Author: still a dreamer

Everyone Needs A Hero

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

And today, my hero is Steve. And it’s not the first time.

It might seem simple for some of you who know how the techie end of computers work, but those of us who work on, as I call it, the “pretty side”, (i.e. use the programs), it’s far from simple. When things go really awry, I panic. Like so many of you nowadays, the computer, particularly e-mail, for me, is an integral part of my business. And when this afternoon, Entourage – the Mac version of Outlook – took a powder, I panicked.

I e’d Steve, my Mac guy ever since I’ve had one, but decided I’d better call, too. He calls me back – literally in the car with his family on the road to their week’s vacation – and helps me. Is there any question as to why this guy is my hero? And it’s not the first time! When my older Mac died a number of years ago, the week before Christmas, I brought it to him at his shop, where it was determined it could not be revived. I order a new one, bring it to him, he migrates all my data and comes to my house on Christmas eve morning to integrate it with my peripherals, etc. so I could keep my business moving along. Need I say more?

So today, a couple hours later with his instructions and my compacting my e-mail program, and re-building the data – something I knew less than nothing about – and a follow-up phone call, I am up and running again. Panic over, breathing once again.

Here’s to you, Steve! You are my hero!

Now clearly that’s not his photo up there – I don’t have one and he probably wouldn’t like my posting it if I did, but … if you live anywhere in driving distance of Hunterdon County, New Jersey and need a sharp Mac guy, check out Steve’s contact information on the web.

The Call to Read Non-Fiction

/ still a dreamer

Are you a voracious reader? Love to read? I consider myself blessed in that I really do love to read. As a small child, I read anything I could get my hands on, and today is no different. Books, magazines, blogs, newspapers, cereal boxes … it’s all good.

However, I would say my strongest leaning is towards good fiction … who doesn’t love a really good story? And if that’s adult fiction, YA or a picture book with fabulous illustrations, I’m in. Recent reads, which I’m hoping to post about, include Leaving the Bellweathers by Kristen Clark Venuti, White Oleander by Janet Fitch and Eggs by Jerry Spinelli … all great. But what about non-fiction? Although I am generally reading a book of a metaphysical nature at whatever leisurely pace that goes, (which is always non-fiction), every now and then I feel a call to read non-fiction of some other sort.

Does non-fiction cleanse the “fiction palate” for you? Does it bring you back to earth and/or provide grist for the mill? Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is one of the many books I’ve picked up along the way at library sales, yard sales, etc. and has been sitting on my shelf, waiting. What inspired this read is twofold – my interest in the general subject of the status of our food supply and also, that I saw the movie. I read in advance of seeing it that the movie was nothing like the book,  and so far, this certainly is true.

It was a great movie for what it showed … but not for everyone, I’m sure. It’s packed with big name stars who clearly believe in Schlosser’s fast food message – Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannevale, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Willis and more. For those who want strictly entertainment, it’s not for you. For those who want to know about the myriad areas of damage that befall people, animals, and the environment, not to mention how your health is affected, from fast food burgers, you may appreciate the wake-up call. A number of fictional story lines are artfully woven together about individuals’ lives who are all affected by the world of meat-packing and fast food. I was already aware of a great deal of this, and it was still an eye-opener for me. The movie is about as far from the book as one could imagine – good fiction created from painstakingly researched non-fiction. Quite a feat!

So back to non-fiction and why we read it …  in this case, I wanted to read the facts behind a movie and learn more about how the fast food empire in America came to be built. What about you? Do you enjoy non-fiction as well as fiction? Perhaps more? Does it cleanse the “fiction palate” for you? And last, but not least, might it inspire your own writing?

Bliss Boulevard

/ still a dreamer

As I was returning from an early morning errand today, I passed a street sign that I had never noticed before … Bliss Blvd.  I looked at it with a kind of longing. That’s where I want to live. Wouldn’t you?

It’s a small side street and easy to miss as it comes up immediately after one turns left onto a well-travelled route, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it meant, that after all these years of passing it, I just noticed it today. I do always take these kinds of things as signs, and not the literal ones. So why did I just see this today?

From numerous nights of poor and/or interrupted sleep, I’m on edge. Things of minor importance become of disproportionate significance; routine but unexpected noises make me jump. And things that may normally cause me some worry cast an even greater shadow. I know sleep will help. But what I also know I need to do in these times is to just let go.

Letting go of worries often means letting go of the illusion of control. The only thing we truly have control over is our own thoughts. The rest – people,  animals, events – on both personal and global scales – is nothing we can control. Sometimes we can only stand by and watch things unfold. Sometimes we can influence things in a positive, (or negative), way. However, others are on their own path, and we don’t ever really know,  though we may glimpse it, what that path is for them – the joy, the pain, the confusion, the triumphs – but it is their path.  Ideally, we can bring to others the best of ourselves and then let the rest go.

