In the Realm of Johanna Wright

Portland author/illustrator Johanna Wright paints hidden worlds that only she (and children) can see. 'Little people' reading books atop mushrooms. A family of birds snuggling on a telephone wire. Babies swaddled in quilted cocoons. Family bands making music while straddling tree branches. Her disarming style evokes comfort and luminous warmth found only in secret hideaways and the realm of imagination. Last year, her first two children's books, The Secret Circus and Clover Twig and The Magical Cottage,  were published to great critical acclaim. Oregon Art Beat profiled Johanna's work last autumn after one of the show's producers discovered Johanna and her work at a local art fair.

Johanna stopped by to talk with me about her books, her artistic process, her upcoming art shows, and the magic of working with a timer.

 

AB: Please tell me about your two books that were published last year.

JW:  The Secret Circus (Roaring Brook Press, 2009), which I wrote and illustrated, is my first published children's book ever and came out last spring.  It's about a circus in Paris, under a carousel near the Eiffel Tower, that is so secret, only the mice know how to find it. I painted it using acrylics in 16 spreads. The second book, Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage (Roaring Brook Press, 2009) was written by Kaye Umansky and is a middle grade fiction book. It's about a sensible, reliable and always tidy girl named Clover Twig who goes to work for a messy witch and discovers that the witch's cottage has quite a few secrets hiding inside of it! 

AB: Could you talk about your process for creating The Secret Circus? When using acrylic on canvas, how do you get that to your editor? How does that become a book?

JW: When making a book, the initial sketching is really hard for me. I love painting, but for me, drawing is hard work. I don't like the messy stages of sketching and drawing as much as I like finishing a piece. I use a timer to draw, so that I sit down and do it. That helps me get past my inhibitions. 

I painted The Secret Circus on stretched canvas. When the paintings were done, I took them off of their frames, put them all flat, and sent the sixteen spreads ( I work mainly with spreads) to my editor and art director. From there, they have a big water scanner and then, I don’t know- they magically send me proofs! The I get the f and g’s (the fold and gathered copies which aren’t bound), and afterwords the book comes out.

AB: You painted Clover Twig in watercolor, so it looks quite different from the acrylic work in The Secret Circus. Do you work in watercolor a lot? 

JW: I have, especially when I sold my paintings and hand-painted post cards in front of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) when I lived in New York City.  Nancy Mercado was my art editor for Clover Twig, and illustrating a middle grade novel was a great experience. I learned that I have to read the whole book about a million times in order to work on the illustrations!

AB: I've read that in addition to children's literature, you studied puppetry at Evergreen. Do you still perform?

JW: I perform while I read The Secret Circus to children at schools, bookstores and libraries. I love this part of my job. I used to be so nervous when it came to public speaking, but I’ve kind of gotten over that by working with children. I like to talk with kids about how to make books, as well.

AB: In addition to writing and illustrating books, you create gorgeous paintings for sale as well. Some are even for purchase on your popular etsy site. What art inspired you to be an artist when you were a kid?

JW: Well, kids books were what I had access to, and I would get lost in the pictures. I loved the older fairy tale books, especially the illustrations of Errol Le Cain. He illustrated Sleeping Beauty and many of the classics in a medieval style. Even though my style is really different from his, I pore over his work and find it  very warm and certainly complex in a way that mine isn’t.

AB: There’s a simplicity to your art style, but your work, including The Secret Circus, exudes a warmth as well. Even when you use colors I associate with cooler palettes, the warmth comes through.

JW:  I do strive for warmth in my paintings. When I’m painting, I find myself gravitating to yellows and warm hues. And because I’m so intent on creating that feeling of warmth, I tend to mix a lot of yellow in with my cooler colors. At a physical, gut level, that warmth appeals to me. Even when I adjust pictures in Photoshop, I often bump up the yellow.

AB: Your art tends to gravitate towards comfort and…

JW: …feelings of safety! I had a nice childhood, with a lot of comfort and books and quilts and reading and trees. I grew up in Eugene and without painting too idyllic a portrait, I will say that it was really nice! I spent a lot of time imagining small things, and playing with little dolls around the foot of trees. My favorite thing to do as a little kid was collect and play with little tiny things. I’m the third of four children, and even though my sisters were much older than me, we would collect ‘little people’ and spend hours building houses for them inside and outside.

AB: Tell me about your two upcoming publications. I know one is called ‘Bandits’ (Roaring Brook Press, Spring 2011) and deals with thieving raccoons. You've posted this lovely sketch of one scene on your blog. I know my kids will love it, because they have a thing for raccoons.

JW: “Bandits” is one I’m working on right now, and it’s due really soon, so I’m hard at work on it. With picture books at Roaring Brook,  Neal Porter is my editor, and Jennifer Brown is my art director. They allow me a whole lot of freedom to create and are so kind and wonderful to work with. The other is called “Bonnie O’Boy Rides a Bike”(Dial Books, Summer 2011) by James Proimos, who also happens to be my friend and agent . It’s a fantasy about a little girl who gets a bike and goes on a lot of adventures. It’s really fun to paint.

AB: You met your agent James Proimos at a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference in New York, a.k.a. SCBWI-NY. How long did it take you from your first book ideas to publication? Can you tell us a little about the path to publication?

JW:  I signed with James 3 years ago. That was my second big SCBWI-NY conference. The first one I went to was about 5 years ago. I remember coming home and thinking, ‘this is the best industry.’ People are so approachable and kind. The egos seem really small in comparison with other industries, and people are down to earth and easy to get to know. It’s amazing. Writing and painting can both be isolating at times, so I always look forward to meeting other people in the publishing industry and comparing notes. When I started getting serious about picture book illustration,  I took a class at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) with Brian Floca. He really helped me understand how to write picture books. I had done some submissions and mailings before then for four years off and on. But after that class, I became much more focused and decided to attend some conferences.

AB: What resonated with you in Brian Floca’s class?

