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About two and a half months ago I decided I was going to start running. I had a few reasons for this decision;
- I was getting fat.
- I didn’t feel great about the way I looked.
- I had seen one too many pictures of myself at various author events from weird angles with more than one chin.
So I bought some cheap running shoes and decided to start running when my kids went back to school after summer break. Keep in mind that I’ve never been a runner. Not when I was a kid, not in high school, not ever. I’d see people running down the street and think that they were crazy. Running was never something that wanted to do but I was determined to give it a try.
My kids started school on August 14th and, as planned, I started running. I use the term “running” very loosely here as I was doing more walking than running. I would run as far as I could until my lungs were screaming and my legs were burning and then walk. Run. Walk. Run. Walk. Rinse and repeat. On and on until I had completed thirty minutes. (Around two miles.) At the end of my first run/walk I was pretty sure that I was going to die. My legs were sore and throbbing but I had taken the first step towards a leaner, happier me.
The next day I woke up with sore legs but I still went out running. Run. Walk. Run. Walk. At this point I had no idea that I was supposed to take days off between runs. (This was all new to me.) I was determined to stick to my new goal regardless of the pain. So I hobbled along running and walking for two weeks straight with only the weekends off to rest.
After two weeks of running I reached a point where my legs were super sore. I could barely sleep at night. I knew I needed to take some time off to let my muscles recover. The funny thing is that I didn’t want to take a break. Even with my legs screaming for relief I loved running. I loved being outside listening to the music on my iPod and I felt really great emotionally. I had a deep sense of accomplishment and I was starting to see some results when I got on the scale. But I knew if I wanted to keep running I’d have to take some time off and let my legs recover.
Lucky for my legs I had a six-day book tour of San Francisco the following week. It would be the perfect time for a break.
When I returned from San Francisco I jumped right back into running. My legs felt better but it wasn’t long before they began to hurt again. After some online research and talking to friends who run I came to the conclusion that maybe it was my shoes. So I went to my local running store and twenty minutes later I left with the most expensive pair of shoes that I’d ever bought in my life. The salesman said that they would help absorb some of the impact and give my legs more support. The next day I took the shoes out for a test run and they worked. My legs weren’t near as sore as they had been previously. Success!
At this point I’d been at it for about a month. My legs weren’t hurting quite as bad as before but they were still a little sore. I did a little more research and discovered that it’s a good idea to do some cross training between running workouts. So I dusted the cobwebs off my ten-year-old mountain bike and hit the bike trail. Riding my bike between running workouts made a huge deference. It gave my legs a day between runs to recover and I was still able to get in a good workout every day.
I really had no idea what I was doing when I started this whole running thing. I just figured it out as I went. The important thing for me was to just keep at it. To make myself get out of bed every day and either run or bike. It didn’t matter how fast I went, it only mattered that I was doing it everyday or almost every day. I would after all take the occasional day off to rest or to sleep in. I hadn’t completely lost my mind.
The funny thing is that the more I worked out, the better I felt, and the better I felt the further I pushed myself to go. I went from running short spurts and walking, to running three to five miles at a time without stopping. I started biking 18 miles on my bike and I felt amazing. Now, every day I go out and I challenge myself to go a little further or a little faster. I go to bed at night looking forward to getting up the next morning and running or biking. It’s crazy. It’s been two and half months since I started and I feel happier and less stressed than ever before. Oh, and I’ve lost twelve pounds and counting. No more extra chins.
Some of you reading this may be asking yourself at this point, “What does this have to do with writing picture books?” Good question. Here’s the thing, no matter what you want to do in life it all starts by taking a step. A single step.
That step may be taking a class or starting to draw, or in my case starting to run. It can be anything. You just have to take the step. The more steps you take the easier it will get. Along the way you may step in a puddle or two, or get injured (rejected) and that’s okay. Just take some time off to clean yourself up and recoup.
Then when you’re ready, take another step, and another. After a while your steps will get faster and a lot easier, and before you know it you’ll be running. You’ll be pushing yourself to go further and you will be feeling better. You’ll be happier. Who knows, maybe some day you’ll even run a marathon or two. All you have to do is just keep running.
James Burks started out working as an artist in the animation industry for various studios including Disney, Warner Brothers, and Nickelodeon. Projects he has worked on include the Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Home on the Range, Space Jam, the Iron Giant and the television shows Wow Wow Wubbzy, Ni-hao Kai-lan, the Dinosaur Train and Fan Boy and Chum Chum.
