Archive for the ‘blog’ Category

I don’t know if I’ll write a recap about the NY SCBWI Winter conference. I just want to say that what a treat it is to meet people in person after getting to know them online. How wonderful to have a base line for friendship of common interests, mutual passion and shared dreams. I have a favorite show of all time, Northern Exposure. There’s an episode where the young Shaman Ed, takes Dr. Joel Fleischman into the woods at night and shows him a clearing covered with phosphorescent mushrooms. He explains that why they glow is that under the soil- they all share the same root system. – every single SCBWI conference I think of this episode. – Because we are connected we all glow a little brighter.

Yup. I’m kinda happy 2011 is gone. I felt like crap all year. The holidaze came and found my right hand, the hand I draw with- shriveled. My middle finger decided to turn into a cooked shrimp in my palm. All of the tendons tightened and it locked in and out of place along with a lot of pain.

Thing about the ever useful middle finger is- it drags it’s neighbors down with it.

I could not draw. I tried. I got frustrated. I drew the holiday card down below by taping the wacom pen to a splint.

Good times!

Not being able to draw is inconceivableto me.

So – I have had some health issues for a very long time. I have been to many many doctors who have pretty much told me I was nuts. I chose to go to a doctor that was non traditional. She told me I was not nuts. This week I went on thyroid medication. As a result, my finger uncurled.

My finger is now free to flip the bird.

Yes – 3 days and it moves and doesn’t lock up! Such a small movement- allows you to do or not do so much. Couldn’t braid my daughter’s hair, open a jar, go to the gym…. such a small body part caused all kinds of frustration and worry and now.. relief. Ahhhhhhhhh….

If you see me and I flip you the bird, take no offense please. I’m really just rejoicing in the motor skill freedom I have regained!

So I doodled today for the first time.

Who else is watching Downton Abbey!?!?!?  Who else freakin LOVES it?  It has got to be a cut above the average historic costume drama- cause my husband usually runs screaming from them to the safety of his sci fi movies. He’s hooked. My Mom’s hooked. So many friends are hooked.

And out of all of this Turn of the Century British Greatness- rises the greatest of all. Maggie Smith.

I love her and always have but- she seems to get better and better.

So I doodled her. It’s what came out of the hand- maybe I’ll take it further, but I am rusty. I usually don’t show stuff this rough but- today, I am thrilled by the act of drawing- and don’t care a fig about the results!!

I hope we all have healthy , happy, productive, art filled – 2012′s !!!!

PiBoIdMo?  Tuning in your station?

What do I mean?

I collect old radios. I’m a nut about them. Here’s my favorite.

My radio is a 1940 Zenith 12-s-471 black dial with 3 waves. It sits in my living room. I love it. So much. Sometimes I kiss it… (I digress….)

SO -  It’s an old tube radio.
It has a tuning eye. When you turn it on, it takes a minute or two to warm up the tubes and the tuning eye slowly glows as a hum builds. Slowly turning the dial – in and out come the AM radio stations. In between the stations are the crackles and static.

The month of PiBoIdMo – has been all about tuning in to our own stations. Finding that sweet spot on the dial where our imaginations and our uniqueness is loud and clear may be heard amidst the crackle and static of everyday life.

When we sat down to write, we were like an old radio.

As we turned that knob, we heard the usual different distractions that can stop us from creating. The pitch people calling out to us of the status of industry, the odds against us, what is “in” right now in publishing, to write fewer and fewer words and that pink is always the “new pink”. There are also the stand out radio shows that seem to blast at us – crime dramas like ,“The Online Time Burglar” and our own scary mystery… “The Show of DOOM”. (The voice of self doubt sounds kinda like OrsonWelles)

That hum when our tubes are warming up is a perfect time to ask ourselves- “What should I write about?”"What do I know for sure? or “What do I want to know more about?” “What do I know I am good at?” and “What do I know I need to work on?”"Where can I go today?” “Who is this character going with me?”

How do I find my own station on this crowded dial? I think about what I love to do. What I love to see. What I love to hear. What I loved as a kid and who I loved as a kid. What I wanted as a kid and how badly I wanted it. What was challenging as a kid? What was weird or silly or wacky? All of that stuff feeds my creative soul and my imagination.

I can also tune OUT what I do not want to listen to. I am trying to tune out more and more on that crowded dial, so that my station comes in loud and clear, and through this wonky old radio- I can sound all warm and full and resonate out on those airwaves – uniquely, my own call letters.- WKLT.

I took the month of PiBoIdMo to jot down every single idea that popped into my head and organize them along with the 15 that I already had been playing with. First I scribbled, stream of Consciousness gobbly gook- one idea to a piece of paper. Then I created a journal. I organized them thoughtfully in order of what I felt were viable to create dummies from. The ones that I felt would flow easily are first… the ones that are less clear or not as good are last. Perhaps they just need longer to warm up. I find I have lined up some really good ones and am excited to hit the books- literally and submit fresh with the new year! – I tuned in and found my station this month!