JW: The basics, like how to make a dummy. The set requirements, the 32 pages, etc. He also brought in Ian Falconer's Olivia books and others that were popular and read them to us. I was stunned that there was only a line of text per page. That was eye-opening. I had had this huge, long story, and ended up chopping it and changing the pacing. Brian helped me learn how to craft a page turn and how to have a full spread without text, like in The Secret Circus. He taught me what is powerful in a kids book; what resonates. What you can tell in pictures without words. I really learned about faces and expressions conveying emotion in Brian’s class. I transfer my sketches onto canvas, and when an eyebrow or mouth doesn’t set properly, the whole expression is off.

AB: I saw your work listed on the Illustrator Group Soup site. Could you tell me about that group?

JW: I met these illustrators at an SCBWI conference.  I think at the time, none of us were published when we formed Illustrator Group Soup, and we initially thought we would use the site to solicit work, but mainly it’s a support group where we’d give each other assignments and prompts. We would also give each other feedback- kind of like Illustration Friday. Once I did a painting called 'Gretel's Revenge' for a fairytale prompt. It's been a nice forum for feedback and camaraderie, and a great way to spark something new for our portfolios.

AB: While in New York, you sold art in front of MoMA and also worked painting backgrounds for Oliphant Studio. How did you come to that job?

JW:  I met my friend and fellow artist Wendy Crabb while I was selling art in front of MoMA. She connected me with work there. I painted the backgrounds for photo shoots and learned so much about painting techniques there. I learned about painting with quality supplies. I learned what to buy, what I like to use, and I got to experiment a lot.

 The techniques I learned from painting backgrounds are the same as I use for my books. Sponge backgrounds with a soft natural sponge on stretched canvas, with a base layer of darker paints. Then I let it dry, and do soft washes over it. Sarah Oliphant was doing that technique for the backgrounds of Annie Lebowitz photos. Sarah developed that technique and taught me how to do it. I also learned how to manage my time, and how to have my own business from working there. It was a great experience for me. It helped me clarify what I wanted to do and discover what would actually bring me joy in my life.

 

AB: What did you read as a kid?

JW: I read a ton. Everything by Beverly Cleary, everything by Judy Blume. My favorite book of all time is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.

AB: Maybe you should have painted in front of the Met instead of the MoMA! What do you tend to read these days?

JW: You know, most of the reading I do these days is with my ears. That’s another trick I learned from working at Oliphant Studio. I listen a lot to books on tape while I’m working. Everything and anything. It distracts my mind from the critical part of my brain. It helps me work and zone out at the same time. I listen to a lot of kids books- I just got the Hunger Games. And pulpy novels, too, especially when I’m working on something hard and need some brain candy. I just got a Steven King book. I think it’ll get me through ‘Bandits’! I also listen to This American Life a lot. And Jim Dale’s audio of the Harry Potter series is the best.

AB: What about when you’re writing? What do you do to turn off that critical part of your brain when you write?

JW: Good question. I put a timer out, set it for ten minutes, and free write. I tell myself I can do anything for ten minutes, and it gets me going. When I think about novel writing, sometimes I get so overwhelmed that I think it can’t be done. But when I break it up into ten minutes, it seems feasible. And often when I set it for ten minutes, I write much longer, because I get into the zone. And keeps me away from the anxious tick of checking email.

 

AB: Johanna, thanks so much for stopping by today! One last question: do you have any upcoming exhibits?

JW: I do have a few shows coming up, where I will be selling art and signing books, too.  First, there's the Buckman Art Show and Sell  on March 12th and 13th, which is a benefit for Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School. Next up is Rieke Art Fair on Sunday, April 25th, and hopefully I'll be at the big Crafty Wonderland in May, but that one isn't confirmed yet.

Suzanne Young Signing at Powell's

Boyfriends everywhere, shape up! Girlfriends unite! Tomorrow night, February 16th at the Cedar Hills Powell's, YA author Suzanne Young will tell us a thing or two about a cheer-leading squad turned spy society in her stirred, whipped and whisked strawberry smoothie of a debut The Naughty List (Book 1 of  the series).

Tessa Crimson and the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens) are typical high school cheer-leaders by day, but moonlight as detectives bringing cheating boyfriends to justice by night. What will happen when Tessa's seemingly perfect beau Aidan ends up on The Naughty List? I don't know, but I'm ready to find out. Sounds tasty to me!

YA- Palooza at the Beaverton Library

I've been busy lately. Busy running. Busy cooking and eating; my favorite winter sports. Busy trying to break my obsessive social networking habits. And, thankfully, busy writing.

But I just heard about an event that's got me wanting to drop everything and pick up some YA fiction. Oregonians have got access to some delectable home-grown authors, five of whom will talk about their work, their writing processes and publishing.Who? You may ask, and I'll tell you:

• Lisa Schroeder (I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Chasing Brooklyn, and Far From You)
• L.K. Madigan (2010 William C. Morris Award Winner! Flash Burnout)
• Christine Fletcher (Ten Cents A Dance, Tallulah Falls)
• April Henry (Torched, Shock Point, and Face of Betrayal)
• Laini Taylor (National Book Award Finalist! Blackbringer, Silksinger, and Lips Touch Three Times)

Where? The Beaverton Library
When? Wednesday, January 27th, from 7-8:30 PM.

Now I'm busy making room for it in my schedule. I'll be there!

King of YA at ACP this Thursday!

Ever read Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist? Ever see it? It was co-authored by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Many of you know that David is a YA king. From his authorial debut with Boy meets Boy (Knopf, 2003) to the anthologies he edits, Levithan gives readers an "honest dose of reality". Editorial director at Scholastic, and founding editor of the PUSH imprint, which is dedicated to publishing new voices and new authors in teen literature. Yep- he's a YA king.

This Thursday at 4pm at A Children's Place, David will be reading from his newest book Love is the Higher Law (Knopf, 2009). Levithan chronicles the lives of three teens whose paths are intertwined and forever changed by the horrors of 9/11 in NYC. It's been 8 years. I think I'm ready to read this now.