He currently spends his days taking care of his two kids, running/biking and writing/illustrating his own books. His first graphic novel for kids, GABBY AND GATOR, published by Yen Press, was a Junior Library Guild selection and a 2012 CTA Read Across America title. He also has a picture book with Carolrhoda entitled BEEP AND BAH, a graphic novel with Scholastic/Graphix called BIRD AND SQUIRREL ON THE RUN, and he just finished illustrating a book for Simon & Schuster called THE MONSTORE written by Tara Lazar which will be out in June 2013.
James is giving away a signed digital print of this friendly witch and best friend. It sure is as sweet as Halloween candy!
Just comment to be entered into the drawing (one comment per person).
A winner will be randomly selected in one week.
Good luck!
I’d like to share with you a little something I’m going to call “the sidle-up effect.” Here’s how it happens.
I’m outside having a picnic with my family, including two rambunctious little boys, E and O. Editor that I am, I’m excited to give them a “haven’t seen you guys in a while” present. It’s a book.
Now, this book happens to be a particular new favorite of mine: THE OBSTINATE PEN by Frank Dormer. However, it’s a beautiful day, we’re in the park, and I’m up against some formidable opponents: scooters, sticks, dirt, and peanut butter & jelly. As you can imagine, despite two extremely polite thank you’s, this gift does not receive the desired effect of elation and awe.
Well, fine. I should have anticipated this. But I still want to show this story a little love. So I sit down and begin to read the book aloud to myself. “Uncle Flood unwrapped his new pen and laid it on the desk…”
Barely perceptibly at first, the effect starts to take effect. First comes the quiet patter of sticks dropping to the ground. Then the faint squeak of scooter wheels coming to a halt. Next, two small figures edge into my peripheral vision. And then, all of the sudden, as I approach the part where the pen sticks to the wheel of Mrs. Norkham Pigeon-Smythe’s automobile, O is in my lap, and E is draped uncomfortably over my shoulders.
We proceed to read the book four more times.
I love enthusiastic young readers as much as the next editor/agent/writer/illustrator/reader/person (and for their mother’s sake, I should add that E and O are among that group—I just caught them on an afternoon ripe with distractions). But if a book promises to both captivate the eager crowd and achieve the sidle-up effect among the more stick-and-dirt-inclined, that book is an automatic winner to me.
THE OBSTINATE PEN is the perfect example of such a winner because it has something for everyone. It’s wildly creative and uproariously funny. It features dimwitted adults and a shrewd, worldly young hero. And it’s totally unique: it makes me think, “Now how in the world did he come up with that?”
The books that wow editors are the books that bring something new to the table—that wriggle their way into your head so you can’t stop thinking about them for days. You might grab my attention with a real and endearing character; striking, lyrical language; a hilariously honest voice.
Maybe it’s a creative, fiery little girl who brings the spark to a classic tale of friendship, like Kelly DiPucchio’s CRAFTY CHLOE. Or a text so simple, beautiful and poetic that it leaves room for a whole new world to unfold in the illustrations, like Mary Lyn Ray’s STARS (illustrated by Marla Frazee). Or a soft song about eggs filled with so much personality (“I do not like the way you slide, / I do not like your soft inside, / I do not like you lots of ways, / And I could do for many days / Without eggs”) that it sticks with you straight through from childhood to adulthood, like Russell Hoban’s BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES. Ok, maybe that last example is a little specific, but you get the gist (it’s one of my all-time favorites).
And maybe it’s because I work in children’s publishing, but in my opinion, there’s nothing in the world that sticks with you like a picture book. Think about your favorite book when you were little. Why do you still remember it? The most special of special characters, voices, stories—they all contribute to this warm little nugget of childhood that you’ll carry around with you forever. You can’t create that by hitching a ride on the big, flashy, commercial, book-selling train of the moment. You create that by pulling your inspiration directly from that spot, by reigniting that spark from your childhood and writing from your heart.
As an editor, I’m looking for a picture book that I want to sidle up to. One that, if you caught me playing with sticks in the park, would have me—well, maybe not in your lap, but at least draped uncomfortably over your shoulders.
Achieve that, and I promise you, those sticks won’t stand a chance.
Emma Ledbetter is an editorial assistant at Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. She sidles up to picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels with fresh, sincere voices, humor and heart. Upcoming projects she has edited include THE BACKWARDS BIRTHDAY PARTY, a picture book by John Forster and legendary singer/songwriter Tom Chapin, and the fantastically wacky middle grade novel THE CONTAGIOUS COLORS OF MUMPLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL by Fowler DeWitt. Follow her on Twitter @brdnjamforemma.
Emma will be donating a picture book critique to a lucky PiBoIdMo participant who completes the 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge. A winner will be randomly selected in early December.
I can’t believe it’s already November! PiBoIdMo, 12X12 and Picture Book Month are all in full swing, proving that the venerable picture book has merit and value. It is because of because of you, writers and lovers of picture books, that we have reason to celebrate! So I begin this post with a thank you. Thank you for your passion and commitment to picture books.
