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by Todd McQueen
Two weeks ago, I delivered the final art and text of my first picture book, BOB AND ROB AND CORN ON THE COB, to my publisher. What a great feeling that is; years and years of hard work—and a lot of frustration—finally coming that much closer to fruition. Looking back, I see that the trouble comes not from where to find inspiration, or how to get inspired, or even whether an idea is good or bad—but from knowing whether an idea is ready yet, and if I get into it, will it float?
After all, an idea is like a boat we intend to take to sea on a long journey. That boat should be sturdy, because the conditions can get rough, and sometimes the progress won’t be easy, and we’ll have to fight just to stay upright. There’s a lot riding in that boat, and we have to know (or at least believe) it won’t fall apart in the middle of the ocean at the first sign of adversity.
Now, I wish I could tell you that I had this image in mind all along, and my journey to publication was smooth and quick because I had spent the time developing that idea to its fullest potential. But no, I learn lessons the hard way, and equipped with only a title, I started swimming, figuring that the boat would get built as we went along. But it’s hard to build a boat while you try to sail it, so I had lots of problems, and things would fall apart, and I’d have to stop and rebuild, then sail a little further until things fell apart again… and again and again.
But because of these setbacks, I have a better perspective now. I see the creative mind as a shipyard and a harbor, and both should be a busy place. There should always be ships being built, (and built well, regardless of how long it takes), and the harbor should be full of them, ready for assignment, worthy of the challenge that lies ahead. And maybe, if I can get into the mindset that it is always picture book idea month, that today is the day for ideas, if I can learn from the mistakes I made during the journey of this first project, then I just might get to make a few more books before I die. And that, dear friends, would make for a very happy ending.
Todd McQueen is a graphic designer and illustrator living in Phoenix, Arizona… which is strange if you consider the maritime theme of this article. His first picture book, BOB AND ROB AND CORN ON THE COB, will be released in May 2014 with Sky Pony Press. You can visit Todd, and meet some of his friends on his Facebook page, or on his website McQueenBros.com.
Todd will give away one copy of the collaborative schedule planner book he had a hand in creating, BE IN CHARGE see BeInChargeofYou.com). For every 50 comments after the first 50, he’ll add another book. Todd will give away up to 5 books, if he gets at least 250 comments.
These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:
- You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
- You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
- You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)
Good luck, everyone!
by Drew Daywalt
My muse can be a capricious, nasty little thing. A strangely seductive homunculus, she will appear one day for no reason at all, like a rush of air. She’ll fill my head with a zoo-full of creative thoughts, sometimes stay for another day or two so that I can express the idea into the acorn of a manuscript or an outline, and then disappear before I wake the next morning without so much as a note on my pillow.
It’s okay that she does this, because like all forms of inspiration, she’s fleeting. And once the inspiration is gone, then begins the hard work of building, letter by letter, sentence by sentence, a creative construct that, when done, hopefully recreates the same rush of excitement that I originally felt at the moment of inspiration.
It’s a hard dragon to chase, this moment of inspiration. I’ve given up to the fact that I can’t control it any more than I can control the wind. It comes, it breezes through, and it’s gone again. To continue the metaphor, the only thing I can do is put myself in a place where I know the wind blows.
That’s why, years ago, I created a sort of man-cave-writing room, almost Victorian in it’s styling, but with a fantasy twist, because I love fantasy and horror and really any form of escapist delights. I blame this love on Friday night monster movies from my childhood and all those Dr. Seuss and Sendak and Dahl books I read as a kid. Those other worlds were always so much more interesting than mine. I wanted to be a world builder.
And this writer’s cave has all manner of masks, talismans, tokens and souvenirs from my travels. I love travel. Travel inspires me, and little reminders of travel inspire me just as much. These things I would collect were items that I’d picked up around the world that inspired me at the moment I found them – a goddess idol in Bolivia, a handmade wooden toy from Tuscany, a tribal mask from the Pacific Islands, even a beer stein from Cologne. Worldly trophies and artifacts, representing other peoples’ moments of creative inspiration. I would find these things in some market or stall in some faraway land, I’d pick them up and hold them, and I’d feel the inspiration from the creator, and I’d take it home. I’d store that inspiration in this room, this writer’s cave. As years went by, I even began adding fascinating props and creatures from my films to this bizarre menagerie. I’d fill the room with amazing, strange little curios that would give me the same rush that I felt when I’d first encountered them.