The Voyage of Heather Vogel Frederick

At 1 pm on August 27th at A Children’s Place, author Heather Vogel Frederick will showcase the third book in her popular Mother Daughter Book Club series, Dear Pen Pal (Simon & Schuster, September, 2009). This entertaining series helps bring mothers and tween daughters together to read while surreptitiously educating them about classic fiction by women such as Louisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, Jane Webster and Jane Austen. She is also the author of The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed series about an intrepid girl who learns to navigate a whaling ship, the award nominated Spy Mice series wherein tweens and mice engage in espionage, and two picture books coming to shelves near you in 2010.

I had the pleasure of meeting Heather at the May SCBWI Oregon conference, where she inspired me in her enlightening seminar Borrowed Fire: Getting to the Heart of Character. Offering humor and Hershey’s kisses as motivation, Heather pried me out of my shell and got me reading my work in front of a room full of seasoned writers. No small feat.

During last month’s heat wave, Heather joined me in my sweltering living room to discuss her work over iced tea. She generously shared insights about her journey as a writer. I was excited to note that her passion for libraries rivals my own. It seems we may be cut from the same roll of acid-free book jacket plastic! Our lovely chat covered everything from pink kitchens, whale oil and mean girls to what she would do if she were Empress of the World.

AB: You have written three series of middle grade novels. Did you always plan to write in installments?

HVF: No, I didn’t set out to do this, but growing up, I loved to know that there was a sequel by the same author with the same characters I cared about, waiting for me. Whether it was Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles, Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising or Nancy Drew.

AB: I understand that your editor approached you with an idea that led to your Mother Daughter Book Club series. Could you tell me a bit about its origins?

HVF: My editor called and said, “There are mother daughter book clubs around the country. I’m thinking that somebody should write a novel about one.” She knew I spent part of my childhood in Concord, Massachusetts where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women. When I sit down to write, the voice that comes out is about eleven or twelve and I’ve become very happy in this tween world I inhabit. Even though I’m drawing on my memories of being in middle school, the books seem to resonate with girls today. We have different fashions, drive different cars. But we’ve always had to deal with mean girls. In Little Women, Jenny Snow is a mean girl. In Anne of Green Gables, it’s Josie Pye. In my series, it’s Becca Chadwick. In the fourth installment, the girls will be reading Pride and Prejudice with the deliciously awful Caroline Bingley.

AB: In your third installment Dear Pen Pal which comes out in September, the book club reads Jean Webster’s Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. What led you to choose these books for the girls to read?

HVF: I decided to keep consistent by selecting another book with a female main character, written by a female author. The minute I thought of Daddy-Long-Legs it was one of those “well of course!” moments. I actually wasn’t familiar with Webster’s other books, so it was a treat to discover and have an excuse to read those as well.

AB: You're currently writing the fourth installment in which the book club will read Jane Austen. You spent some of your childhood in England. How long did you live there?

HVF: A little over half a year. My dad was an elementary school principal. He got a grant from Harvard to study innovative curriculum. We lived in a tiny village outside of Leicester in a four hundred year old stone cottage with a thatched roof and a pink kitchen. It was the best place ever.

AB: Were there any books you were exposed to in England that you might not otherwise have come across?

HVF: Yes. Arthur Ransome’s fabulous Swallows and Amazons series about some kids up in The Lake district and their adventures with a sailboat. Also E. Nesbit- specifically The Railway Children.

AB: How old were you when you lived in England?

HVF: I was eleven, just like the girls at the start of The Mother Daughter Book Club series. I was such a romantic. Down the street were the ruins of the castle where Lady Jane Grey lived. There was a part of me that still believed in magic and thought that maybe there could really be something lurking out there in the ivy covered stone walls. In the fourth installment of The Mother Daughter Book Club, my character Emma and her family will live in England for a year- in my old house!

AB: Will you write about the pink kitchen?

HVF: Absolutely!

AB: I’m excited to read it already! In The Mother Daughter Book Club series, you write from the perspective of each of the four girls (Emma, Jess, Cassidy and Megan) in the book club. Could you tell me about your process of defining each character?

HVF: I started by rereading Little Women and that gave me the idea for four characters for the series. The March girls are very different. Jo is a tomboy; Amy is artistic, Meg is very conscious of social stratification, and Beth is a homebody. I thought that would be a good thing to echo. I try not to edit a first draft too much. You can strangle yourself if you try to get it perfect. Then in the revision process, I really tried to sharpen the different voices among the girls.

AB: You’ve wanted to be a writer since childhood. What particular influences led you on this path?

HVF: My family of bookworms. At a typical Vogel family gathering, we’d all be sitting on the sofa reading! My father read to me and my sisters every single night before bed. As soon as I could sign my name, I got a library card. I remember that shiver of excitement I’d always get entering a library, that distinct library smell, and the feeling that there was always something waiting for me there to take home and read and treasure. I devoured books growing up. When I was seven or eight, I had the ambition to read through everything in the children’s section, A-Z. I started on the first shelf. But that didn’t last long, because pretty soon I got into sports biographies- no, thank you! I’ve always lived within walking distance of a library.

AB: Has that been intentional?

HVF: When my husband and I were looking for houses, the first thing I would do was check out the library. A well-supported library told me a lot about the town.

AB: Any other influences?

In college I took a course on children’s literature. Marjorie Hamlin, the librarian who taught the class at Principia College, changed the course of my life. She was amazing and remains a dear friend to this day. She reintroduced me to books I had read when I was young, and introduced me to new writers. I remember sitting outside one day on the grass reading Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising thinking this was what I wanted to do.

AB: When did you first start writing?

HVF: I wrote my first novel when I was 12 at summer camp and my first novel as an adult after college when I lived in Cologne, Germany on a Fulbright scholarship. I like to joke that I was their distribution requirement. Everyone else with a Fulbright was from the Ivy Leagues and I was this little squirt from a college that no one had ever heard of in the Midwest. It was really wonderful. I still have good friends from that year.