Now on to the subject of my post. The Space Between. It sounds like some ethereal place that might exist in a Lois Lowry book but it is a very real place that exists, especially in picture books. Joe Wos, a friend who is a cartoonist and curator of the Toonseum in Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania, once taught me about “the space between” in comic strips. It’s that blank space that exists in between each comic box. What is so important about The Space Between are not the words before and after it, but the words and actions that are left unsaid.
I thought about it. As writers, we all rely on The Space Between without even realizing it. In novels, you’ll see two passages divided by a set of asterisks. The moment you see it, you know moments, actions, and words have passed, all shrouded in The Space Between. The writer leaves it up to you to decipher what happens between one scene and the next. The device is also used in movies. Movement from scene to scene relies on The Space Between to create a smooth transition.
So how does this fit into writing picture books? For picture book writers, The Space Between is the page turn. It is the breath or the pause between pages. It can be dramatic and full of suspense, ushering the next bit of action in the book. Eric Litwin’s New York Times best-selling book, Pete the Cat does this so brilliantly that listening audiences automatically chime in the answer when the page is turned.
The Space Between can also be subtle and gentle. In the nearly wordless picture book, Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman, the device is used ingeniously. The Space Betweeen becomes the thread that ties every scene together, creating a story so seamless, you don’t even notice what is not shown. On one page, the zookeeper’s wife wakes up. On the next page, she is on the lawn, walking the animals back to the zoo. What happens in between needs no explication.
The Space Between can also be intentional. Stories that are poems have a natural break between stanzas such as those in Dr. Seuss books. In the book, Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, The Space Between is used to create deliberate tension. Moose vies for a spot in the alphabet and Zebra is the referee trying to corral Moose and keep him from ruining the procession of letters. At one point, Zebra says, “No! Now, move off the page.” The page turn reveals whether or not Moose moves and what his next antics might be.
The next time you are reading or writing a picture book, think about The Space Between. Think about the words and actions you commit to paper as well as the ones you don’t. Think about that pause, the breath that is the page turn. What does your “space between” say?
November is Picture Book Month!
Read * Share * Celebrate!
Dianne de Las Casas is an award-winning author, storyteller, and founder of Picture Book Month, who tours internationally presenting author visit/storytelling programs, educator/librarian training, and workshops. Her performances, dubbed “revved-up storytelling” are full of energetic audience participation. The author of twenty books, her children’s titles include The Cajun Cornbread Boy, Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach, Mama’s Bayou, The Gigantic Sweet Potato, There’s a Dragon in the Library, The House That Witchy Built, Blue Frog: The Legend of Chocolate, Dinosaur Mardi Gras, Beware, Beware of the Big Bad Bear, and The Little “Read” Hen. Visit her website at diannedelascasas.com. Visit Picture Book Month at picturebookmonth.com.
For me, it all starts with accepting the sad truth that I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve published a handful of books over an armload of years and I still haven’t a clue how to write or draw anything approximating a viable picture book. None. When you’re as lost as me, a step in any direction is a total stab in the dark.
The second thing I try to remember after accepting being completely lost is that, much to my eternal chagrin, I will never write or draw like William Steig or Arnold Lobel or Esphyr Slobodkina or Rosemary Wells or Leo Lionni or Tove Jansson or Roger Duvoisin or Lane Smith or Ellen Raskin or you or my six-year-old daughter or anyone. Trying to write or draw like someone else makes me feel not only lost, but hopelessly lost. Hopelessly lost is the worst kind of lost.
When I’ve dispensed with the formalities of pretending to know what I’m doing or that I will ever successfully pull off being anyone other than me, I take out my pencils and a current favorite pad and let the only brain I will ever have tell me what it’s thinking. It has been chewing over bottles for years. And people in bottles. And mulling over hairdos of late. And mustaches. And mermaids with mustaches and hairdos. And seaweed. And tubeworms. And coral. And deep-sea hydrothermal vents. I have no idea how to draw deep-sea hydrothermal vents. And sunken treasure chests. And gumball machines. And balloon vendors. And people with no arms who don’t seem to care that they have no arms because they are stuck in bottles. And that we never have enough cookies in the house. Or enough batteries. Cookies and batteries and toilet paper should just regenerate themselves before you’ve had the misfortune to realize you’re out of them….but they never do, do they?
It’s generally easier to see when someone else is lost. Or when someone else is trying to write or draw like someone other than themselves. Or when someone else is having fun. It is harder to see yourself having fun because the very act of seeing yourself do so takes you out of the experience of having the fun you were having before you went ahead and ruined it by having a meta moment about what you were doing. Which is no longer having fun. It is thinking about having fun. Which is not as fun…no matter what you think. It just isn’t.