So, I thought today, in this sleep-fractured state, that I would pack up a little black bag of worries, control, fear and all that negative crap, and surrender it on my way to a more blissful destination. I’m sure there’s a better night’s sleep to be had there and an easier time of it. And I have children’s books to write and illustrate. I’m headed for Bliss Blvd. Isn’t that where you’d like to be, too?

Illustration – by Hand? or Digital?

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Let me say I’ve always been a draw-it-over-at-that-desk and scan-it-over-at-this-desk kind of gal. I know the use of digital illustration has soared over the last oh-so-many years. But what I still don’t know is how do I feel about it for children’s books? I realize this is a complex question and a pretty big subject. Especially in terms of degree.

This week my drawings were due for Just Frenchies magazine, a quarterly publication that features my artwork/illustration. Although this is generally not detailed illustration work, being more of a spot art nature, I decided I would draw, (at that desk), and then play with it in Photoshop, (at this desk.) As I work in Photoshop daily for my business, I am of the opinion that you could work in it for the rest of your life and still not have scratched the surface.

Anyway, here are 2 samples of very simple illustration play in Photoshop. In each case, I created the sketches in simple pen and ink. I scanned and brought them into Photoshop where I used several tools. First, the paintbrush at a reduced opacity in several colors, then darker shades to create some very simple shadowing. Then I used the burn tool to enrich some of the lines where the painting had washed them out to return the depth, and finally a little brightening and/or contrast.

Then I ventured into the filters and played around with a variety that appealed to me, adjusting them further within each filter. Again, this is pretty basic stuff. I liked 2 different filters for the 2 different drawings and settled on the Fresco filter for the Frenchie profile and the Watercolor filter for the pup sitting.

So what do you think? Like the results? Or do you prefer the original loose, pen and ink sketch?

What do you think about digital art in children’s book illustration? Like it? Prefer hand-drawn?

p.s. Since I wrote this post, I realized the illustrations in one of my favorite picture books are all digital and totally amazing – Pete & Pickles by Berkeley Breathed.

Frozen in Space – Post NJ SCBWI Conference

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

It’s hard to believe that just one week ago today life as we knew it had totally changed for a period of 48 magical hours. Stressful – but magical hours. Friday, June 4th and Saturday, June 5th was the NJ SCBWI Annual Conference, held this year at the Princeton Regency Hyatt.

The Hyatt atrium, empty above, was abuzz with NJ SCBWI Conference participants – editors, agents, speakers, attendees, organizers, volunteers and a very helpful Hyatt staff. That area with tables of four at the forefront was our registration area with an endless stream of people coming in to be greeted and given their materials. The fairy-lighted area to the rear left and below was our open buffet dinner area Friday night, and the step-up areas with small tables at rear right were filled with agents and editors giving critiques. On the lower level, workshops, first page sessions and intensives were going on, all opening to a wide center aisle where illustrators had displayed their work in a juried art show. Upstairs, outside of the dining areas, a portfolio display, book signing and auction took turns  over the two days.

It was a jam-packed, enlightening two days, preceded by days and weeks of stressful preparations and anticipation. NJ SCBWI‘s first year in the Hyatt was a great success, thanks to RA, Kathy Temean and Assistant RA, Laurie Wallmark, bolstered by volunteers at every turn.

So how come it’s taken one full week to blog about this inspiring event? Initially, exhaustion. I know I’m not the only one who simply crashed on Sunday. I barely had the energy, though I did it anyway, to start preparation of an MS with a couple illustrations to send to the agent who critiqued me. Tired as I was on Sunday, I elected to wait until Monday with some more rest behind me to make sure I sounded literate. And sent that off. Then starting the work of revising another MS which was critiqued by that agent and also the editors in a First Page Session for a submission.

What made it more difficult for me … and I suspect for others in my shoes … is that Monday morning I have to fold up my dream and tuck it away neatly while I go back to work. Problem was that this time, that dream was not about to stay folded away neatly, nor was it going to wait ’til the end of the day when I could give it some attention. Nope. It kept teasing and wheedling and enticing and trying its best to make me stop working and pay it some serious attention. “Look at me!” said my dream. “You know you want to!”

I was still tired for a good part of the week, but worse off, I was frozen in space.

Both needing and wanting to work, I was feeling a pull stronger than ever to turn around and work on my manuscript and a new very rough dummy.  (I do love my work, but as I’m self-employed, if I don’t do it, no one else does and I don’t make any money!) Half the time I felt like the rope in a tug of war. Of course, I ultimately and ever-so-responsibly settled down and attended to my graphics work, and came up with some pretty cool stuff, and started my children’s book work after dinner.

However, I notice that dream has developed quite a mouth on it.

Okay, it’s Friday. You talkin’ to me? Let’s do it!