I was kind of homesick off and on so just like at summer camp, I took refuge in writing. I wrote a tween middle grade novel. I came back to the U.S. and sent it to Houghton Mifflin. Of course, I got a rejection letter. But at that point, there was no SCBWI and I was too young and naïve to know there was a difference between a good rejection and a bad rejection. All I saw was, “Your book isn’t right for our lists.” I paid no attention to the next paragraph that went on to praise the things they liked about it and they asked if I had anything else!

AB: Do you still have that letter?

HVF: Yes, and it breaks my heart to some degree, but that was what propelled me into journalism because I had to find a way -- other than my dream of writing fiction -- to earn a living. I started off as a copy kid and worked my way up the ranks. And that was the best thing that could have happened then. It taught me wonderful skills. It matured me and ripened me for when I sat down to write again after twenty years.

AB: Can you tell me about your career as a journalist?

HF : I began at The Christian Science Monitor. I did various features writing jobs for them, was the assistant living page editor, and became the children's book review editor. I did that for about five years. After the kids were born and I was home, I started reviewing for Publisher’s Weekly. I would get various assignments interviewing an author, or writing big roundup pieces about things like trends in garden books. I worked there for 15 years and was a contributing editor by the end. I consider Publisher’s Weekly my graduate school because I read thousands of books working for them. And it was a delight. I saw what worked, and what didn’t.

AB: Let’s talk about your inspirations for your other two book series. Neil Gaiman wrote on his blog, “You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.”

HVF: Exactly. Most of us carry little notebooks with us, because ideas come at very strange times. Mine often come in church or in the shower. Once I burnt a pot of soup when I went to write something down, but I had to or I’d never remember it!

AB: The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed was your first published book. What was your kernel of inspiration for the Patience Goodspeed series?

HVF: Pure serendipity. I was researching my genealogy and discovered that there was a branch of my family who were whalers living on Nantucket Island. An ancestor of mine ran away from the family farm and went to sea when he was fifteen. I had been force fed Moby Dick in high school and hated it, but I started reading general books about life at sea in the whaling industry and was fascinated. These voyages would last two to three years at a time in order to fill the hold with enough oil. That’s a long time to be away from the family. If you had a game wife, you took her and the kids and raised them at sea. There was a whole society of whaling families at sea.

AB: Why did you decide that the main character Patience would be a girl?

HVF: The main character was originally a boy, but then I found out that there were many girls at sea, many bright women who were bored out of their minds because there was nothing there for them to do, so they learned to navigate. That gave me the idea for the character of Patience.

AB: I assume you were somewhat connected to the publishing world at that point, having worked for Publisher’s Weekly. Was it easy to find a publisher?

HVF: You’d think so, but no. Reviewing books is a separate thing from the world of publishing. It’s like standing outside a bakery. You don’t know how the pies are made at the back of the shop. I had connections with writers, which was lovely, but not with publishers or editors- the back of the shop.

I got a grant from Oregon Literary Arts, and I just can’t sing their praises enough. It’s such a boost for a writer to submit something and have somebody say, “We’ll give you money so you can finish it.” The day I wrote the novel's last sentence, I burst into tears from that sense of completion and the fact that I knew in my bones I’d written something good.

But then what to do with it? A friend suggested I send it to her editor, Kevin Lewis at Simon & Schuster. I did, and he called me back a short time later and said, “Your writing is wonderful. I love your characters; however, nothing happens in the first hundred pages.” I had left out the plot! He very generously gave me a lesson in plot over the phone and poured out his ideas of what we could do. I polished the manuscript up, sent it off, and they bought it.

AB: Let’s talk about your second series. Spy Mice: Goldwhiskers has been nominated for the 2010 Massachusetts Children’s Book Award. Congratulations! It’s the third title in your Spy Mice series. Can you tell us about the evolution of Spy Mice?

HVF: The initial idea was sparked by a newspaper story I read about building The Spy Museum in Washington, DC. I thought instantly of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and had a goose bump moment: why not set a story in The Spy Museum? I have learned over the years to pay attention to those goose bump moments. Because when something really resonates with me, chances are it will with readers as well. I clipped out the article and saved it. I didn’t add the mouse element until years later when I finally sat down to write the story.

AB: Sally Wern Comport illustrated the US editions and Adam Stower for the UK publications. How might this affect how your work is received?

HVF: For me, it’s fascinating how Sally and Adam have such different visions of my story. As for affecting my work, if I were Empress of the World, I would make sure all middle grade fiction had illustrations in it!

AB: Speaking of illustrations, you’ve got two picture books coming out next year.

HVF: Babyberry Pie (Harcourt, 2010) and Hide and Squeak (Simon & Schuster, 2010) are bedtime books, both written in rhyme. Babyberry Pie likens the bathtime-and-getting-ready-for-bed ritual to making a pie- popping a “babyberry” into a pie crust (under the bedcovers), etc. Hide and Squeak recounts the evasion tactics of a little one who doesn’t want to go to bed. In this case, the little one is a mouse who leads his daddy on a wild chase through the house before finally getting caught.

AB: I understand that Amy Schwartz is illustrating Babyberry Pie and C.F. Payne is illustrating Hide and Squeak. I love their work.

HVF: I scored big with both of them! I can’t wait to see their final results, because with picture books, I do not have a preconceived notion of what they should look like. I’m not an artistic soul. I can’t even draw stick figures.

AB: Is your picture book creative process different from your novel writing?

HVF: Picture books are a mystery to me. Mem Fox once wrote, “Writing a picture book is like writing War and Peace in haiku,” which is true. The initial ideas for mine come to me almost complete, like a gift left on my doorstep in a nice little basket. Then it’s up to me to wrestle them into the bath and clean them up a bit.

AB: Is there a book that you feel you’re most proud of writing?

HVF: That’s like asking parents who is their favorite child, but to some degree, I’d say the first one I wrote: The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed. Just getting to the end was such a sense of accomplishment. But I’ve really enjoyed writing each book.

AB: What are you reading these days?

HVF: I’ve usually got a couple of biographies going. Right now, I’ve got one about P.L. Travers who wrote Mary Poppins, and one about P.G. Wodehouse; one of my favorite authors. And right now, I’m mired in stacks of books about Jane Austen, which is no hardship for me. I really like the research process. No matter what book I’m writing, I manage to find a research angle.

