I'm inviting you to a party!

2021 Is Going to Be OK, Because James Herriot is Coming Back to PBS

In case you were just a little apprehensive about what the coming year might have on offer, I am happy to reassure you that we will be OK! How do I know?

All Things Great and Small has been remade and is returning to PBS in January. The preview looks amazing. It's Downton Abbey with farm animals. Or maybe it's Call the Midwife with farm animals. You get the idea. I am BEYOND excited about this.

I recently re-read the James Herriot books, which I'd loved as a child, and I was amazed to see how well they stood up to the test of time. They're even BETTER than I remembered. If you're looking for something lovely and soothing to get you through the dark hours of the night, may I recommend his wonderful books.

You are cordially invited to
my book launch party! Yes, you!

Hey, so I have a book coming out on January 12. It's going to be a weird pub date for me--no book tour, no parties, nothing. So I decided to throw myself a book launch party, and I'm inviting you! 

This really is just a party for you, the people who went to the trouble to sign up for this newsletter and who actually take the time to open it and read it every month. I know many of you personally (Hi Mom!), and I feel like I know all of you.

So. The party's happening on Zoom on Tuesday, January 12 at 5 Pacific, 8 Eastern. Go here to RSVP. 

BYO festive drink. Holiday sweaters optional. At the party, I will show you some pictures from my research and talk a bit about the book, just like I'd do if I was at an actual bookstore only it'll be shorter and I'll be drinking. Then we can talk about the book or anything you'd like to talk about.

This is my first Zoom event on my very own Zoom account (more about that in a minute), and at the moment I'm limited to 100 guests. So please, if you can't make it, cancel your registration so somebody else can join us. And if we are oversubscribed, I will expand my Zoom account and make room for all of you! Be patient with me as I figure this stuff out from the host's side of the screen.

Oh, and there will be party favors! For those of you who show up, I'll gather your addresses and send you a signed bookplate and a bookmark to add to your copy of Dear Miss Kopp...just like I would have if you'd come to my event in person.

Also, I have some (digital) Kopp swag for all of you: On my book club page you can download coloring pages, cocktail recipes, Q&As, paper dolls, so many things, for every book, including the new one...

Speaking of Zoom, I would like your opinion about something.

Zoom events: More fun than 1917 ice cream parties? OK maybe not.

After I heard myself saying, "Well, I don't have my own Zoom account, so let's do this on Skype/Facetime/Google instead" three times this month, I finally realized that it was time to be a grown-up and sign up for a paid Zoom account so that I can do things like host my own book launch parties.

And do you know what happened the minute I signed up for that Zoom account? I had a million fun ideas about what I could do with it!

So I would like your input, because if I do start hosting Zoom events, I will be doing it just for you, the people who read this newsletter. I might open them up to more people later, once I get the hang of it, but you would always get first dibs.

Would you go here to read my ideas and give me your input? These events are going to be totally free and I'm doing them just for you, so I really do want to know what you might be interested in!

This is a very good fancy version of beans and rice

I am so tired of my own cooking and bored from eating at home for a whole year that I have started cooking actual recipes from the New York Times and I'm here to tell you that their Baked Rice with White Beans, Leeks, and Lemon is quite good. If you're the kind of person who really is happy to eat beans and rice for dinner but you'd like to jazz it up a little, this is for you.

Because I can never leave well enough alone, I tweaked it a little:

I already had some brown rice cooked, so I didn't do the part where you cook the rice in the dish. I just added the cooked rice with the beans and a little broth and put it back in the oven for a bit.

I added a bunch of chopped broccoli rabe near the end and that was delicious.

I also added some feta cheese and some capers and a little preserved lemon. I also think olives would be very good in here.
 

Look at this amazing art made from bits of leaves

I feel better just knowing that Hannah Bullen-Ryner is out gathering up things on her walk and leaving wondrous bits of art for someone to find. They're pure magic.

Asked and Answered...

Ask me a question, and if I answer it here, I'll send you the book of your choice! This month's winner is Marilyn from Delaware, Ohio. She asks:

I am newly retired-sort of had to, long story- and I have so many projects I want to do and learn how to do. I was hoping you knew of a good book to help me learn the art of oil painting? Starting from ground zero.

So I'm doing a new thing this month, which is that I'm starting to answer questions on my YouTube channel about both art and writing. You can see all of them here, and you can subscribe so you see new videos when they pop up.

I just realized that (a) I'm spending a lot more time in front of a webcam these days, and (b) people really do ask me a lot of questions, between this newsletter, social media, the odd (sometimes very odd) email here and there...so I thought I'd try this out.