Now that you have found that sweet spot on the dial for yourself – don’t lose it. Old radios need to be played. Shut them off and don’t use them and the tubes will just stop working. Be sure to turn it on regularly and let it warm up! Your own call letters… write ‘em down… make a sign! I can’t wait to listen to your station…. Let’s crowd the dial.

So all those cool cats can listen….

It’s Turkey Week.

The day of Thanksgiving is a day that is supposed to be filled with family and food and cozy naps when you’re exploding from too much food…

I, will be on a ginormous boat on the high seas. My Thanksgiving may be filled with me on the bathroom floor- sea sick. I am going on a week long cruise with my In Laws. It was left in my husband’s Grandmother’s will- that we should all go, all expenses paid – on Thanksgiving- on this cruise. I know- don’t look a gift cruise ship in the mouth. It just feels so wrong to be cruising in the Caribbean so far away from home on the day that defines home.

Yet, when I think of Nana Gerri and her dying wish, it warms my heart.  So, I am going- to reflect on being Thankful for that lovely woman who welcomed me, a shiksa, into her ample Bubelah bosom. She was the member of the family that made me feel loved. For her yiddish, her appliqued effervescence, and her matzoh ball soup,I am truly Thankful.

I do like that we reflect on gratitude for the things that matter this week. There are many things to be thankful for!

This Week I am very Thankful for a new undertaking…

PICTURE THIS

Picture This is a Tumblr blog – one stop blog for all your Kid Lit Link needs!
Casey Girard and Dani Jones were brainstorming this last week and asked me and Diandra Mae to join in the fun. We, along with all the kidlitosphere… will provide content in one, concise stream pertaining to the world of Childrens’ Publishing.  We are taking submissions of links, check out the form and read the info. It’s a fun, easy way – to gather the “Goings On” and “Gather Together”-you know like that Thanksgiving  song…

While I am riding the Gratitude Train…

Always thankful for my friends over at The Sketchables! – these ladies keep me on my drawing toes. Not that I draw with my toes… but maybe I should try to….

I am also quite, quite thankful for my writing crit group. Just joining them in this journey has boosted my confidence as a writer.  We have had some “hangouts” at night- that tho’ we are spread across the country, feel like we are sitting around my coffee table. Thanks Bonnie Adamson, Nina Crittendon, Diandra Mae, Courtney Pippin-Mathur and Angela Matteson.

I am Thankful for the friendships that I have with fellow illustrators – it has filled a void that I don’t think I could ever measure. Especially the one I sat down next to by fate’s design, I am sure…Kathy Blackmore. We have had some adventures in art together!

Who isn’t thankful for NPR? NPR – I love you.
I was listening today driving home from the gym,  to a chef talk about the spiritual fulfillment of everyday tasks…like chopping onions, “There is a Zen saying, “Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water.”"  

It’s always little moments like these – nuggets of knowledge, insights into alternative points of view – that I get from NPR.

I am thankful for the inspired idea that has inspired others to have inspired ideas- Thanks, Tara Lazar for PiBoIdMo. You are doing a lot of work to help others creatively and you are a gem.
At the risk of spraining my arm- I’m gonna pat myself on the back and say thanks- to me- for speaking up at the gym this morning when a woman called another woman a “cow” – because she had put on weight. I am finally able to feel that “OH HELL NO” feeling- and speak it. I have told my daughter from the time she was in a stroller – people are like art- we come in all colors and shapes. We paint the canvas that is life – and that’s what makes life beautiful. How do we frame that art? In the way we treat each other. How do we view that art?- thru kind eyes. I can’t complain about the direction the world is going if I am a back seat driver. I’ll take the wheel.  – look out!


I also – recently chose to not sign with an agent because I listened, hard – to myself. I trusted my own judgement and I am wholly secure that it was the right decision for me. Two years ago, I wore my illustrator’s heart on my sleeve. Today- I am willing to wait and make the right move. Thankful for age, experience and clarity. If only it came at 24. 


And most, most of all- I am Thankful for my husband and my daughter. They are the beginning, the middle and the end of everyday of my life. 


Now- The Turkey Cruise doesn’t seem so bad!- One week to reflect on being grateful while sippin’ the fruity drinks! Pass the frozen cranberry margarita!!


Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

I love Ghost Stories. I always have. When I was a kid, I read The Canterbury Ghost over and over. One of my favorite things to watch was the “Creature Feature” on TV.  Don’t even get me started on Edgar Allan Poe!…  (they are making a movie- John Cusack as Poe… (Poe is suddenly sexy? I’ll go with that, Mr. Cusack… I’ve been waiting for you to call me for like 30 years)

I am MADLY anticipating Daniel Radcliffe in THIS . – ghost stories… not gore, not slash- I have no interest in “Saw Anything”…. but give me a creepy, old, dilapidated house at the end of the block…. and I’m there.

My daughter, Mags, has a best friend who devours the Goose Bumps books. Mags thinks they are too scary- ???? – crazy kid. Last Year for Halloween, I gave her this book:

by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Kelly Murphy, Antoine Revoy

She loved it.

This year – we will read by the fireplace  in the dark….

by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Brett Helquist

The fun! The Thrills! The Chills!

Give your kid a real TREAT this Halloween… give them a -scary- book!