I’ve also read some recent middle grade fiction: Roseanne Perry’s Heart of a Shepherd. I loved that book. I highly recommend it. To add another MG rave to the mix, I read Richard Peck’s The River Between Us over the weekend (-yes, I know, I was supposed to be working on my own book, but I got distracted, what can I say?) He is truly an amazing writer. Can I be him when I grow up?

AB: An implicit part of being a children’s writer is touring schools and libraries and talking with other readers. Is that a part of your job that you enjoy?

HVF: Very much so. I love doing school visits. There’s a real energy that comes from talking to kids. What I never could have foreseen is that I’m now frequently asked to talk with mother daughter book clubs across the country by using Skype, but locally sometimes in person. At the age of eleven or twelve, readers are right on the cusp of adulthood. There’s sweet innocence combined with wit and savvy. Maybe it fills my need for a daughter, since I’ve got two boys!

AB: What do your sons think of your writing- are they supportive?

HVF: Yes! When my older son read the first Patience book he said, “Mom, that last part was so exciting, I forgot you wrote it.” That was the best compliment ever.

AB: Do you find yourself giving advice to young burgeoning writers?

HVF: I love responding to fan mail and email. I tell them to read. That’s the most important tip at that age, because they’re little sponges capable of soaking up beautiful language. I share the trick about keeping a notebook handy, and to not put too much pressure on themselves. They just should be having fun with it. I suggest that they find a writing partner to have someone to read things to.

AB: Heather, thank you so much for talking with me today. I have one last question: what advice do you wish someone would have offered you when you set out on your writing journey?

HVF: Just relax- you’re going to get there. Keep on course, your eye on the horizon, enjoy your life now. Enjoy time with your family. I think sometimes writers have a tendency to think all will be great once they get published, but it isn’t the Holy Grail. Real life is more important. Writing is a gift that I have to give. But life is bigger than just art.

Benjamin James Watson: Going Places

I'd like to take time out from my own writing to shine a spotlight on Benjamin James Watson, a fellow burgeoning writer from the Pacific Northwest. Ben's debut book The Boy Who Went Ape (The Blue Sky Press, 2008) is an entertaining tale of a boy whose behavior is generally so bad that his teacher does not notice when a chimpanzee takes his place during a field trip. The main character's name is also Benjamin. Coincidence? I think not.

Originally from Port Townsend, Washington, Ben now resides in Victoria, B.C. with his wife Amy where he's working on his novel and posting true confessions about his days as a children's picture book model on his blog: I, uh, think I killed my muse . But living north of the border didn't stop Ben from traveling stateside to participate in the Tenth Annual Pacific Northwest Children’s Book Conference. Being a tad short on cash, I found myself living vicariously through Ben's report. He generously took the time to answer my onslaught of questions about his book, the conference, the publishing process, what inspires him to write, and Marla Frazee's excellent table manners.

AB: Congratulations on the publication of The Boy Who Went Ape (The Blue Sky Press, 2008).” My kids and I really enjoyed it. What led you to write this story?

BJW: Thank you very much! I like your kids already. This story started with my editor Bonnie Verburg looking at another story of mine. She had accepted that one but it never made it through the acquisitions committee. So, she asked me if I could write a naughty monkey book for boys. I asked her if she knew who she was talking to. Of course I could! Right up my alley.

The first inspiration and challenge I thought about was Curious George. How does anyone do a proper monkey book, particularly a naughty monkey book and still tell a unique story after those amazing books did it so well? Another source of inspiration for me was Blueberries For Sal and Mark Twain's The Prince and The Pauper. The switcheroo story line. I also wanted to express through my character something about the boy who just can't sit still. Not because he's bad, but because he's a boy who just wants to move and be free, not sit quiet in a chair in a classroom. I sure felt that way at times. At other times I loved school too, so I don't have an agenda against teachers or school at all. I've even spent a little time on the other side of the classroom.

AB: What was the time line between kernel of an idea to publication? Were there any major events along the way?

BJW: Wow. It took a long time. For one, my dad was still finishing up The Night Before Christmas illustrations and then got caught up in all the marketing and mayhem from its success. One week it reached the New York Times Bestseller List, and my dad had included Port Townsend people and places in the book, so locally it really took off. He nearly signed his heiney off. There was also a hook up just before it was being sent to the printers. One of the images showed a bank robber with a tommy gun, who at first, sorta looked like a college student (my dad had used my brother as a model- thanks, Jess!) Right before it was sent to the printer, the Virginia Tech shooting happened. One of the higher ups put on the brakes and said it needed to be changed. That missed the deadline and pushed it back one more year. I think at least four years, but I could be wrong. Maybe a little less.

AB: Were there any challenges (literary, psychological, emotional, psychosocial, logistical, metaphysical- I’m getting carried away here) in bringing it to life?

BJW: Yes, the metaphysical challenges were incredibly difficult. There was a ghost that would unplug my keyboard whenever I walked out of the room. Pesky metaphysical challenges.

AB: What’s it like collaborating with your father? What else has your dad worked on?

BJW: Collaborating with your father is like doing a potato sack race with him. You gotta fall down a lot and skin your knees, learn how to communicate, curse a little, and then you sort it out and start to race. For me it was a special honor to publish my first book with my name right next to my dad's. We had built up to this book with a few practice collaborations; one was a retelling of The Lion and the Mouse. That was our first attempt and we had to learn to trust each other to do our own jobs. That didn't just happen. We had to have some great fights. My dad [Richard Jesse Watson] has published a lot of books for around twenty years. Tom Thumb and The Night Before Christmas were two of his best known in the children's book field. Also, The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Rorious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake book by Nancy Willard, The Dream Stair by Betsy James, The Waterfall's Gift by Joanne Ryder, and his best-selling book, One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham, to name a few.

AB: Last week you were in Portland attending the Tenth Annual Pacific Northwest Children’s Book Conference. What were you hoping to accomplish there? Can you tell us a bit about the event itself?