For me, the key to embracing my lostness, in the not-hopeless fun-having way I try to embrace being lost, is by trying to be present. What does that mean? I’m not entirely sure. It think it feels like not worrying about which direction I’m going because there is nowhere else but here. Where the skin ends and the scales start or a tail now curves or shells start gathering on the sea floor. It feels like not worrying about being as funny or wise or poetic or brave or dexterous as anyone else. It means not realizing that the last Oreo disappearing in my greedy maw at this very moment is the very last delicious thing in the ENTIRE HOUSE.
It doesn’t matter. I’m drawing scalloped-shell mermaid brassieres. Or merrily tracing chest hair. Or bottling the moon. Or realizing I can also draw with the green fountain pen I’ve previously been afraid to use. Even the red one. Yes…THE RED ONE! There is no one telling me I can’t use the green or red pens other than me, is there? They’re my pens for god’s sake. When was a “Pencils Only Rule” ever voted in as a Constitutional Amendment? There is no federal mandate forcing me to draw my characters in profile either (wait…there isn’t?). And congress has yet to make me learn foreshortening. Or write about things I don’t want to draw in profile…or foreshorten.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Front-View Happiness! Woo hoo. Look at me. No hands. No clue where I’m going. I’ve got all of later today and tomorrow and the rest of my life to work up a healthy froth over not knowing how the heck I’m going to turn anyof this flotsam into a book or that the flashlight in the “emergency drawer” doesn’t work. Right now not even Theodore Geisel could be having more fun than me.
Fun…and regenerative toilet paper…and C batteries… and fresh Oreos… and mermaid bras… and chest hair… that’s just what the doctor ordered!
There are much more potent prescriptions out there. I’ve read them here on PiBoIdMo. It’s sick how smart and generous and talented you people are. And by sick I mean inspiring. I may be incurably lost, but I know enough to leave the dispensing of real medical advice to those of you who actually know what you’re doing. I’m a fruit-flavored chewable guy. If it tastes too bitter going down, I can’t ask you to swallow it either.
Learn more about the inexplicably incomparable (Tara’s description) Robert Weinstock and his books (like I’M NOT and FOOD HATES YOU, TOO!) at his website, CallMeBob.com.
I have always been competitive. Maybe it’s because I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers, which meant we did things like thumb-wrestle to see who would get the last bowl of Sunday Cereal…or battle it out in Easter Day relay races that required rolling eggs across the carpet with our noses. Or maybe it’s because my parents fell in love on the basketball court, where everyone said that if Patty really liked Harold, she would let him win. Well, she really did like him. Forty-years-together-and-counting-kind-of-liked-him. But she didn’t let him win. So I guess you could say it’s in my blood.
Is it any wonder then that I jumped at the chance to be a part of PiBoIdMo when I first heard about it in 2010? A challenge, you say? 30 ideas in 30 days, you say? Sounds hard. I’m in!
Know what else sounds hard? Marathons. Lucky for me, November is a month chock-full of ‘em, and I’ve got a husband who likes to run ‘em. (I’ve run a half-marathon, and that was hard enough for me, thank you very much!) So when November 5, 2010 rolled around, this is the idea I wrote down:
Marathon Mouse. Story of a mouse who lives in NYC right under the start line and decides that it is his life’s dream to participate in the NYC marathon.
What I quickly figured out about PiBoIdMo was that it wasn’t necessarily coming up with the ideas that was the hard part. But the sifting and sorting of ideas to figure out which were studs and which were duds??? That was the tough part. Once the challenge was over, I tried writing a couple of other stories first…ones that I deemed more commercial, more worthy of an agent’s or editor’s attention. But I soon realized that the story I really wanted to write was the one about the marathon. In the 2 years since my husband had taken up distance running, I had been in search of a picture book about the sport that I could share with my children. I was looking for something that reflected the early mornings, the intense training, and the roadside cheering that was now a part of our family culture. And I couldn’t find one, because one didn’t exist.
So I wrote it.
And I liked it.
It travelled with me to my critique group, as well as to our regional SCBWI conference. And it was there that I first heard the objection that followed this manuscript around for quite some time: “…but kids don’t run marathons!” Okay, fair point. Kids don’t run marathons.
BUT.
Anyone who has ever been to a marathon knows that you will find yourself absolutely, without exception, knee-deep in kids…walking the course, holding cherished homemade signs, and searching the crowds of runners, hoping to catch a glimpse of their mom or dad, aunt or grandpa, teacher or friend. Kids may not run marathons, but they are an ever-present part of the running community. And that was the reason that I persevered through 26.2 miles of discouragement, and believed in my story.