And Marilyn, one thing I will add to my answer in the video: I have finally figured out the equipment I need to be able to teach oil classes online! So stay tuned--that just might be coming in the new year.

Ask a Question, Win a Book

Most of you know the drill by now. Ask me a question and tell me which book you'd like to win. If I pick your question to answer in the next newsletter, I'll send you the book you chose.  Please head over here to enter, and if you've entered before, ask the same question or a different one! I love all your questions and hope to get to all of them eventually. Only 31 people entered last month. Your chances are good!

Here's a nice story for all you Little Free Library owners

A few months ago I did a giveaway just for people who stock a Free Little Library and wow, there were a lot of you! So I thought you might all like to know about this new Read in Color diversity initiative.  As they say, "Less than 25% of children’s books depict non-white characters. We believe everyone should be able to see themselves in the pages of a book."

Many publishers, including mine, will be contributing books to this effort. The new program is only available in the Twin Cities right now, but it'll be coming to more cities soon, and they would be happy to have your donations to keep growing the program.

New Art in My Shop

Yeah, so last month I shared new paintings of Paris and New York and this month I'm sharing new paintings of...Paris and New York. This is turning into a trend. Feel free to stop by my little art shop anytime and have a poke around. You can always see new stuff on Instagram, too.

Book Club Chats and Virtual Events:
No Zoom? No Problem!

As you are by now quite well aware, I have my own damn Zoom account now, so if your book club would like to have a chat about one of my books, but nobody has a Zoom account...we can host it on my account. I'm always happy to do an online chat with a book club, and these days I'm also doing actual presentations, like the sort of thing I used to do on the road in the Before Times. So if you run a lecture series or any sort of event series and you need a virtual speaker, you can go here to see four types of virtual events I'm doing now. Feel free to pass this on if you know someone who's putting on these types of events right now.

Here's a Ridiculously Festive Holiday Cocktail For You

yes, I picked this cocktail because I thought it would be fun to draw!

Why have a subdued holiday cocktail when you can go completely over the top with this gorgeous red and green creature? I know you might be spending your holidays alone. Me too. But maybe you have some friends around town and you can mix up a batch of these and pour them into Mason jars and drop them on some front porches. Fun, right? Sort of?

This recipe makes about a dozen servings. It comes from The Spruce, but I disagree with a couple of their decisions, so here it is with my modifications and commentary:

Holiday Sangria

2 to 3 pears, sliced thin
Juice of 1 lemon (must be fresh-squeezed!)
2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup pomegranate arils (those are the little fruits inside the fruit. You can buy these pre-peeled)
1 (750-mL) bottle dry white wine
1/2 cup pear brandy (This means brandy made from pears, not pear-flavored brandy. If you don't have it, just use whatever brandy you have. Or vodka. You could totally use vodka.)
1/2 cup white cranberry juice
12 ounces ginger beer (Not ginger ale!)
Rosemary sprigs for garnish

Combine everything except the ginger beer and rosemary in a pitcher. Put it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

When you're ready to serve it, add ginger beer to taste. Divide it into glasses (or Mason jars) and add a rosemary sprig for garnish

 

Speaking of cocktails, this DIY printmaking technique works for cocktails, cats, Christmas trees...

When I was in Pittsburgh last year at the Andy Warhol Museum, I learned about this totally charming DIY ink transfer technique he used to make images of shoes and cats and other crazy things. About a year later, I learned that Paul Klee used to do something similar with oil paint. 

Both of these techniques are like a homemade, very handmade version of printmaking, except you don't need a printing press--you just need a few basic art supplies.

And because you trace with this method, no drawing skills are required!

So here's my class on Udemy about making cocktail prints, and then painting them with very loose, lively watercolor, using Andy Warhol and Paul Klee's methods.

But you don't have to make cocktails! You could make little prints of your cat. Or your shoes. Or a Christmas tree. Anything you like! It's so easy to make multiples of these, which means you can work in a series, try out different approaches, and give the results away as greeting cards, party invitations (remember parties?), or just hang them on the wall as a set.

And here's another drink-sketching class

Also, my class on sketching food and drink is now available on both platforms. So if you're not interested in the whole DIY printmaking thing, you can always do it the old-fashioned way, with pencil and watercolor.

What Are You Reading?

I'm sorry to say that I did not love Tana French's new one as much as I love her others. Why on earth would she import a protagonist from Chicago, when we read these novels for their authentic Dublin Irishness? I mean, if you're a Tana French fan like I am, you'll be happy to have this one to read, and certainly the critics all think it's her best yet, but it wasn't my favorite.