And more often than not, sitting in my cave, waiting for the muse to strike, staring at these strange little items, I would feel the rush of an idea. Like a small breeze. A wind through my mind.
And I would close my eyes and know that my muse had arrived.
Drew Daywalt is the author of THE DAY THE CRAYONS QUIT, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers and named an Amazon Best Children’s Book of 2013. Find him on Twitter @DrewDaywalt.
by Paul Schmid
I think, therefore I am stuck.
Or, how I tell my brain to shut up so I can be creative.
Joseph Conrad once asserted that thinking is “…a destructive process, a reckoning of the cost. It is not the clear-sighted who lead the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm mental fog.”
In my 30 years experience as a conceptual artist, I too have observed that more ideas come to me seemingly as a gift from my intuition rather than directly from mental effort.
In fact, I often think thinking to be a hindrance to creating.
I am fond of my brain, and it serves me well for most things, but it does have the habit of quickly pointing out the problems and inconsistencies in my ideas. It also asks annoying questions, and is quick to doubt. It often unfairly compares my efforts to others, sometimes telling me rather bluntly that I am stupid and have no business doing what I am doing.
When I am beginning to search for fresh ideas, the last thing I need to hear are problems and limits (however correct my brain may be). Problems can be solved creatively, but first you must allow yourself to create the problem.
Creating is yearning, hoping, dreaming. Thinking is grounded, practical. When I am using my intuition, I am not listening to my rational head, but it’s more clever brother, the impulsive gut.
While the head doubts, the gut is eager to believe.
Brains like rules and order. Rules are dull. Obeying rules will not cause my manuscript to leap off the slush pile. As Susan Sontag remarked: “The only interesting ideas are heresies.”
My brain also tends to grasp at solutions, with a lazy preference for the first solution that shows up. But as a reader myself, I find surprises more deeply satisfying than solutions.
While creating stories I am often confronted with the power struggle between my gut and my brain. Since I use my brain most of the time, and am rational much of the day, it jumps first in line to help. It likes to be helpful. So, over the years I’ve acquired some tricks to lull my rational brain to passivity whilst inspiring my intuition to flow.
Have some pie and take a nap.
Thomas Edison was said to have sat in an armchair with two pie tins placed directly below the arms. In his hand he held two ball bearings. While keeping whatever project he was working on in his mind, he endeavored to nap. As he drifted into a relaxed state, his mind would begin to wander and flow in non-linear directions. Then as he became drowsy enough, his hands would relax their grip on the ball bearings, which dropped, clattering on the pie tins and rousing Edison. He would then immediately write down whatever thoughts he had at that time. It was his sneaky way of accessing his subconscious. It actually has a name: Hypnagogia.
I will sometimes set a timer for 20 minutes, lay on my couch and drift off thinking of any current project’s roadblocks. My thoughts will gradually begin to get wacky and unrestrained. Sometimes quite unexpected solutions will just flow by.
Deny you have a problem.
When ideas aren’t flowing like… umm… whatever flows really well… the frustration can cause flow to stop. The mind gets involved because I am having problems and the mind loves to solve problems.
I then persuade myself that what I am really doing is simply waiting for an idea to show up. I find my intuition is rather demure. It does not flow smoothly, but resists order and regularity. I must have patience, then pounce when it ventures out. The following are some ways I do that.
Sneak up on it.
When I’m feeling stuck, I will put a project aside and move on to another. After a while, and when I am mentally involved in this new set of problems, I will suddenly go back to thinking of my original problem. A fresh idea will often present itself, as if it was really there all the time, but wearing an invisibility cloak.
Take a hike.
I am certain that physical activity confounds linear thinking. My own train of thought will get befuddled while I am moving about, apparently unable to walk and chew ideas at the same time.
So when stuck, I get away from my desk and take a walk. Or make tea. Or fold laundry. And while my poor logical brain is overburdened and struggling, my intuition begins to frolic. Archimedes may have gotten his eureka’s in his bath, but most of mine arrive during a stroll in the neighborhood.
Loosen up.
John Cleese declares: “The main evolutionary significance of humor is that it gets us from the closed mode to the open mode (of thinking) quicker than anything else.” Just don’t spend too much time watching YouTube videos.
Try to fail.