Mercifully, there was an editor out there from Sky Pony Press who believed in my story too. And now I have had the wonderful privilege of experiencing my children’s delight as they turn the pages of Marathon Mouse…because, although they have never actually run a marathon, it is in those pages that they see their experiences reflected. And they love it.
Write the stories that you want to write. As the ideas fly off your fingertips and onto that spreadsheet this November, make note of the ones that spark something in your heart. They may not always be the obvious choices. They may not always scream commercial appeal. But one of them just might be the story you were meant to write.
And now if you’ll excuse me, it’s day one of PiBoIdMo, and I’ve got an idea for a story about a girl named Patty…and a boy named Harold…and the jump shot that launched an unending love…
Amy Dixon grew up as one of seven siblings, so the only peace and quiet she ever got was inside a book. Once she had her own kids, she rediscovered her love for picture books at the public library. It was the one place she knew all four of her kids would be happy . . . and quiet. She writes from her home, where she lives with her four little inspirations and her marathon-running husband, Rob. Check her out at amydixonbooks.com.
Everyone has their own notion of what a picture book is. Lots of illustrations, lots of color. And, of course, lots of smiling happy kids reading (usually in front of a fireplace on a snowy winter afternoon, drinking hot chocolate while the chocolate lab snores…ok, maybe that’s just me).
Scary and creepy? Not so much.
But, as today is Halloween, it’s time to look at the darker side of the picture book. Amazon has 369 results for ‘scary picture book’ with 35 of them rated for ages 0-2. Yes, 0-2! Another 169 are for ages 3-5. Picture books! Scary ones! Now, of course, the scares aren’t quite what you’ll find for an older reader but everything from monsters (THE MONSTORE, for example…with a tip of the blogging cap to my host, Tara Lazar) to ghosts (A VERY SCARY GHOST STORY) and even mummies (Yes, mummies: WHERE’S MY MUMMY?) have been appearing in picture books for decades now and it’s long past time to appreciate the scary and creepy!
Hopefully no one is now picturing Twilight For Toddlers (I’d trademark that but…no) but there is, indeed, a market for picture books that may not be as light and fluffy as the rest. With 30 days in the upcoming PiBoIdMo, you might want to spend a day or two brainstorming towards the darker end of the spectrum. The goal of the creepier picture books obviously isn’t to scare a child, but to introduce them to the shadows in a fun, friendly way, making the frightening familiar and, therefore, safe.
Spend a day of PiBoIdMo remembering your own childhood, those nights when the last thing you did at night was to ask your mom or dad to leave the hall light on, or to lay down with you for a moment or two, or to look in the closet or under the bed in a ritual game to drive away the monsters. Those are memories that generations share, we all were children once, wanting that light on…and, as we read to our own children, we share those moments with them so that they’ll have similar memories.
Writing a scary or creepy picture book for children is much like that hall light, scaring away the monsters under the bed or the ghosts in the attic or the witch in the closet with pictures and words. For the next 30 days, as you try to generate ideas for PiBoIdMo, don’t be afraid of the shadows, instead use them to create puppets on the walls of your imagination…the world needs more scary and creepy picture books.
No sparkly vampires, please. Well, actually, now that I think about it…
Peter Adam Salomon graduated Emory University in Atlanta, GA with a BA in Theater and Film Studies in 1989.
He has served on the Executive Committee of the Boston and New Orleans chapters of Mensa as the Editor of their monthly newsletters and was also a Judge for the 2006 Savannah Children’s Book Festival Young Writer’s Contest. He is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Horror Writers Association and The Authors Guild and is represented by the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. His debut novel, HENRY FRANKS, was published by Flux in September 2012.
Peter lives in Chapel Hill, NC with his wife Anna and their three sons: André Logan, Joshua Kyle and Adin Jeremy.
I started writing for kids over a decade ago and soon started meeting other people who also wrote for kids. When they talked about how they had so many ideas and not enough time to write them all, I secretly wished I could pinch them. A really mean pinch—a tiny bit of skin squeezed and twisted brutally between thumb and forefinger, the kind of pinch my sisters and I used to give each other when we were furious.
Too many ideas was not the kind of problem I had. I didn’t have enough.
A decade later, I’ve learned that picture book ideas come to me when I’m supposed to be working on a novel. I’m proud of my subconscious for being so clever. In the past few months, when I was supposed to be toiling on a middle-grade novel, I’ve written drafts of three picture books.
Two were from PiBoIdMo 2011 ideas. The one I finished, FIRST GRADE DROPOUT, went out on submission and sold in two days. That’s a first for me—a quick sale. My PiBoIdMo success story.
