inspiration!

Inspiration can come from any where or any thing I always say you just have to be open and observant to your surroundings. But this past week I was struck with inspiration and I did not know from where it came, but came it did, and I was obsessed with writing a poem. Something that I have rarely attempted.

I recently finished up one project and was moving on to try and wrap up a second when, well the best way I can describe it is, a muse sat down on my shoulder, and wouldn't leave, then said, "Do this instead." Well I started writing a poem for one of my holiday books and I could not stop until it was finished. Fully edited as well! I am so excited about it! More than I have been about any project in a long time. I think it is some of my best work to date. I finished the photo illustrations for this book several months back and now have the words to join them, and it is a perfect union. I have made the final selections of photos for this project as well. Now I start to try and find a publisher that this book will be perfect for, but more about that in my next blog.

I simply wanted to share my excitement about this holiday book with you, and hope aloud that that muse visits me again. It was a truly unique experience. I have heard of the actors high, and experienced it once many years ago when I was still doing theater. The actors high is when the character that an actor is playing takes over the performance and does it effortlessly. But I am not sure if there is such a thing as a writers high? If there is I may have experienced it this past week. I look forward to sharing this new children's book with you all very soon.

Good luck and keep writing.

Writing Children's Books: Getting it right!

Writing Children's Books: Getting it right!: After wrapping up my collaboration with my friend Coni I turned my attention back to my own project. That being a series of ...

Getting it right!

After wrapping up my collaboration with my friend Coni I turned my attention back to my own project. That being a series of holiday children's books, starting with my favorite holiday, Halloween. Last week I finished my third book and have now started the editing process.

Don't ever ignore this important part of book writing. With my first book, The Deep Black Pond, I thought that the book was in good shape when I started to send it out several years ago, but I then received rejection letter after rejection letter. They were always polite but never really provided any feed back, then one day a wonderful women in Chicago told me through an e-mail that my work needed quite a bit of editing and when I had done that I should resubmit my work. I went back to my manuscript and reworked it for several days, and then I sought the help of a professional editing firm. After that I worked with it some more. When I felt it was ready I started to send out submissions again. This time I received two offers to publish with in as many weeks. And even after all of that and the added publisher's editing of the book, it was still released with one word misspelled in it.

Most publishers like to do as little work on your book as they can. So it is so important to have it in the best possible shape it can be before you submit. Editing is also very subjective. You could send your work to seven different editors and get back seven different manuscripts. You then have to be true to yourself and pick which changes you want to keep and which to discard. When submitting it is also important to get the submission guide lines from each publisher that you want to send to. Not all publishers have the same guidelines and their can be dramatic differences. One of the most common in our new age is some publishers will only accept e-scripts while others prefer had copies.

For right now I must get back to my editing. And this weekend I was struck with inspiration from my muse and I have been writing for several days straight. I think I might be able to finish my Christmas book soon as well. Then I must edit that.

Good luck and keep writing! 

COLLABORATIONS

I have been working on a collaboration with an old friend over the past few months, and as of today I think we have put it to bed. Now the search for a publisher begins.

I have to admit that the collaborative process has been very enjoyable. I was apprehensive going into it because my illustrative work and my writing has always been a very personal and privet process until I am ready to throw it out there for everyone to see. In my display and visual work I collaborate and compromise everyday and because of that most of the projects come out better, two heads and all. But with my children's books I have always felt very protective and wanted the story to have one point of view.

Well my eyes have been opened! The children's book that we will be putting out is so much better than if just one of us had worked on it alone. Each person involved had something to add, be it creative, critical, or academic and it was all good! So the next time someone suggests a collaboration I will be only to happy to accept.

I have always known that I have the ability to learn until the day I die, but at forty something I am amazed to discover how much there is left out there for me to learn and surprised to find out that I want to learn it. Life's cool.

What does the future hold?

