Blog

Last Saturday at the NYS Writers Institute Book Festival, I basked in the glow of recognition as I networked between workshop sessions. Paul Grondahl, Director of the Institute, welcomed me warmly and introduced me to others as an artist who had shown my paintings at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. I thanked Paul for his 2019 Albany Times Union article about my paintings, which opened the door to other opportunities, including the chance to show them at the Museum at Bethel Woods, where two of them are on display through December.

I told people I was working on a memoir, and Michael Huber of the Institute, said I should title it “Jimi Hendrix Bought Me a Screwdriver.” That’s a true story you can find on my old website, www.creativecrone.net, but actually my memoir has the working title Crone: A Hot Summer Memoir. It covers the three months from the summer solstice until the first day of autumn, with flashbacks to assorted memories, including that unforgettable meeting with Jimi in a small club in Greenwich Village. He asked for my phone number and promised to come down to my SoHo loft to see my paintings, but alas, he never called. As a groupie, I was a miserable failure---not nearly aggressive enough.

Now, post-equinox, as we begin the depressing descent into darkness, I vow to be more  aggressive in my pursuit of fame and fortune. I turned 82 in July. I’m in reasonably good health, but who knows how many years I have left? Several years ago, I came close to death after falling and striking my head on a bluestone paver in my garden after one too many gin and tonics. That near-death experience inspired me to begin a memoir, Subdural. I made good progress until the pandemic struck and I found it too depressing to continue, but I’ll incorporate it in my work-in-progress. That’s on the back burner, though, until I launch my new online course “Happily Ever After: Transforming Your Life Story.” I’ll post more about that in the near future..

This revised website and blog are part of my vow to be more proactive in pursuit of success. I’m living a comfortable life in upstate New York with my husband and my cat Cleopatra, who is doing her best to derail my efforts at typing on my new laptop. (She’s also a skilled and speedy killer of chipmunks and mice, BTW. I captured her on video playing sadistically with a mouse, but it’s a snuff video, too gruesome to post online.)

I’d love to live a more luxurious lifestyle. At my writers’ group last Monday, a woman was describing the marvelous trip she’d had on a Viking cruise to Norway over the summer. I flew into a rage, saying how much I’d like to see Norway, especially since I’m 75% Norwegian and the other 25% Swedish, but that I could never afford a trip like that. Back home, I looked up Viking Cruises and learned a trip like that would cost me $10,000, not including airfare. Cruises have never appealed to me. I grew up in Milwaukee, and the few choppy trips I endured with my parents in ferries crossing Lake Michigan made me horribly seasick. Even so…

I’m meandering, and I apologize, but I’m determined to put myself out there and become more of an online presence. Maybe—perish the thought—even an influencer. But for that, I need your help. Please subscribe by clicking on the button to the right so that you won’t miss any of my posts.

I’ve got lots more news to share. For one thing, I’ve unexpectedly become a playwright, and my short play Hope Dawns Eternal, based on my vampire soap opera of the same name, will be part of a production at the Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock this October. I’ll tell you more about that soon. Please subscribe so you won’t miss that news and more. I promise not to deluge you with emails, but I’d love to welcome you to my online community.

Last Saturday at the NYS Writers Institute Book Festival, I basked in the glow of recognition as I networked between workshop sessions. Paul Grondahl, Director of the Institute, welcomed me warmly and introduced me to others as an artist who had shown my paintings at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. I thanked Paul for his 2019 Albany Times Union article about my paintings, which opened the door to other opportunities, including the chance to show them at the Museum at Bethel Woods, where two of them are on display through December.

I told people I was working on a memoir, and Michael Huber of the Institute, said I should title it “Jimi Hendrix Bought Me a Screwdriver.” That’s a true story you can find on my old website, www.creativecrone.net, but actually my memoir has the working title Crone: A Hot Summer Memoir. It covers the three months from the summer solstice until the first day of autumn, with flashbacks to assorted memories, including that unforgettable meeting with Jimi in a small club in Greenwich Village. He asked for my phone number and promised to come down to my SoHo loft to see my paintings, but alas, he never called. As a groupie, I was a miserable failure---not nearly aggressive enough.

Now, post-equinox, as we begin the depressing descent into darkness, I vow to be more  aggressive in my pursuit of fame and fortune. I turned 82 in July. I’m in reasonably good health, but who knows how many years I have left? Several years ago, I came close to death after falling and striking my head on a bluestone paver in my garden after one too many gin and tonics. That near-death experience inspired me to begin a memoir, Subdural. I made good progress until the pandemic struck and I found it too depressing to continue, but I’ll incorporate it in my work-in-progress. That’s on the back burner, though, until I launch my new online course “Happily Ever After: Transforming Your Life Story.” I’ll post more about that in the near future..

This revised website and blog are part of my vow to be more proactive in pursuit of success. I’m living a comfortable life in upstate New York with my husband and my cat Cleopatra, who is doing her best to derail my efforts at typing on my new laptop. (She’s also a skilled and speedy killer of chipmunks and mice, BTW. I captured her on video playing sadistically with a mouse, but it’s a snuff video, too gruesome to post online.)

I’d love to live a more luxurious lifestyle. At my writers’ group last Monday, a woman was describing the marvelous trip she’d had on a Viking cruise to Norway over the summer. I flew into a rage, saying how much I’d like to see Norway, especially since I’m 75% Norwegian and the other 25% Swedish, but that I could never afford a trip like that. Back home, I looked up Viking Cruises and learned a trip like that would cost me $10,000, not including airfare. Cruises have never appealed to me. I grew up in Milwaukee, and the few choppy trips I endured with my parents in ferries crossing Lake Michigan made me horribly seasick. Even so…

I’m meandering, and I apologize, but I’m determined to put myself out there and become more of an online presence. Maybe—perish the thought—even an influencer. But for that, I need your help. Please subscribe by clicking on the button to the right so that you won’t miss any of my posts.

I’ve got lots more news to share. For one thing, I’ve unexpectedly become a playwright, and my short play Hope Dawns Eternal, based on my vampire soap opera of the same name, will be part of a production at the Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock this October. I’ll tell you more about that soon. Please subscribe so you won’t miss that news and more. I promise not to deluge you with emails, but I’d love to welcome you to my online community.