BJW: I was hoping to get a better handle on my novel. Mission accomplished! It is a brilliant conference (to use Harry Potter speak) located at the peaceful Reed College in Portland. It is around fifty attendees with around ten faculty. You do the math. And if you're really smart, you stay on campus instead of commute, so you can eat with all the faculty and other writers as well as walk back and forth from meals/classes and talk about writing, illustrating or publishing. It has an advantage over the biggest conferences because the faculty are more relaxed, not feeling swarmed, so their guards are down. Incredible.

AB: I'm suffering from major conference envy right now. Which seminars were you most looking forward to? Did they meet your expectations?

BJW: I was looking forward to David Gifaldi's presentation on mining your memory with senses (or something like that) because his reputation had preceded him but I'd never met him before. He made the Mark Twain Award Master List too [for One Thing for Sure, Clarion Books, 1986] which pricked up my ears. It was great.

AB: Please share a seed of what you’ve gleaned from each member of the faculty.

Arthur Levine
BJW: Arthur was already my pal, but I was lucky enough to be the only one to be critiqued by him. He really helped me figure out the spine of my story and gave me great assignment to battle perfectionism.

Bonny Becker
BJW: Bonny is a story structure whiz. A Visitor For Bear is SOLID. No flaws in that story.

Susan Blackaby
BJW: Suz is another pal. She is a hilarious speaker who used to write for Garrison Keiller. 'Nuff said.

Marla Frazee
BJW: Marla is also a friend. Inspiring, humble, beautiful, stylish Caldecott Honor winner. Her next book might be better too.

David Gifaldi
BJW: Thoughtful, generous, writer/teacher. My small group critique leader and a fine writer.

Ann Whitford Paul
BJW: Got her new book, Writing Picture Books! Been hoping she'd do this for a while. Buy it.

Susan Goldman Rubin
BJW: Spunky, spunky, spunky. Smart and loves read.

Linda Urban
BJW: Genius who came up with "figuring out your story's spine". How to battle perfectionism. REALLY helpful to me. Funny too.

Elsa Warnick
BJW: Nice, interesting illustrator. I didn't get any of her talks because I was on the writer track.

Linda Zuckerman
BJW: Amazing woman. Tenth anniversary conference this year with her at the helm. Great editor, good writer. Old school editor that published Trina Schart Hyman. Yeah.

AB: Here's a perverse fan question: What’s it like to dine with Marla Frazee?

BJW: I have told Marla for years that she is the most stylish artist I have ever seen. She laughs at this because she says her boys would disagree. Marla is a good chewer. She somehow finds a stylish way to eat and talk with grace and a smile. West Coast girl all the way. Pasadena girl all the way.

AB: But seriously, Ben, back to you: What led you to write for young readers?

BJW: I never grew up. And I've been addicted to books since before I could read. You could also say that Sal's fist in the pail of blueberries, Ferdinand the bull smelling the pretty ladies flowers in their hair, and Samwise battling Shelob to protect his master all made me write. My emotions to those images have never faded.

AB: What and/or who has been most helpful to you in developing your craft?

BJW: Arthur Levine, my wife, my family.

AB: What about children's fiction appeals to you?

BJW: Less pretentious. Not so full of crap.

AB: What did you read as a child? (Did you read?)

BJW: Grab a chair, we'll be here for a while. Here's some biggies: Tolkien, James Herriott (or James Alfred Wight in real life), Jim Kjelgaard, Mark Twain and many other things.


AB: What advice do you have for those interested in writing/ illustrating a picture book?

BJW: Join SCBWI. Writing a picture book is like filming an advertisement. You have so little time, every word must matter. Keep it under 700 words (around). Don't give details, suggest them, it is going to be illustrated. You provide the spine of your story, the illustrator will extrapolate and tell their own part of the story. Don't fall in love with just one story. Finish it, then keep writing.

AB: What advice do you wish someone would offer you?

BJW: Get to work. Don't be a perfectionist. Focus on the emotional plot more than the external plot.

AB: What do you do when you're not writing?

BJW: Take Linus [Ben's dog] for walks with or without my cool wife. Watch tons of movies. I love going to the movies. Bike rides.

AB: Do you have a favorite children's/YA book out this year? If so, what makes you like it so much?

BJW: Tough question. I haven't read either yet but will soon, I'm expecting it to be Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan or Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor and Jim DiBartolo (fall 2009 release).

AB: What can your fans look forward to next? What’s in the wings?

BJW: My long suffering novel is coming around, slowly but surely. Some of my critique groups have likened it to Stand By Me, though I wouldn't presume that. Eventually my brother and I are going to do a picture book collaboration about brotherhood.

AB: Thanks so much, Ben!

BJW: Thank you Amy! Lovely town you live in and I enjoy your blog.

Eric Kimmel, Teller of Tales

Extra: Eric describes the art of
his grandmother's storytelling.

At 1 pm on July 23rd at A Children’s Place, author Eric Kimmel will showcase his latest book The Three Little Tamales (Marshall Cavendish, 2009). I’ve fed my children heaping servings of Eric Kimmel’s books. Eric’s original stories, historical fiction, and playful folktale adaptations are loaded with the goodness of a well-rounded meal, but basted with flavor like the best Texas barbecue. My kids always come back for seconds. And thirds.

Author of nearly 100 titles, Eric’s work appears on school and library recommended lists. He has garnered many awards, including the Caldecott Honor Medal for Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Holiday House, 1994), and the Sydney Taylor Picture Book Award for both The Chanukkah Guest (Holiday House, 1992) and Gershon’s Monster (Scholastic Press, 2000).

Last Thursday, Eric strolled over to my home to sit down with me and discuss his work. (You can hear a snippet by clicking the button above.) We talked about his nomination for the 2010 Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award, his fondness for Texas, how a writer can go out of print over a weekend, raising vampires (!), and that age old question: who is more important: the writer or the illustrator?

AB: Congratulations on the Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice nomination for A Picture for Marc (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2007). I’m interested in learning the history behind its publication.