Yesterday I went to an antique mall with a friend to search for items that I could use in my next photographic project. After some time and several passes through the store I had to resign myself to leaving empty handed. On the way back to the car we saw a sign outside of the local library for a book sale, so with money still to spend and time on our hands we decided to go and see what they had for sale.

Once inside I made a bee line for the children's book section. Ever since I have been published I spend a lot more time looking at other authors work and especially their illustrations. I managed to find several books that I had never heard of and some wonderful illustrations that I had never seen. This got me thinking about the future of books in general. With the Kindle, the e-reader, and all those books being created as e-books only now a days will there be able to be such a thing as a book sale in the future? And those books that are created as only e-books will they be lost to cyber space over time? What about a book signing? How will you sign a Kindle? My publisher has even recently sent me information on how to do a virtual book tour. I might be being old fashioned but this technology seems to be taking the human element out of the equation.

I, like many others, love curling up in the couch on a rainy afternoon, like today, with a good book and I personally like the feel of turning the pages and even the smell of a hard cover book and the way it feels in my hands but I suppose that the future generations will have to make that decision for them selves. Whether they want to hold a book or an electronic device in their hands. Whether they want to go to a book store or down load their reading choices.

Not to sound like a hypocrite but both of my books are available as e-books as well as hard copies but that is just part of doing business in the book world today you must have your work available to all channels. I would like to think that like in Fahrenheit 451 there will always be some people that will value a cherish books the same way that I do and some day if books become rare and collectible things I am proud to know that there are copies of my books some where out there in the world today.

What do you think the future of the hard copy book is? I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Write what you love!

I have taken a brake from writing this blog for a while because I have been working on a collaboration with the talented playwright, Coni Koepfinger. The new book will be the retelling of Jack and the Bean Stalk and I have enjoyed doing the work immensely. This has had me thinking about the old adage "write what you know", but more important than that I think you need to write what you love.

Writing is work and like with all work you have to make the time to do it. In my case I have to sometimes force myself to make the time. This would be even harder if I did not like what I was doing. This also applies to what ever kind of work you are doing. If you do not enjoy it it makes it that much harder to get the work done. There will always be aspects of the job that are not my favorite things to do but still they need to be done. That is why it is called work and not fun happy time.

My second book, The Gray Garden; Aunt Nancy's Garden, was set in a place out of my childhood. That being the gardens of a building, a home really, named Adel. Some of you may have read that this house burned to the ground a few days before Thanksgiving this past year. Well my cousin has recently compiled a book about the house on the hill named Adel, and I am sure this was a labor of love for her putting this book together because she did not have to do it, she wanted to do it.  For most artists I feel that is why we do what we do; because we love it.

In the perfect world I wish we could all do what we loved the best all of the time but since that is not going to happen we just need to enjoy what we have to do and if I can continue to enjoy my projects in the future as much as I have since I started this adventure two years ago, almost to the date, I will be a happy camper.

Be the artist!

I was reading a blog this week that made me a little disheartened. Then it made me angry! The blogger, who will remain nameless, was giving advice on how to come up with a plan to write a book that will be profitable. She recommended following all the steps that you would do when setting up a small business such as looking at competition, setting up focus groups, and analyzing the market. Now that is fine if all you want to do is write a formula book, and while I agree that you need to be smart about the business side of things I am also forced to ask, "What about the artist!"

I would love to make a million from my book sales but I would much rather put out a project that I believe in and that is a part of myself and really try to say something with my work rather than rehashing another persons work just because they were successful with it. Look at Hollywood. They keep remaking the same movies over and over. Then they rely one the film making all it's money back on it's opening weekend, after weeks of hype. Because, in my opinion, they know that after the film opens and word gets out most of these films will tank at the box office, and all because they were made with a formula and by committee.

Don't get me wrong I am all for making money and making a living at want you want to do, but when making money is the only focus art is lost. Art comes from the heart and a passion to create something that will touch and affect others and when you try to make something that everyone will like, no one really loves it. So to the unnamed blogger you can keep your focus groups and I will keep putting out work that I believe in.