If you felt like you were moving well beyond your comfort zone when you signed up for PiBoIdMo 2012, please know that you are not alone. I’m not very good at public writing events. I don’t generally participate in such things—my process is more private-feeling and works on its own clock. But last year I decided to give it a try. In the end, I really liked the way PiBoIdMo pushed out the walls to provide a bigger creative space for me.
And if, in the early days of November, you find yourself worrying about how lame your ideas are or how you have no idea how to get from that idea to a finished manuscript, take heart. It took time for my PiBoIdMo ideas to marinate. If I had started writing FIRST GRADE DROPOUT immediately after jotting down the idea last November, it would have been awful. My PiBoIdMo idea was, I now know, more like half an idea. It was what happened in the book. It took nine months of my brain silently working away to figure out how to tell that story. In this particular case, the how was more important than the what. (I’d tell you all right now, but that would be giving away the punch line years ahead of pub date.)
I’m participating again this year, even though I’m supposedly hard at work on finishing up this novel. PiBoIdMo still scares me. I just know that on one (or more) of those days, when I can’t think of anything new, I’m likely to steal from myself to pad out the list—dig up old ideas that didn’t work to give them some new attention. (I did this last year. Shhhh. Don’t tell Tara.)
But on those days when I run into a writer who has so many ideas and not nearly enough time, well, it’ll be nice to think of my overstuffed PiBoIdMo file. I won’t gloat though, as that’s just awful for those suffering through an idea drought. And I really hate being pinched.
Audrey Vernick is the author of six picture books, including IS YOUR BUFFALO READY FOR KINDERGARTEN?; SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCKSTAR; and BROTHERS AT BAT; as well as the middle-grade novel WATER BALLOON. Her next picture book, out in June, is BOGART AND VINNIE: A Completely Made-Up Story of True Friendship, with EDGAR’S SECOND WORD following after that. A two-time recipient of the New Jersey Council of the Arts Fiction Fellowship, Audrey lives in a house full of inspiration: one husband, one son, one daughter, and two dogs. She blogs about writing buddies at Literary Friendships.
I steal from my kids. That’s right. All day. Every day. I have been blessed with two feist-master, sassafras, wrestlemaniacs for sons. Their shenanigans spark writing ideas constantly. My picture book, YOU’RE MY BOO, which is under contract at Beach Lane Books, was inspired by my second son.
More examples? Sure. I spied on my boys taking turns in a laundry basket:
“This is my racecar, okay?”
“No! It’s my spaceship.”
I wrote Jump In!, which sold to Highlights High Five.
I gave each of my boys a penny to toss into a fountain, but my older son kept the coin instead. I wrote The Collector, which sold to Highlights. Even my publications for adult—essays for newspapers, magazines, and babble.com—are almost always about or inspired by my sons. And all three of my picture book manuscripts out on submission now are thanks to my boys.
A critique group partner said, “You have a way of being present with your boys that gives you endless writing ideas.” Thanks and wow! That’s exactly why I love PiBoIdMo: It will make you more present, too. How do I know? Because I pulled out of our garage before opening the door.
I know. I know. That doesn’t sound exactly present. But I was all about my boys in the back seat. My garage door mishap just helps me explain how needing something can make you focus on it.
Never in my life have I cared about garage doors. But because we needed new ones, my antenna was up. I couldn’t even get the mail without noticing the neighbors’ garage doors. Since you’ll need 30 new picture book ideas, your antenna will be up, too. You’ll notice things in ways you haven’t before. Ta-dah! You’ll have more to write about.
Here’s how the writing process usually works for me*:
- One or both of my boys does or says something that grabs my attention.
- Does the idea make me so excited that I have a hard time focusing on anything else?
- Okay. Fine. Does the idea make me dance?
- I bang out a rough draft.
- I critique the manuscript.
- I read the manuscript out loud. I beg my husband to read it out loud. I bribe my son to read it out loud. I record myself reading it using an app called Recorder Plus on my iPad.
- Do the characters ring true? (When I make one of my boys say sorry, it’s the worst excuse for an apology. It’s the same for my characters so I try not to force them to say or do anything. Characters are strongest when they act and react naturally.)
- Does the story have enough heart? (I should feel something so strongly that I am connected to and routing for the character(s).)
- Is there enough tension? (The main character should want something so badly that I want it for him/her, too, but something HUGE must stand in the way of success.)
- Is the ending a satisfying surprise even though it’s the only resolution that makes sense while serving the story?
- I share it with critique partners. Based on their suggestions, I revise and revise and revise.
- Just like my boys, the manuscript needs a ‘time out’. I don’t let myself read it for at least two days (two weeks would be great, but I can’t ever wait that long).
- I allow myself to go back to the manuscript. If it still makes me dance, then I send it to my agent.