Perhaps the most radical approach I use to thwart my logical mind set is to deliberately do something reckless so I can sit back smugly and see how bad it is. But many times I find myself putting down the bold solution I somehow knew it needed, but had been too afraid to attempt.
Let it be.
Similar to a flower, ideas can take time to blossom. Be a good gardener: get the dirt on the subject, lightly fertilize with inspirational work by others, firmly plant the seed, and then let things happen in their own sweet time.
I have become convinced that creative thinking is very like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it will be. Which allows me to end with Picasso’s words of caution: “Inspiration exists, but must find you working.”
Paul Schmid is an author and award winning illustrator of children’s books, including OLIVER AND HIS ALLIGATOR, A PET FOR PETUNIA, HUGS FROM PEARL and PERFECTLY PERCY.
In the fall of 2010 Paul was awarded a month-long fellowship with Maurice Sendak.
He lives in Seattle with his wife, Linda, and their daughter Anna.
You can visit him online at PaulSchmidBooks.com.
by Mike Allegra
My mom has a habit of mixing bad news in with the good.
“Happy anniversary,” she joyously sang into the phone. “Ten years! Congratulations!”
Before I could thank her, Mom followed up her salutation with words that were far less joyous:
“I think it’s high time you got your crap out of my house.”
Ugh. In an instant, my plan to use my parents’ home as a storage locker for the rest of my life was dashed to bits.
It was under these circumstances I found myself alone in my old room facing my childhood closet, mustering up the strength to take a reluctant trip down memory lane.
Inside were stacks of sketch pads filled with primitive drawings; old machines I, once upon a time, had a penchant for hoarding; and lousy souvenirs from equally lousy vacations. Then there were the toys—lots of them.
There was so much stuff to sift through, I was confident the job was gonna be a complete nightmare.
But it wasn’t. Quite the opposite, really.
I both smiled and winced at my homemade comic books. After reading a few, I decided that, with a little bit of tweaking (OK, maybe quite a lot to tweaking), the storylines weren’t a bad jumping off point for a new story.
I marveled at the bigger-than-a-bread-basket adding machine I got from my Great Uncle Bill. By force of habit, I removed the machine’s olive green Bakelite cover to reveal its steampunky guts. It was almost comical just how many moving parts it had. I punched a few numbers and watched the thing spring to life. In that moment, my mind filled with ideas about a kid inventor.
Then I spied my Erector set.
Shortly after this discovery, Mom strolled into the room to check on my progress. What she found was her 30-something-year-old son lying on the floor constructing a racecar of his own design.
She didn’t even blink.
“Good,” Mom said with a sharp nod. “You’re taking that home.”
Indeed I was. The Erector set, the other toys, the machines, and my primitive doodles. I was taking all of it. I had barely begun working on my closet and my brain was already swimming with new ideas.
Toys facilitate play. Play is an essential component of the creative process. There is a reason why social scientists say that The Creative Spirit flourishes in kindergarteners and begins to sputter once those same children head off to middle school. As we grow up, we voluntarily—eagerly—purge the fun stuff from our lives.
That was certainly the case with me. I still remember being a 12-year-old who desperately wanted to be an adult. I gave away most of the stuff that had once given me pleasure and shoved the rest into the far corner of my closet. I thought these actions would speed the growing up process; instead, they just made me a sullen teen with an un-fun room.
With age comes a sort of wisdom, however. Almost in tandem with the launch of my professional writing career, I began to rekindle my interest in toys. I soon noticed that my best ideas occurred when I was horsing around with a hand puppet or had a box of 64 Crayolas within arm’s reach.
Unrestrained, unselfconscious play moves my mind in new directions; moving my mind in new directions helps me to discover new ideas.
I am well aware that a lot of grownups don’t feel comfortable playing with an erector set without a grownup reason for doing so. Fortunately, many of us have children—or if we don’t, we can easily borrow some. Kids need Quality Time, and Quality Times gives us the justification we need to build with Legos, squish Play-Doh, and color Snoopy green.
You couldn’t ask for a better situation. You’re being a good parent and you’re mining for inspiration. You’re multitasking! Well done.
That kind of multitasking was exactly what I had in mind when I loaded up the trunk of my car outside of Mom’s house. I’ll bring this stuff home to my young son, I thought. We’ll play with it together. We’ll pretend together. And, in so doing, my little guy will become my unwitting picture book collaborator.
It doesn’t get more inspiring—or wonderful—than that.
