Well, that was traumatic. For those of you who need a little comfort, a friend forwarded me this link, and I’m going to pass it on to you.
Morning Aftershocks by Christine Barbour
Moving on…
Sabbatical Update
As you may remember, last February I decided to leave my job and take a year-long sabbatical to figure out, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” I spent the first few months on projects and basic detoxing. In the spring I spent a lot of time painting and taking on new projects. In August, which non-coincidently was about six months after leaving my job, a glimmer of an objective came to me. I wanted to be a writer.
I have always wanted to write. As a young child I read books and yearned to be an author. As a teenager I wrote romance novels, joining the Romance Writers of America and completing three books of around 75,000 words each. I went to college thinking I would be a writer. And then… life. One of my first jobs after college was as a craft book editor for Hot Off the Press (now Paper Wishes.) I worked in newspaper and then in translation, picking up desktop publishing skills as I went along. I have written several articles for dog, horse, and art publications. Ten years ago, I started this blog and have come to realize how much writing centers my life. In 2016 I wrote and illustrated a short book as part of a class. In 2017, I started doing NaNoWriMo and have completed three projects since then.
This idea of being a writer is all well and good. But… writing is hard work. And getting published (and paid) is even harder. It is essentially a competitive project that authors succeed at through dogged perseverance. Rarely does anyone gain instant success. And the issues around selling and pitching work are daunting.
As this dream began to materialize for me, I pondered my options. I have no shortage of ideas but need to focus and polish a few to start putting out there. About this time, I finished a book by C.J. Box and read his afterward about what inspired him to write that particular story. He made it very clear that sitting down and writing EVERY DAY is the key to his inspiration and success. I have heard versions of this by many of my favorite authors, as well as artists and other creatives. Showing up and doing the work gets you further than creativity.
With this in mind, I decided to spend the next six months of my sabbatical writing. I took out some projects and dusted them off. I started polishing a NaNoWriMo project. I plotted and sketched a new children’s book. I joined a writing group. I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). And that leads me to my stealth project and next update.
SCBWI Conference
For about the last six weeks, I have been working to get a children’s book written and roughed out. The reason for the urgency was the Oregon SCBWI Conference on November 9, 2024. I signed up for the conference and took the opportunity to have my manuscript professionally critiqued (still waiting for delivery). Then I pushed hard to get all the page spreads illustrated on the off chance that someone at the conference might look at it (spoiler alert: didn’t happen).
I arrived at the conference Saturday morning to be greeted by about 100 awesome, friendly people. While there wasn’t an opportunity to have someone look over my manuscript, I was able to talk to several people about the challenges they are facing.
I took a total of six little classes:
- Panel by “the staff”
- Queries & Pitching (Coco Freeman)
- Crafting Picture Books (Coco Freeman)
- Business of Art (by illustrators)
- Business of Writing (by authors)
- Picture Book Edition (Daniela Villegas Valle)
I came away with a lot of good tips and inspiration, if not specific feedback. I also have a stack of must-read books to consume:
- The Owl Who Asks Why
- The Lady with the Ship on Her Head
- The Trouble with Mom
- Princess Smarty pants
- Elouisa’s Musical Window
- Lolo’s Sari
- You look ridiculous, said the rhinoceros to the hippopotamus by Bernard Waber
- The day the crayons quit by Drew Daywalt
- Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
- Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
- Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson
- Ira sleeps over by Bernard Waber
- Last stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Today (Monday) I’m organizing my thoughts and getting ready to keep moving forward.
Stealth Project
So, the stealth project I have been referencing for a few weeks is a manuscript. Because I do hope to sell it (and others), I won’t be able to show it on my blog. After all, I’m trying to make a living from this. But I also hate to make anyone hold their breath any longer. So here is a spread in the picture book I am working on.
On my first picture book, one of the things I discovered was that sitting down to paint as the first step didn’t work out well. This time, I’ve been drawing then digitizing the spreads. This helps me sort out the story. When I have the story and spreads where I want them, I’ll add color and “real art.” But, hopefully, this will give you a glimpse into my process.
Other Art News
Due to the time spent on the manuscript, “art” hasn’t been happening much. Additionally, there have been some big art things going on that I need to assimilate. I hope that I’ll get a second blog post out in the next couple of days discussing those events and thoughts. With the holidays around the corner, shows are far away. And you know how I like a deadline.