(*This whole shebang might take weeks, months or even years.)
If something I’m writing doesn’t make me dance, then I don’t waste time on it. I have too many ideas to stress over a manuscript that’s not clicking. If I don’t love it, I leave it. Sure, I might come back to it later. But I’m also fine with coming back to it never. I’m confident that I’ll uncover something better—something dance-worthy—to work on. How? Because I live with my feist-master, sassafras, wrestlemaniacs.
While this stealing-from-my-kids gig has proven great for my writing, it doesn’t always translate into being a good mom. I’m pretty sure cheering, “Keep it up! You’re giving me lots to write about” when they fight isn’t recommended in any How-to-Parent guide. But lucky for me, this is a place to celebrate writing, not parenting, so I suggest you go steal from your kids, too. Or someone else’s kids. Plop down at your library’s story hour, grab lunch at a fast food playground, hang out at your Children’s Museum and you’ll have 30 new ideas in no time. Fortunately, kids, and writing ideas inspired by them, are everywhere. Good luck and have FUN!
Kate Dopirak lives with her husband and two feist-master, sassafras, wrestlemaniac sons in Pittsburgh, PA. She will be donating a picture book critique to a PiBoIdMo participant who completes the 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge. A winner will be selected in early December.
I love November because it’s finally cool enough to do one of my favorite indoor activities – bake cookies with my kids. Nothing beats cracking eggs and getting flour everywhere. Then there’s the delectably fragrant aroma of melting butter and sugar as the cookies bake. And finally, the much anticipated cookie taste test. Yum!
I also love November because it’s time once again for Tara Lazar’s inspirational Picture Book Idea Month. When you think about it, these two loves aren’t all that surprising. After all, both involve batches. So in celebration of my two November loves, here’s my recipe for creating delectable batches of picture book ideas.
GATHER YOUR TOOLS
Before baking, my cookie-loving kids eagerly grab a sturdy mixing bowl, several measuring cups and spoons, a wooden spoon and the cookie sheet. Likewise, I need a couple of simple tools to maximize my PiBoIdMo experience. First, I recommend a new notebook, sturdy yet light enough to carry everywhere. I also indulge in new pen – medium point gel – so the words will flow.
PLAY WITH THE INGREDIENTS
My kids love creating new cookie dough combinations. “What’ll these taste like in cookies?” my daughter asks, pointing to mini-marshmallows. “Can we add Tabasco?” my son wants to know. Some combinations are successful, some aren’t. Either way, trying new recipes provides batch after batch of fun.
Likewise, PiBoIdMo is a great opportunity to play with story ingredients like character, setting, and plot. My goal for November isn’t perfection, so I don’t worry yet whether the story will taste good. Instead, I just enjoy mixing fresh ingredients and experimenting.
STOP, DROP, AND ROLL
Once the cookie ingredients are mixed it’s time to form the dough into cookies. This can be done by pressing with cookie cutters, dolloping with a spoon, or manipulating the dough into balls or or snakes or some other kid-friendly shape.
As a PiBoIdMo participant this means continuing to play with my fledgling ideas, molding and manipulating each idea, seeing if it has the potential to take shape. It’s not yet time to fully develop the story. My goal for now is simply to form the best batch of 30 ideas that I can.
BAKE AND COOL
Finally, it’s baking time. My kids dislike this step. “Aren’t they ready yet?” they ask again and again, peeking frequently through the oven door. Even more unbearable, once baked, I insist the cookies cool for a few minutes so they don’t crumble when taken off the cookie sheet.
Likewise my freshly mixed, newly-rolled batch of picture book ideas, needs time to bake and cool before I, at least, can get a good sense of how my “cookies” will taste. For me, this means waiting until at least December to re-examine them.
TIME TO TASTE
At last, it’s the moment the kids have been waiting for! With cold glasses of milk in hand, they select the best looking cookies from the batch. Some are scrumptious, some aren’t. So, as we nibble and crunch, we talk about what we might try next time. “More sugar, perhaps?” my son often suggests. “How about a little honey?” my daughter wonders.
At the end of November, we too, will find ourselves with a new batch of picture book ideas. With mouth-watering anticipation, we’ll select the best looking ideas from our batches. Taking a nibble, we’ll decide which fledgling ideas have what it takes to work-up into a full-fledged stories. Of course, that process, too, will involve it’s own multiple rounds of playing with ingredients and manipulating the dough until we reach that perfect combination of delectability.
Is all this cookie-story baking business worth it? I think so. Several of the ideas I generated during Tara’s first PiBoIdMo challenge, I later developed into scrumptious stories that helped me land my first agent. Even more exciting, one of those stories led to my very first picture book sale!
