Happy New Year - reflecting on 2006
Well, it’s 2007 and my website http://www.donnawilliams.net just got a little facelift. The mystery of the cost of my original paintings is finally revealed to all and sundry (ooo feels like I caught a bus in my underwear really) and, of course, it’s looking like a good percentage of my original paintings have been sold so I’m buzzing about, paint brush in hand, doing what I adore - ARTing.
This arting means more paintings, hopefully some new sculptures, hoping to do CD number 3 this year.
Have written 6 screenplays so far and gone through character withdrawal (avid novel readers and actors will know what I mean) as my ‘friends’ disappeared with the last word typed.
In 2006 Chris and I flew to LA to meet Beverly Nero, the producer of my first screenplay, Nobody Nowhere. Bev was fab, a great host and we had a lovely time.
We went with Bev to meet an executive producer and an award winning director interested in the project and they were lovely down to earth people and I felt excited at the idea of working with such a Donna-friendly team. I look forward to the progress of the film in 2007 as we move into ‘development’.
None of these talented Hollywood veterans were at all part of the scary strutting, posturing seemingly flawless (that IS their flaw) Barbie world we’d seen in our LA airport hotel.
These models, the stuff of some mind-numbing US daytime soaps, actually dress to the nines, stilettos and all, for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and they walk to the cornflakes just like they’re on a catwalk. They even to the little turn and hair toss thingy before coming away with their bowl of cereal… as if ‘you never know when you might be seen‘.
My relative, ‘not bad for 43‘, prettiness paled into plainness and was sharply in overdrive on its way to comparitive ugliness before I slapped myself sharply round the attitude and said, ‘get that media-driven indoctrination out of your otherwise sensible mind RIGHT NOW’. Then, like a spell cast by Glinda the good witch, just in the nick of time, the subliminals of a million anorexic airbrushed magazine covers and TV advertisements were whisked away in that quick self affirmation chant. I breathed a sigh of relief as Barbie moved the combined strutting product of her image consultant past my breakfast table and beyond, into the forgotten never never ‘over there‘.
Back from Hollywood, I got into editing fiction novel number 1, Diamonds In The Mud, and hoping to publish it and write number 2 by later this year.
I have a number of international tours already booked covering Japan, Singapore, UK and US so far.
Have expanded the consultancy pages to explain more about how I work.
Given that I cope with managed mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders I’m being creative enough to keep myself well distracted from my own chaos but for when I stop for lunch and have to do something really useful like prepare food and eat it.
It’s been suggested I don an apron and treat lunch as an artistic endeavor. I’m going to give that a try. Perhaps if I’m wearing an apron I’ll remember I was cooking once I’m distracted anywhere, everywhere out into the never never paint brush in one hand, keyboard in the other.
Auties.org has also had a wonderful revamp at http://www.auties.org . In addition to listings of goods, skills and services, we have facilities for people to seek work partners, to seek autism friendly employment, to join or form autism friendly dinner clubs and activity groups and people continue to take up this free service (sure, we pay for the hosting but we did have a generous donation to the running of the site which has partly paid our running costs for the year - thanks so much).
Well, that’s my little update for the start of 2007.
Happy New Year everyone.
