picture books

Hold on to the Dream – NJ SCBWI Conference

/ still a dreamer

There’s always one bad thing about the NJ SCBWI Conference … it’s over.

Dr. Seuss, now …. my book, tomorrow!

Driving home from the conference, I am always tired, but also revved up, thinking of all the things I learned, what manuscripts I want to get right back to, editors/agent’s comments, etc.  And then there’s the next step – I walk in the door. Lo and behold, the life I left behind to immerse myself in days of children’s books is still there. Waiting for me. Needing me. Demanding of me. I don’t imagine it’s terribly different for many of you. And unless you have reached that wonderful position in life where you spend your waking hours writing and illustrating children’s books, you, like me, can watch your dream start to fade into the laundry, kids, pets, dinner, work, etc. And we haven’t even put our bags and portfolios down yet.

So, I’ve been working on some ways to hold on to that wonderful dream we nurtured at the NJ SCBWI June Conference. I hope these work for you.

  1. First off, I make the time to make a list of all the things I want to do as a result of the Conference, from sending a thank-you to jotting down what I will be focusing on. (Details can come later.)
  2. In the next day or two, I write out thank-you’s to the editor’s and/or agents who have helped me with my work.
  3. I find a couple of photos of the conference – or even the conference center – and print them out and put them on my desk. If I can find a printable one of the agent I met with, I do that, too. Even on days when I have no time to write or draw, those images keep the experience alive.
  4. I follow up by filling out the survey that Laurie sends out and by checking Kathy’s blog for post-conference news and updates. (I check her blog daily anyway, because she is such a wealth of information about children’s books, but especially now, I look forward to her posts on this event.)
  5. I pull out whatever MS was/were critiqued over the weekend and put them in a separate folder – this is what I will be working from – I put the names of the MS on the front, and place it in plain view.
  6. I next set up a real schedule for myself regarding what time frame I want to get what done – what is the date I want to get a revised MS back to the agent?, etc.  I also, at this time, review the bios of the editors and agents attending – who might be appropriate to send something to …. now while the iron is hot!  Some of those submission windows close sooner than others. And then I send them within the next few weeks. Setting up a special calendar where you mark your deadlines can be very helpful. It’s one thing to do it on your computer, but another when it’s 3-D and you look at it every day!
  7. Back to the list – take a little time to think .. how can I fit what into my schedule and when. I managed to really step up my game pre-conference. How can I keep that energy going, (and yes, still sleep, etc.)? When can I block out some time consistently to focus on one of my dummies and/or illustrations each week? Where can I block out some time to write until it becomes a habit again? If I really want to write and illustrate children’s books, I must figure this out now.

That’s what I do. I admit that I do well with a list, but … I don’t want this experience to fade, or fold in on itself in the face of the many demands of everyday life. I plan to hold on to the dream, and imagine that the little reading group up there is reading MY children’s book. Who knows? They might be reading yours!

If you have any more ideas of how to hold on to the dream of writing and illustrating children’s books post-NJ SCBWI June Conference, let me know.

Where Do Picture Book Ideas Come From?

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

The recent PiBoIdMo challenge, which I am continuing into December and onward, showed me a couple things about where picture book ideas come from, so I thought I’d share.