Mike Allegra has earned his living as a writer and editor for the past 17 years. His first picture book, SARAH GIVES THANKS, was released in September 2012 by Albert Whitman & Company. The book has earned a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, is an Amelia Bloomer List selection, and is now in its second printing.
As a playwright, Mike has had his work read and performed around the U.S. and was the recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship. He is also the editor of The Lawrentian, the alumni magazine of The Lawrenceville School (Lawrenceville, NJ). During his tenure, The Lawrentian has won a dozen regional and national awards, including Gold and Silver honors from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Mike also likes waffles.
Visit him at MikeAllegra.com.
by I’ve heard some authors talk about how they are inspired to write their stories.
They say their characters talk to them. They have whole conversations with those characters, interviewing them about their name, background, problems and motives.
They also share stories of times these characters high-jacked the story, taking it in an entirely different direction than the author planned. Sometimes that works out, and other times the authors have had to cut uncooperative characters to get their story back on track.
I think that all sounds awesome.
But it’s never happened to me.
I’ve also talked to authors who see pictures in their heads. Their stories unfold in their brains like a movie on the screen.
That’s also very cool.
But it’s never happened to me either.
So where do I get my inspiration?
Ideas for my picture books usually come one of two ways:
1. Snippets of words.
My two upcoming rhyming picture books started when I was busy at my day job and some words popped into my head.
For SHARING THE BREAD: AN OLD-FASHIONED THANKSGIVING STORY (coming in 2015 from Schwartz & Wade), the words I heard were “Mama be a cooking pot, cooking pot.” That was it. I think my initial reaction was “What?”
For WHEREVER YOU GO (coming in 2015 from Little, Brown) I heard “Over a hill, under a bridge, deep in a dale, high on a ridge.” And I had a very similar reaction. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
In both cases, I wrote the words down and emailed them to myself at home where they sat for quite a while. Then, I started playing with them. And working. Because the rest of the books did NOT just pop into my head.
I had no idea SHARING THE BREAD was going to end up as a Thanksgiving story—and it didn’t become that until a late revision. And, I had no idea WHEREVER YOU GO would end up being a story about how the choices we make determine our destination.
But those lines got me writing, which was inspiration enough. And I’ll always be grateful for whatever made them dance through my head.
2. Admiration.
Sometimes, I read a picture book I just adore. One that makes me stare in awe and wish I could produce something even remotely close to its perfection.
And often, I’ll try to do just that. I’m not trying to copy the book I love. But I am trying to capture some part of its essence in another form. THE QUICKEST KID IN CLARKSVILLE (coming from Chronicle) came about after I read Jacqui Robbins’ and Matt Phelan’s THE NEW GIRL… AND ME.
The final books are nothing alike. Jacqui and Matt’s is a modern-day story about a new girl at school who owns an iguana. Mine is set in 1960 and features two girls who idolize Olympic sprinter Wilma Rudolph. But I was inspired by the way Jacqui captured friendship in her book and wanted to see if I could do something similar.
And WHEREVER YOU GO’s style was inspired by the lyricism of Mary Lyn Ray’s and Marla Frazee’s so-wonderful-I-can’t-even-stand-it picture book, STARS.
When I fall in love with a picture book, I’ll spend a lot of time reading and re-reading it. First for fun, then for structure, then for language and plot and pacing and page turns. I may even buy an extra copy to write on. All this soaks into my head and helps my future picture books be better.
It’s kind of like golfers studying a professional’s swing by playing the video in freeze frames and slow motion so they can see every last movement.
I also have to mention my current picture book SOPHIE’S SQUASH (Schwartz & Wade, 2013). It was inspired by a few extremely cute things my daughter did. Then, I added a bunch of stuff that never happened to turn a cute moment into a fully realized story.
Both my methods of inspiration have one thing in common. There’s something that I hear or see that captivates me enough where I want to put in the work to come up with something wonderful of my own.
But I’m going to keep listening for my characters, just in case they decide to get chatty.
Pat started out as a newspaper reporter and wrote about everything from dartball and deer-hunting to diets and decoupage. Then, she joined an insurance company and edited its newsletter and magazine.
Now, she writes insurance information by day and children’s books by night. Her newest release is SOPHIE’S SQUASH, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf.
Pat has one wonderful husband, two delightful daughters and two pampered cats. She doesn’t watch much TV, but she does love “Glee” and “Chopped.”