EK: That story really begins with the one that came before in that series, A Horn for Louis, which I originally wrote as a picture book. My agent suggested I expand it a bit and make it a chapter book. We did and Stepping Stones picked it up. They liked the theme of a defining moment in somebody’s life. For the second book, I came across this anecdote about Chagall; that he’d never even known that drawing or art existed until he was well into school.

AB: I particularly liked the way you emphasized the bleakness of the landscape in Chagall’s hometown Vitebsk. It contrasted so nicely with the pictures that stemmed from his imagination.

EK: It really is a bleak place – flat, swampy – it was a good place to be from [laughing]. But the spark to be an artist can come from anywhere. On a personal note, what I liked about A Picture for Marc is that when I was growing up, considering a career in the arts was on level with being a bum. And most parents have that attitude.

AB: What led you to write A Horn for Louis?

EK: Louis Armstrong used to carry a typewriter around with him and between shows he would peck away. In New Orleans, I picked up some of his manuscripts in the library of Queens College and they really make great reading. He was a very vivid writer. And you know what comes through in his work? Everybody’s poor, but what are you going to do about it? You do what you have to do and hope that things will get better. But quitting was not a possibility.

AB: Do you have any new books that will be out on the shelves soon?

EK: A Spotlight for Harry. It’s the third in my Stepping Stone early chapter book series- this one about Harry Houdini’s defining moment. It focuses on when Houdini decided he wanted to be a performer. He goes to the circus and tries to hang in the air by his teeth on a rope. Of course, he loses some teeth in the process!

AB: What did you read as a child?

EK: I read everything. Science. Dinosaurs. Animals. And I loved fairy tales. I read my Grimm over and over until it fell apart. Robert Louis Stevenson. I can’t tell you how many times I read Treasure Island. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. One of my favorite writers was a British Victorian writer nobody reads anymore named H. Rider Haggard [who wrote] King Solomon’s Mines and Allan Quatermain -lurid adventure stuff. I mean, for a high school boy, this was like raw meat.

AB: Do you have any advice for young readers?

EK: Just find a book and if you’re into it, you’ll know by the first chapter if you want to read more. If you don’t, toss it aside! There are plenty more books in the world; why spend your time with a book that you don’t like?


AB: How do stories come to you? How do you practice the craft? Do you have a set schedule?

EK: No. I’m lazy. I write when I write. Something will catch my attention. For example, with Little Britches and The Rattlers (Marshall Cavendish, 2008), it’s [a retelling of] Little Black Sambo. Little Black Sambo in its original format is racist. There’s no point in defending that. But there’s a great story in it. Jerry Pinkney and Julius Lester interpreted it in their way [in Sam and the Tigers]. So I wanted to get the kernel out of that story myself. I wanted my crack at it. But in order to do that, I needed an angle. In the original story, the main character’s a boy, so I made it a girl. My Texas stories seem to do well, so I set it down in Texas. I ride horses, so I made the main character a rodeo girl, like the rodeo queens in [Portland’s] Rose Parade. So she’s off to the Rodeo and then enters the “Sambo format”. She meets a snake, ends up in a tree, comes to the gulch, and there the rattlers are. So here’s the problem: in Helen Bannerman’s book [The Story of Little Black Sambo] the tigers just chase each other around the base of the tree until they turn to melted butter. Well, that’s not going to work in the middle of Texas. How are we going to get rid of these snakes? So I go back to Joseph Campbell and that powerful image in mythology of the snake swallowing its tail and make the snakes swallow each other up! It’s kind of a metaphysical solution, but she gets to the rodeo and wins first prize! So a lot of writing isn’t something that you consciously work out; you’re drawing on your subconscious. Everything you are, everything you’ve ever experienced, comes to the encounter with the story.

AB: Have you sent any adapted folktales in to publishers lately?

EK: One called Jack’s Giant Barbecue, another one set in Texas. Jack has a barbecue, a giant stole his daddy’s recipe, and he’s got to go up to the giant’s barbecue shack in the sky to steal it back. Initially, I wrote that the giant falls straight into Jack’s smoker; Jack smokes him up, and serves him as barbecue! But my editor did not go for that. She said, “No cannibalism!” I said, “Why not? It’s in Robinson Crusoe!” So my editor suggested that the giant work for Jack, and I said, “Yeah, that works for me.” Now they work together and the giant tends the smoker. So I wrote it and sent it off and maybe it’ll be a book. I don’t know!

AB: You’ve got a thing for food from The Lone Star State!

EK: The people are wonderful; the food’s great, and like Oregonians, Texans love books. They’ve got the Texas Library Association. Texas has been very good to me over the years.

AB: Could you talk a bit about your submissions process?

EK: It depends on the book. I’ve been in the business so long, I know a lot of editors. You get a sense of what they like and send certain stories to certain editors. But it’s getting tougher and tougher to sell. People are always astounded when I tell them the fact that I’m writing doesn’t mean that I’m going to get it to print. I’ve got plenty of things that I think are pretty good that never went anywhere. So that raises another issue: we’re in a digital age. And if we’re talking about a digital book, what exactly does a publisher do? You put a book on a website; you can put it on a Kindle. It has never been easier to create your own book. The problem is: how do you get paid? Today’s changes in the industry are as big as the changes in the days of Gutenberg. Everything is different. You get your book on line, you’re there! Now, the question is, how do people find you? The whole industry is in a kind of chaos. It mirrors the recording industry. The world is changing, kids are changing, books have changed, the old model doesn’t work anymore and no one really knows what the new model is.

AB: Is Kindle the future of picture books?

EK: Good question. My generation would probably have a hard time getting used to one. But kids my grandson’s age going into first grade, and your kids, that doesn’t bother them at all. They spend hours looking at a computer screen. They’re quite happy to get a book electronically.

AB: I think my children wouldn’t be, actually. But then again, my idea of home decorating is a stack of books in each room. Probably that’s not most people's ideal.