Laura Sassi is a children’s author with a passion for writing picture books, poetry, and rhyme. Her first picture book will be published by Zonderkidz. She also writes poems, stories, articles and crafts and has been published in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Ladybug, Spider, Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr., FamilyFun, and Pack-O-Fun. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, two children, and a black Cockapoo. For her reflections on writing and life, visit her blog at laurasassitales.wordpress.com or on Twitter: @laurasassitales.
The countdown is on, PiBo peeps!
In a few days, the challenge of producing one idea per day for the month of November will be upon us. Bring it!
If, like me, you’ve been stuck in a rut lately, this is the best time to blast the cobwebs from your brain and set to task. So…
- Creative space clean and tidy: Check!
- Pencil sharp, sketchbook open: Check!
- Ready to draw: Ch … wait! Draw? Isn’t PiBoIdMo for writers?
No. That’s the beauty of PiBoIdMo. You can be an illustrator and still participate—heck, you don’t have to write at all—you can sketch your ideas.
A doodle can develop into a character sketch that turns into a scene, which might eventually become a concept for a book—it’s a great way to flesh out story ideas.
And doodles don’t always have to become an entire picture book either. Portfolio or promotional pieces can happen this way, too. So, it’s a three-fer—bonus!
As an illustrator who likes to write, but struggles with words, I go to what comes easiest first. Sketching. No thinking. No pressure. Just me, my pencil and a blank page. That’s why I am looking forward to PiBoIdMo.
However, even the best of intentions can go stale if the motivation well has dried up. Obviously that’s what PiBoIdMo’s for, too, but what if that’s not enough or you simply have blank-page syndrome, and you’re still stuck?
Get out! Go on, you heard me, grab your sketchbook and leave the house. Here’s some additional ways to kick start that motivation and prepare for PiBoIdMo:
SHOPOHOLIC: Pouring over the classics in your favorite library or bookstore is an obvious choice, but ever thought to mosey through a shop you might not otherwise frequent—certainly not for inspiration, anyway? Pet stores are choc full of fascination, especially those exotic ones. Tarantula watching might trigger a Halloween tale, reptile research could spark an alphabet book or snake sketching might lead you to that perfect promo card. Other stores to consider include: antiques, costume, hobbyist, candy or maybe try a farmer’s or fish market.
SHOW UP: The Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York City is an amazing exhibit that showcases some of the best picture book art of the year under one roof. Not only can you get up close and personal with the real art but most of the selected picture books are on display too. You can see how the art was used, and check out the story at the same time. The OAS times perfectly with PiBoIdMo. If you can’t make it to Manhattan, visit the website and check out the featured artists here. This year’s show runs from October 24 to December 22, 2012.
TAKE A HIKE: Whether you live near a beach, park, forest, farm, or town square, going for a walk is healthy for PiBo mind and body. If time is precious in your daily schedule, allow yourself 30 minutes once a week to walk off some PiBo stalemate, but remember to open your eyes. Look at your surroundings. Really look. Notice colors, human interaction or simply cloud watch. Don’t force it, just watch and let the mind capture moments. It might take a few tries to get all that chatter out of your head, but don’t forget your sketchbook and pencil for when it clears!
SEASON’S GREETINGS: Halloween hangovers, corn maze castaways, apple bobbing, pumpkin picking, and Thanksgiving get-togethers are all perfect fodder for inspiring new ideas. Put your observational powers to the test and see if you can put a new spin on time-old themes. Let the fall season motivate new ideas!
Music is my main motivator indoors. I jump up and dance, and don’t care how ridiculous I might look. I do it to release energy, loosen limbs, and rev up the creative force within.
Heading outdoors motivates me in more internally charged ways. When I let go internally, the ideas flow effortlessly. All I have to do is catch them with sketches, doodles and scribbled notes. I’m stoked for this year’s PiBoIdMo, motivated and raring to go! What’s motivating you?
Leeza Hernandez lives in central New Jersey. Her debut-authored picture book DOG GONE! released in June with a companion book CAT NAPPED due for release in Spring 2014. She is currently illustrating John Lithgow’s latest picture book NEVER PLAY MUSIC RIGHT NEXT TO THE ZOO, due for release in Fall 2013. Leeza is also the newly-appointed Regional Advisor for New Jersey SCBWI. Follow her on Twitter @leezaworks.
Listen up!
Leeza has some SWAG for you!
There’s a DOG GONE! goody bag including a bookmark, postcard, signed book, signed poster, and an original signed lineart drawing from the book!
Plus there’s two paperback copies of EAT YOUR MATH HOMEWORK! One for you, one to give as a gift!
DOGGONE AWESOME!
Just leave a comment to enter. A winner will be randomly selected one week from today.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 