You can learn more about Pat by visiting her website at PatZietlowMiller.com or following her on Twitter at @PatZMiller.
*Background image credit: Leo Reynolds.
by Thank you Tara, for inviting me to participate in PiBoldMo.
Picture book ideas…I never seem to have a problem coming up with ideas for picture books. The problem is finding a home for even some of them, in an ever-contracting marketplace. I don’t really expect to find a place for everything I write. I have folders upon folders stuffed with picture book concepts in varying forms of completion, from a title only, to a brief outline, to complete texts, to fully sketched out dummies.
When it comes to developing a concept, I always go with my heart instead of my head. By that I mean, I rarely try and calculate what the marketplace is looking for at the moment, I just begin by developing a concept for a book that I would love to illustrate and love to read if I were a child.
My mind is flooded with ideas for stories. However, I know not all of them are worthy of further consideration. Real creativity comes from keeping an open mind. Perhaps I should, but I never say “Oh no, they won’t like that.” After the first spark of inspiration, I write down in a brief outline of my new story concept. Sometimes, that’s as far as that idea ever gets. Other times the story just flows out in a rough first draft, beginning, middle and end in thirty-two pages. More often than not, the first concept is like a seed that gets planted and slowly grows. I use this metaphor in my school author visits and lectures to aspiring professionals when I’m asked, ”Where do get your ideas?”
Disappointment is part of the publishing game. I’m fortunate to have written thirty published picture books, but for every one that makes it to the bookstore, there are more than a few others imprisoned in those reject folders forever. I try and analyze my rejection letters for clues to my proposal’s shortcomings. I listen carefully to the advice, but in the end I still believe most of them would have made good books. I never take one editor’s rejection as the final word. A number of my books were published after being previously rejected. Editors and publishers are guided by their own experience. If they were all-knowing, every one of their books would be a best seller. In today’s world of publishing, a committee made up of the publisher, sales people, editors, art directors and even interns manages the proposal acceptance process. This “don’t rock the boat” climate makes an offbeat, more creative concept, harder to sell; it’s easier to publish sequels than a new idea. Yes, I’m guilty as charged.
Back to where my ideas come from. They come from anywhere and everywhere. I try not to have a severe critical filter initially, but a good idea will reoccur to me until I feel compelled to write it down.
I have two new picture books coming out next year: TUGBOAT from Holiday House and WHERE’S MY HOMEWORK? from Scholastic. The idea for TUGBOAT struck me like a thunderbolt while I was driving north along Manhattan’s FDR drive. It was late in the afternoon and a tugboat was chugging south. I felt like I could reach out of the car touch the bright red vessel as it sailed south, bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun. I realized how much I had loved tugboats since the days of my childhood growing up in Manhattan and Staten Island. The story became a reality-based book about all the different jobs a tugboat can do around New York Harbor. It should fit the “Core Curriculum”, but best of all, the pictures are illustrations that I loved creating.
The other new book came about in a different way. Two years ago I was invited by two local colleges (Marist and Mount Saint Mary) to teach graphic design. I enjoy teaching, but not every student is as dedicated as I was in art school. I give pretty easy homework assignments, but there are always a number of students who contrive inventive reasons why they were unable to complete their given tasks. I started mentally filing their lame excuses in the “The Dog Ate My Homework” draw. The title continued to rattle around in my head until I came up with a story where the dog really does eat a little boy’s homework. The pressure builds because he has to leave for school. He begins to speculate in a series of outlandish fantasies about what really happened to his homework. He never suspects the dog that is present in every illustration, until the very end, when he discovers his beloved pet gobbling up the last bit of his homework. There’s more to the story, but when I had a coherent beginning, middle and end plot in a sketch dummy, I sent it off to my editor at Scholastic. He loved it, but suggested we think of a new title “The Dog Ate My Homework” gives away the surprise ending. He was right, of course, so I came up with “Where’s My Homework?”
A bizarre postscript to this story: my students are supposed to archive their assignments on flash-drives. At the mid-term, one student handed me a dysfunctional flash drive covered in dog teeth marks, explaining that her work on the drive was lost, because the dog ate her homework (I’m paraphrasing).
After so many picture books, a new challenge has inspired me. I am currently writing my first YA novel. I’m about three quarters done and happily enjoying the process.
Open your mind to inspiration and it will come.
