The “Bad” Picture Book Blog Hop

Tags

Blog tour, Cats, James Thurber, King Henry VII, Marc Simont, Picture Books, The Thirteen Clocks, Tudors

Hat’s off to Dani Duck who started the “Bad” Picture Book Blog Hop last week. The idea is to share our earliest attempt at writing/illustrating picture books.

There are already lots of terrific posts to check out:

*Feb. 9: Dani Duck *Feb. 10: Becky Fyfe
*Feb. 11: Marcie Colleen *Feb 12: Mandy Yates
*Feb 13: Sylvia Liu *Feb 16: Rachel Elizabeth Cole

So now here we go. First, a big thank you to my mother who kept my pictures & books so carefully for these many years and who sent them guaranteed holiday delivery because my own stuff is so disorganized. First up is a collaboration with my younger brother Hans. He was almost 2 & I was 6. He dictated the text for AUTOS and added crayon color to my marker drawings:

My absolute favorite book when I was 8 was The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber with incredible illustrations by Marc Simont. Here is my version:

I was terrible at spelling in 3rd grade, and I still am!

Finally, I’d like to share Count Rinaldo & Princess Salamanda. I think I was about 10 or 11 when I wrote/illustrated this one. Clearly, there are heavy influences from The Thirteen Clocks, plus, by now I was really interested in the Tudors. The count, depicted on the second spread with the red hair, resembles my then hero, Henry VII.

It is exciting to me to realize that I actually have not changed much in my tastes or style. And humbling to see that the problems that plagued me then still plague me. But now, I hope I can fix some of them!

Thanks again to Dani for putting this fun tour together and if you haven’t yet, check out her work as well as that of Becky and Marcie and Mandy and Sylvia and Rachel 🙂 And definitely tune in tomorrow for the baaad book of:

Feb 18: Teresa MI Schaefer

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Blog Tour: Writing Process

Tags

A Fine Life for a Country Mouse, Blog tour, illustration, Penguin Publishers, SCWI, Susan Detwiler, Tomie dePaola, Writing process

Thanks so much to my friend Susan Detwiler for asking me to participate in this blog tour. I’ve been lucky enough to visit Susan in her lovely studio in Baltimore, and I have to tell you…Susan can draw anything! On top of that, her illustrations have a special flair and warmth.

In September be on the lookout for her first children’s book as author & illustrator, A FINE LIFE FOR A COUNTRY MOUSE, published by Penguin. You can read more about Susan on her website and blog here.

MY WRITING PROCESS

1. What am I working on?

– A PB about a snail in the Middle Ages who doesn’t like living in the castle moat.

– Sketches of Byzantine empresses and princesses

– research on 15th century England, Wales & Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur

-submissions to editors and agents, magazines and workshops and participating in Julie Hedlund’s 12 x 12

2. How does my work differ from others of this genre?

I’m not completely sure. Maybe some of you will tell me 🙂

3. Why do I write what I do?

When I was a kid, I adored mythology thanks to D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths and English history, especially the Tudors. I did my best to forget all of this as a grown up, but my old loves eventually caught up with me. I truly hope there’s a reason for this and that my interests and experiences can combine to create good books for children.

4. How does my writing process work?

I write 3 pages by hand first thing every day to loosen me up and get over my perfectionism. I learned this technique from Julia Cameron in her wonderful book, The Artist’s Way. After that, it all depends if I have a deadline. If I don’t, I look through my WIP’s and try to settle in to rewrite or edit or sketch or paint.

I take plenty of breaks and read positive affirmations.

                 ….and NOW, I am happy to introduce another good friend, Stephen Ingram.

By day, he’s a mild-mannered librarian. By night, mad illustrator, water colorist, digital artist and creator of picture-book stories. He was also the runner up for the 2013 Tomie dePaola award from SCBWI. Please join him for his writing process on his website.