I'm a writer and an author as you all know, but I'm also an artist who just got back into drawing in pen & ink last September (after not drawing much at all for 18 years) for Art Drop Day. I decided I could handle working on small projects, so mostly limit my work to 5x7 Bristol board. Small drawings. I like animals and birds, so have mostly stuck to drawing them. I don't draw people well at all (but I took a stab at drawing Edgar Allan Poe for this coming Saturday's (Jan 19th) Poe's Birthday Party and Ghost Stories Live! (6PM) readings of Poe's work. I also like landscapes but they often have more detail in them which can fatigue my hand (I have rheumatoid arthritis as well as osteoarthritis. Fatigue is a constant plague, as well as cramping muscles, joint pain, and tendinitis.)
Anyway, Danny Nason discovered that I was the one who drew the black squirrel silhouette that was put on numerous products at Conner's Inc. in 2000-2007 and is still sold online today at theblacksquirrel.com by former Conner's owner George Reichert. I have a variety of The Black Squirrel items around my house from my years of working there including a tote bag I still use for button club meetings. I met with George and we had lunch in early November after my black squirrel prints debuted at PumpkinFest in mid-October. He okayed connecting my BicycleCity Black Squirrels realistic black squirrel art prints with his trademarked The Black Squirrel t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, and other items he sells on the internet. Danny hooked me up with The Republican reporter Hope Tremblay in December. I wasn't able to get to ArtWalk on the 21st of December to meet her when my black squirrel prints were displayed at Rosewood, the former site of Conner's Inc and for sale at Fast Feet a few doors down.
Hope contacted me by Messenger and I sent her my email address so she could send me interview questions to answer. I got the email, answered the questions and emailed them back to her. A couple weeks later, on December 23rd, Hope met me at Blue Umbrella Books where I was attending a book event for Rhonda's new book. Hope snapped some pictures with her cellphone and said she didn't know when the article would appear, to just watch for it.
I didn't think I was that interesting a person. A local murder snagged the headlines early this week. Then, on Wednesday, I was rushing around preparing some things for the Blue Umbrella's Poe's Birthday Party event and Ghost Stories Live! that night. I've been a cast ember of GSL! since October 2016, writing and reading new ghost stories. I happened to walk down the hall and saw the mail truck at the mailbox by the road. The mailman was sitting in the truck writing something. Once he wrote a warning that a dog up the street was jumping at cars and running loose, so I figured he was leaving a note about the dog again.
A short time later I went out to get the mail and fund the note which read, 'Susan, nice article in the paper today. Congrats!' I'd brought the newspaper in earlier after running errands, so hurried back into the house where I found myself pictured on the front page of The Republican Plus. I quickly skimmed through that page, basically noting it was accurate, all except the spelling of my last name which is a common mistake since there are, apparently, Buffams in the hilltowns, but we're Buffums. It said, at the bottom, continued on page 20. I flipped through the pages until I realized page 20 was the back cover page, flipped over to it and found the entire back page was a continuation of the article with additional pictures! It was way more than I had expected it to be! And very well written. I was quoted accurately also.
So, on the way to work, not knowing if my brother and sister would see the article, I stopped by Andy's Variety and purchased the six copies they had left. The woman behind the counter whom I've spoken to when stopping in to pick up a Westfield newspaper or something we need, asked if there was something bad that had happened (I assume she meant a death in the family). I said, "No. I'm in the paper today so want to get some extra copies for family members who don't get the paper." She looked at me, then flipped through the top copy until she found my picture. She said, "Yup, there you are!" She hadn't read the paper yet and seemed disappointed I was buying all they had left. I paid the $6 and went off to work.
Of course my co-workers have been the beneficiaries of many of my books since 2015 and art prints since September 2018. I had to show them the article because I don't think any of them really comprehend that I have another life outside of being a medical secretary. Even one of the doctors I've worked for since 2007 seemed surprised and somewhat baffled about my being in the newspaper. I walked by him about ten minutes later where he was standing near a co-worker's station really studying two squirrels and the fox kit prints she has pinned up there. (He had a black squirrel print...but I think he thought I'd just done one or two- not a dozen and a half squirrels and now at least that many animals and birds!) A couple of my co-workers read the article and seem to think I'm someone else now...like they don't know how to treat me. Well, I'm still the same co-worker they've worked with right along. I haven't changed any, but their perception of me has evidently changed.
Anyway- we're all adjusting today to this awareness of my other life and all the things I am involved with outside of work that I don't really say much about at work. The medical assistant in the suite where I work has always gotten copies of my books (she loves them and shares them with her daughter) and my art. She has all the prints I've given her hung up in her small office/work space. It's a mini gallery. When she feels stressed she looks at the pictures and calms down. I go in there to do the same thing. Other co-workers go into that room and study the pictures then come out to where I work and ask, "Where do you find the time to write and draw so much?"
Writing and drawing are my stress relievers after work, and my hobby. Writing and drawing make me happy. So, I suppose it's also my therapy. I don't watch TV. I occasionally read a book. However, the majority of my time outside of work is spent doing what I love doing best. I'm either writing or drawing every night and on weekends between errands and household chores. My coworkers talk about TV shows they watch all night. I've never been able to watch TV like my parents, sister and brother do. I have something inside of me that says it's a waste of time, that I can be doing something constructive with my time, creating something. I probably drive my husband crazy. He's a TV watcher. Kelly is always reading or writing, or now she's also drawing. She's drawn a Jeep for a co-worker to cheer him up, a line car (trolley line repair vehicle), a mail truck, a trolley car, and just before bed tonight she said she'd like to draw a cement mixer next. I'm not surprised- Hard Hat Harry was one of her favorite videos when she was little. She's always loved big trucks and construction vehicles. her drawings are very technical and precise, like the good engineer she is who loved drafting in high school.
I have never viewed myself as being anyone or anything except me. I have always been able to write and draw. I envy people who can dance, sing, or play a musical instrument. Those are things I cannot do. People who can dance, sing, and play music are like gods to me. They are the people I admire.
Anyway...back to the point. Hope hit all the bases of my life in a single well-written article. I was happy to see that she included the WhipCity Wordsmiths, too. The group is one of the things in my life that I am most proud of. I am a quiet, introverted person by nature. I was painfully shy when I was young, and have always tended to be a follower or a loner, not a leader. I was extremely anxious and panicky about starting a writers/authors group when Bill Westerlind asked. I'm still a little nervous every time we gather together, but all of you have made it easier for me because we all contribute when we meet. I never imagined it would become what this group is...a welcoming, comfortable place for everyone who writes!
Thank you, Hope Tremblay for the great article. And thank you Wordsmiths for your faith in me and your support as I continue to write, but also branch out back into art.
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