Award-winning author and illustrator Michael Garland has been out on the New York Times Best Seller list four times.
Michael Garland’s greatest success has been for writing and illustrating children’s picture books. Garland’s Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook recently won the California and Delaware State Reading Awards. He is currently working on his thirtieth book as author and illustrator.
Michael Garland has illustrated for celebrity authors like James Patterson and Gloria Estefan. His illustrations for Patterson’s SantaKid were the inspiration for Sak’s Fifth’s Avenue’s Christmas holiday window display in New York City. Garland’s Christmas Magic has become a season classic and is currently being developed for a for a TV special.
His work has won many honors and is frequently included in the Society of Illustrators and the Original Art of Children’s book show as well annuals from Print, Graphis and Communications Arts magazines. Recently, Michael Garland was included on the list of the top one hundred Irish Americans by Irish American Magazine.
Michael Garland is frequently asked to speak at schools, literary conferences and festivals across the country.
Visit him at GarlandPictureBooks.com.
Michael is generously giving away signed copies of his MISS SMITH books.
These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:
- You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
- You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
- You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)
Good luck, everyone!
by Ryan Sias
Tara asked me to talk about inspiration for the writer/illustrator.
As a writer/illustrator I need double inspiration. One inspiration for a great story and another inspiration for an exciting art style. I’m going to give you my tips for finding inspiration.
The number one trick for both is “LOOK.”
You need to look and observe everything, art, books, TV, movies, nature and family. Inspirational ideas are everywhere.
My favorite places to LOOK for writing ideas are:
1. Kids
They are full of original ideas, just hang out with a kid for a few hours and you’ll have like 20 story ideas. A few nights ago it was Halloween, and I saw millions of stories in the costumes. Each costume had a story, plus then the costumed character runs into other costumed characters for more stories.
2. Kids again!
They come up with the craziest ideas. Sit down and create a story with a child. It will be crazy, but the trick is to mold their ideas into things that are logical.
3. Go to the library or book store, sit down and read 20-30 books.
If you don’t have ideas at the end of that then you should look for another career. My trick for that is to take a character you invent and put them in the story you read. How would it be different? That will generate ideas instantly.
My favorite places to LOOK for art ideas:
1. Galleries/museums.
Fine art is about pushing boundaries of medium and ideas. Which is different than illustration, where it’s about legibility. So I go to galleries and LOOK at their ideas then try to add some of those qualities to my work.
2. Book store or library.
Just like my writing tip, sit down and go through 20-30 books, then take the visual ideas you like and put it into your art.
3. Internet.
Image searches or illustration web sited are FULL of ideas.
You can find inspiration anywhere—you just have to LOOK!
BONUS: Need more places to look? Sign up for my weekly creative projects email. It’s called Sias Studios (see Tara’s post about it here) and every week I email a free PDF that includes drawing lessons, writing prompts, and doodle pages. Use it as a springboard and have tons of new ideas!
Have fun!
Ryan has been making kids laugh and learn for over two decades. A 20-year animation, film and television veteran, he has directed videos for Barney and Chuck E. Cheese and his storyboarding credits include “Robots”, “Bowling for Columbine”, “Pinky Dinky Doo”, “Maya & Miguel” and “Sesame Street.”
As a successful children’s book creator and cartoonist, Ryan wrote and illustrated the picture book Zoe and Robot—Let’s Pretend and a board book focused on healthy eating habits for kids entitled Are You Eating Something Red?. His comics have appeared in Nickelodeon magazine and Mad magazine.
He is currently working on more books, developing animation projects and trying to figure out the perfect pancake recipe.
Ryan is giving away an original ZOE and ROBOT drawing!
This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for this prize if:
- You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
- You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
- You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)
Good luck, everyone!
by Katie Davis
Katie Davis has written and/or illustrated 10 books for children, and two marketing guides for writers.Katie’s a “writerpreneur,” a writer in business helping other writers. She does this through her newsletter, products, and #1 podcast, Brain Burps About Books.
After winning the School Library Journal Trailee Award, Katie launched Video Idiot Boot Camp: For People Who Think Videos Are Hard To Create. She’s passionate about the power of video to connect writers to their communities.
Katie has been honored to speak everywhere from a maximum security prison, to schools around the world, to keynotes at conferences and fundraising galas.
Learn more about Katie at KatieDavis.com.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 