Dear Subscriber,
A “visual” artist and I are beginning very excruciating projects. Art is when you suffer, in case you haven’t had a clue in awhile. However, as a writer, I have to believe my challenge is more difficult. We argue about this, it seems, endlessly. The issues of Artificial Intelligence, ChaptGPT, and digital theft often come up, as well as many other challenges to real artists.
Who has more pain and suffering with his/her art? She wins every time, and not just because she’s a woman. She has many other burdens that women have, as well as additional mental challenges you can see from her autobiography. Although, as an experienced “husband” in two different marriages (we men tried calling it “husband” at one point in time, hoping women would get the message that “husbandry” was the same as taking care of the chickens, cattle, and goats. But … oh no! These freaks of nature had to have their own vote, their own bodies, their own property, you name it. Often quite greedy, just as men are.
My entire mystery series Portia of the Pacific Historical Mysteries, was begun in memory of my second wife, Ellen, who passed from Lewy Body Dementia six and a half years ago. I came upon the fascinating and historically real character of Clara Shortridge Foltz, about whom I based my entire series. Foltz was a woman far ahead of her time, in many ways, and a feminist with the courage and fortitude to become an attorney and a detective, in the Nineteenth Century, when other women were still being treated as property, along with their children.
You can get the first volume in the mystery series, Chinawoman’s Chance, free at my bundle page.
Thanks for your support, and we artists must stick together during these trying times for the true artists of the world.
James Musgrave
EMRE Publishing
San Diego, CA
