When The Author's Away, The Mice Will Play

So on September 21, I recapped my my 2021 At-Home Writing Retreat Number One and promised to show you how Uncle Barty and Bertrand the Mouse spent the week when my mind was in Munsonville working on Call of the Siren.

Here, finally, is that long-awaited post showing some highlights of their week. 

Uncle Barty introduced the newly regenerated Bertrand to his mission in life - to share the joys of reading with children.

And that mission was much bigger than Bertrand had imagined. He can't wait to make his own Bertrand books and continue the legacy. 

In the meantime, Uncle Barty took the time to read the current books to young Bertrand.

Uncle Barty and Bertrand also visited some of their mouse friends.

And they hung out with two other BryonySeries characters: Larry the Llama and Snowbell.

They explored high places.

And they explored basement places.

They raided the refrigerator.

They raided the pantry.

And they raided the cat food.

This made Faith very unhappy.

But they did find her later to apologize, and Faith forgave them.

And they had a great time playing King of the Mountain together.

That tired out the two mice...

...and the cat. 

But it wasn't all fun and games because...

...Uncle Barty made certain Bertand wouldn't fall behind in his lessons.

For more antics of Uncle Barty and Bertrand the Mouse, follow Bertrand's Instagram page.

For more information about the BryonySeries (including where to buy Bertrand's books, visit bryonyseries.com. 

Or check out Bertrand's books on Amazon.

The Artwork in my Room

Ever since we moved again last October, I've had room to hang some of my artwork.

And during the last few weeks, Timothy has been gradually hanging it for me. Here's what's up so far.

Directly above my desk are all five frontispieces Christopher Gleason created for Before the Blood and the view of Main Street as one enters Munsonville, which was created by Jasmine's sister,w hom I only know as Jenni.

Lake Munson is a fictitious lake in Munsonville in the BryonySeries. it's show to the right of Main Street in the center photo.

This is my miscellaneous BryonySeries all to my left. At the top left is a promo print my mother framed for events after we released the first book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series.

Going clockwise, Sue Midlock, the artist for the Cornell Dyer series, gave me this found piece of art because she thought it looked very "Bryony."

Beneath that, is a concept piece for Visage that Christopher Gleason created as a gift. We actually used it as a cover for a special holiday edition of Visage when Matt Coundiff had back surgery and couldn't finish the artwork in time.

Finally, the last piece Cindy created "with" Bertrand the Mouse in honor of last year's birthday. Below this photo is a close-up of the note Cindy helped Bertrand to write.

This is a copy of "Lake Munson," which hangs directly over my large closet, which I can see to my left when lying in bed reading.

This painting and the one below this one were Christmas gifts from Timothy

This last copy of "Lake Munson" is very heavy and won't stay hung because it's heavy and because this wall actually has brick behind it. So for now, it's just sitting on my grandmother's old dresser.

The painting to the right is from my "paint afternoon" with Rebekah. The candle stand on the blue jar is from Lucas.

The photo bomb at the far left is Larry the Llama from the Adventures of Cornell Dyer series. Because that's, well, Larry, and he wants you to know it. Rebekah actually brought him home for me earlier this year.