that link and you can see a video of me talking about the exhibit. The exhibit travels to science museums around the country, and I get to go see it and give a talk everywhere it goes.

After Wicked Plants came out, a few botanical gardens made their own exhibits based on plants in their collections. Here's a video of a much younger version of me talking about the San Francisco Conservatory of Flower's exhibit.

But then the North Carolina Arboretum contacted me because they wanted to build an exhibit that could travel the country an did not depend on living plants in order to work. I was thrilled and gave them my blessing, but honestly, I didn't have much more to do with the making of the exhibit.

Museum exhibits like this (I have now learned) cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, to build, so it's actually a business venture, even if it's undertaken by a nonprofit like North Carolina Arboretum. Museums pay a rental fee to host the exhibit and that's how they get their money back on the deal.

This is all a long way of saying that I would love to see more traveling exhibits about my books, but it takes someone with more resources and expertise than me to make it happen! If anyone wants to build a traveling Kopp Sisters exhibit, perhaps with an animatronic talking Constance, I am here for that!

Ask a Question & Win a Book!

 Please go here to ask me a question and pick your prize. Even if you've entered before, please feel free to enter again and ask the same question or a different one. Only 9 people entered last month!. You have a very good chance of winning! 

No tour dates at the moment. Wanna get together on Facebook Live or Skype instead?

Right now all my events are on hold. But please know that if you'd like to do an online chat, we can make that happen! You don't have to be part of an official book club--just get a group of friends together. 

 

I'm doing a Facebook Live event with Reading Group Choices on Thursday, April 2 and I'd love for you to join me. All the details are here.

Or we can create a private Facebook group with just you and your friends, and do a Facebook Live chat inside that group.

Or we can do a group video chat on Skype. Or Zoom or whatever.

We can talk about books or art or whatever you like.

Just hit reply to this email and let me know if you want to set something up.

By the way, every author in the world is dying to sit in front of their computer and talk to readers right now, so this is the time to reach out to them! 

Also, stay tuned to my Facebook page, where I will probably announce more pre-scheduled Facebook Live events going forward.

Instead of a book recommendation...

Okay, this is a bit of a cop-out because I'm in a reading rut and have not really enjoyed the books I've been reading lately. But let me tell you, bookstores are in a crisis right now. Like all small businesses, bookstores operate with only a week or two's worth of expenses in the bank at any given time. When they had to shut down, many of them faced bills 3-4 times in excess of their cash on hand. They can't pay those bills, much less ongoing expenses like rent, utilities, payroll, insurance, etc.  And to re-open, with a full staff and fresh shipments of new books on shelves, will cost a fortune.

I don't think most people realize what a dire situation this is. 

If your local bookstore is offering curbside pickup or local delivery, please buy something from them. I can guarantee you that many of your favorite small business won't come back unless you can support them right now. I'm buying gift certificates, ordering delivery, whatever I can do.

Otherwise, please consider ordering (now and forever) from Bookshop.org. (this link takes you  to a page I made with my books and some feel-good novels that are light, entertaining, or perhaps mildly suspenseful but not too distressing) The proceeds go to independent bookstores, and they ship quickly and reliably from major book distributors.

What are you reading? Tell me about it on Goodreads or Litsy.