  1. They come from our everyday experiences. Yesterday I posted a couple pictures of the sky at dusk. As it happens, 2 of my PB ideas had to do with the sky. They are both totally different, but where did they come from? My direct experience with what I viewed outside … a cloudy day and a brilliant sunset. I got to wondering … how did they get that way? And the answers started popping. Whatever we’re involved in at any given moment may give us ideas. Look out the window; go for a walk; watch a few kids playing at the park; discreetly listen – there’s some ideas right there!
  2. Ideas come from what we know. The advice we get from editors and agents is to write what we know … I’m always involved with animals in one way or another, and it is something I do write about. Many of my story ideas. although all different from one another, are about animals … inspired by my own cats, or dogs, birds in the snow, a parrot I know, etc.
  3. Ideas come from what inspires us. A true story that happened a few years ago about a heroic rescue of a huge animal …  a story of men who risked their lives to save one animal, and who in her own way returned to thank them. I’m not sure how I can parlay that into an exciting PB yet, but I’m not letting go. The entire event was inspirational, and I do believe children would be moved and inspired as well.
  4. Ideas come from something important we have to impart to a child. Hopefully, by the time we’re writing children’s books, we’ve learned a thing or two in life, and maybe, just maybe, we have some gem of wisdom to bring to children. Not in a preachy or obvious or pedantic way, but in a way where they’ll love a story with a subtle message that speaks to them … the value of friendship, being kind to others, whatever it may be. Quite a few of my story ideas have – surprise! – no animals in them, just children, and something I’d like them to know. And so …
  5. Ideas also come from past experience – different from what we know. How we overcame being bullied at 5 on the monkeybars, might be fodder for an idea. (That wasn’t me – I wasn’t allowed to climb up beyond that second bar.) We all grew up and had all kinds of experiences – what we learned from them, or didn’t, can feed a PB or two.
  6. Ideas come from that most special kind of childhood thought .. magical thinking. I fall into magical thinking alarmingly easily, and it’s not just fun it’s .. well … magic! The unexplainable, the mystifying, don’t we all love it? It’s the unexpected twist of fate, the reveal of a character’s true identity, that makes us sit up and be curious about how things may REALLY work. What small child doesn’t have some brilliant, albeit “unrealistic”, (in our very serious adult world), ideas about how things go. We can learn a thing or two about small children’s thought processes.
  7. Ideas come from reading. Not that we are ever taking anyone else’s ideas, but that by constantly reading books of all kinds – fiction, non-fiction, for children, for adults – we are literally soaking up creativity. Without always noticing, we are sorting out what things work, what don’t, how we feel when certain things happen. Or when they don’t. I am always reading and have been since the day I could. Reading is not just a joy, but today, it’s grist for the writer’s mill.
  8. Images – ideas come from images – photographs, paintings, illustrations – ever look at a picture book’s illustrations, compare it to the story they accompany, and think “that’s not what happened!” Leaf through a magazine – what are people talking about? Whose child is that really?
  9. Did I mention food? Ha! Now there’s an inspiration that needs no explanation.

Any sources of inspiration I missed?

PiBoIdMo Cont’d.

/ still a dreamer

And the good news keeps coming! Because I work on the computer for a living and am on it all week, I sometimes do not want to even turn it on on the weekend. Sometimes I m more successful than at other times, but this Saturday I had successfully eluded it’s demands until … I was being tapped on the shoulder. By whom? I’ll say my own intuition, because while I sat down to dinner, I had this urge that something important was waiting for me in my e-mail. I dismissed it, but the feeling was pretty strong.

So after dinner, I booted up, checked my e-mail, and there it was — a message from Tara Lazar announcing that I was 1 of the 3 Grand Prize Winners in the PiBoIdMo Challenge!! Woo Hoo! Now I didn’t win because I did anything other than complete my 30+ ideas during November – the drawing was random. But what I’m excited about is the prize – I got to send 5 of my ideas off to the literary agent that Tara paired me off with and who will critique me on my picture book ideas.

I honestly found the commitment to coming up with new PB ideas daily it’s own reward, but to have the opportunity to get a critique on some of them by a professional … well, now that’s some mighty pretty frosting on the cake. I can’t wait to hear back!

 

PiBoIdMo – A Month of Ideas

/ still a dreamer

What a great month it was in terms of writing picture book ideas … as hosted on Tara Lazar’s site, PiBoIdMo – Picture Book Idea Month –  was certainly an inspiration. Whether I win one of the 3 idea critiques by agents offered as random prizes or not – and wouldn ‘t that be nice? – PiBoIdMo kept the ideas flowing, and what’s more they are continuing to flow even now through December.

I have a book upstairs, written a while ago, entitled A Kick in the Seat of the Pants. The title pretty much says it all and it’s about getting off our respective duffs and doing what we aspire to do. Well, PiBoIdMo did just that .. and I now have 30+ ideas from which to build new picture books. (And I got that nifty completion winner button, too!)

Are you stalled in your writing? Though November is the official month, one could really do this at any time … it could be for picture books, novels and even illustrations. Or sketches. The idea is getting us moving and in that, it succeeded! Inspiration is definitely a good thing!

November is PiBoIdMo!

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Created and hosted by Tara Lazar, PiBoIdMo – Picture Book Idea Month – is a 30 day challenge during the month of November to come up with a new idea for a picture book every day of the month. This is Tara’s 3rd year hosting PiBoIdMo, and my first year of participating. I’m excited! I find I am already buzzing with ideas in my morning shower or while making coffee.

To participate, you are asked to take the PiBoIdMo pledge to record a new idea daily, (you’re on the honor system), and when you sign up at the beginning of November and end the month with a note of completion, you’re even eligible to win prizes, such as critiques with literary agents. Go, Tara! And …. when you are signed up to participate, you can also put this cool PiBoIdMo Pledge button on your blog.

PiBoIdMo, was inspired, by the way,  by NaNoWriMo, the November writing challenge for novelists, but this one is just for us picture book folks.

So go visit Tara’s site, read all about it, and if inspired you’ll find a link to sign up. But hurry – Nov. 7th is the last day to comment/sign up and you’ll have a bit of catching up to do.