EK: True. And publishers don’t know what to do about this. Schools and libraries, which used to be a good portion of the market, have had their funding slashed. More and more school districts have no librarian. Even [our neighborhood school, Beverly Cleary School] has to fight. But a library contributes to the program. The librarian is the one who steers kids to books. A good librarian makes the books come alive.

AB: Did you ever serve as a librarian?

EK: I was a public librarian as an adjunct, living on St. Thomas. My first job out of college. It was lovely! When I was in graduate school and taking classes in children’s literature, I had a wonderful teacher, Winnie Ladley. She taught me everything I knew about children’s literature. Not just the books but the attitude. She said, “OK. Decide right now: do you want to be in the children’s room or the rare book room? In the rare book room, the books are more important than the patrons because they’re extremely valuable and they’re one of a kind and have to be protected from the patrons. In the children’s room, the children are more important than the materials. And if the materials are doing their job, they’re going to be used up, consumed, left out in the rain, eaten by the dog.” She also said that you can always tell a good children’s library. It’s simple. It’s a place where children like to go.

AB: Just like our Hollywood branch of the Multnomah County Library.

EK: Absolutely. We’re blessed with the resources that we have. And my hope is that it will go on and on. What we have [in Portland] is extremely precious. These libraries that we have here didn’t drop out of the sky. We support them passionately. The books are here. It’s a matter of will and valuing them. And we have A Children’s Place, just a short walk away up on Fremont, with their kind of collection and their staff that knows everything. There are big cities that don’t have anything like that.

AB: You've frequently mentioned that you grew up listening to your grandmother tell stories from her heritage, and that this influenced you to become a storyteller. One of your Eastern European stories that I believe you first heard from her is now a family favorite of ours: Gershon’s Monster (Scholastic Press, 2000).

EK: Oh, Gershon’s Monster. It’s a creepy one!

AB: Made even creepier by Jon J Muth’s illustrations.

EK: He did a brilliant job. He’s a brilliant illustrator. I was so fortunate to get him.

AB: You’ve worked with so many wonderful illustrators…

EK: Most people think the author and the artist work very closely together [but] they have nothing to do with each other! I got to know Jon after the book came out, when we happened to be together at a couple of conferences. But my job was to write the text, and then he went ahead and did the illustrations. And if he had a question, he didn’t ask me.

Trina Schart Hyman [illustrated Eric’s book Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, Holiday House, 1994, for which she won a Caldecott Honor] explained it to me. You have some of the top graphic artists in the country. The artist will approach the story with a vision and they work out of that vision. It’s not necessarily mine, but when people ask if it bothers me, then I say, well, then I’ll have the obligation of going to art school!

AB: Are you generally happy with the vision of the illustrators, even if it doesn’t match yours?

EK: I’ve published close to 100 books and I would say 99% I’ve been very pleased with; and with the remaining percent, I’ve been astounded and amazed. With Gershon’s Monster, the story is about water and Jon’s specialty is watercolor. The book starts, and it’s like you’re flying over the sea towards the town. I had nothing to do with that. That’s him. And he creates the story where the kids are at the beach and they have a sand pail. Well, the actual story takes place around 1780 in Romania. The kids aren’t walking around with beach toys. But that’s a case where historical accuracy is irrelevant. What counts is the now-ness of the story.

AB: How he tied your readers into the now-ness of the story with seemingly simple details like that. But he derived all of that imagery from your words.

EK: Well, Janet Stevens and I always have this argument. We’re friends; she illustrates the Anansi series, and she’s very funny. We ask: who’s most important? I say the author, because without the text, there’s nothing to draw. Janet disagrees, and says the text is just a pile of paper. Who’s gonna pay $17 bucks for that? It’s all about the pictures! But the truth is, it’s an irrelevant question, because it works as a whole.

AB: Because a picture book in its form needs both. And that’s the beauty of it.

EK: Gershon’s Monster is not for tiny children. And I pretty much write for 2nd grade on up. And when you get to the upper extreme of the picture book, enter the graphic novel. The idea that picture books are for tiny children who aren’t able to read yet is nonsense because everybody loves pictures.

AB: I couldn’t agree with you more. I learned to read Japanese through manga and now I’m glad to see that graphic novels are successfully marketed in the U.S. But I have heard that picture books are suffering.

EK: It’s hard. This is an industry that traditionally sold to mainly schools and libraries, which no longer receive adequate funding. Now who really buys them? Not kids, but parents and the grandparents. So marketing picture books does not end up being cutting edge.

AB: You’ve seen the industry fluctuate.

EK: It’s a schizophrenic industry with one foot in the toy world with the next best thing vs. the literary world. If there’s an audience for quality, you’ll get quality, but right now that audience is getting smaller. A Newbery or Caldecott medal is worth how much in sales? A few hundred thousand dollars, unless it’s a big breakout. But in the publishing world, that’s peanuts. How many copies of Twilight were sold? You’re talking about millions. Nothing in a Caldecott or a Newbery gets close to that. And the Twilight books have terrific covers.

AB: They do.

EK: The covers are marvelous. That chess piece.

AB: And you’ve explained to me that Stephenie Meyer probably had little or nothing to do with that cover art.

EK: She was lucky!

AB: Very lucky. When my children were babies, everyone was buying crib mobiles that were black, white and red, for visual stimulation, and…

EK: …you’ll raise a vampire! [laughing] A great cover can make a book and a crappy cover can kill a book.

AB: How did you first land an editor?

EK: Dumb luck. It was hard in 1968 when I was starting, and it’s ten times harder now. We had more publishers back then, and they would read unsolicited manuscripts, and that is no longer the case. I went through Writer’s Market and looked for who was buying, which was magazines. I wrote everything. Detective stories, western stories – the last days of the pulps. I was writing true confessions, science fiction, all them god-awful! In fact, I found some of these old manuscripts and thought they were vile! I don’t want my name on them anymore! I was getting good at the true confessions/ romance genre because the editors started sending feedback in their [rejection] letters. If I kept with it, I could have been the king of Harlequin romances! But my mother sent me an ad from the New York Times. Harper and Row was looking for people to write children’s books. This is because there was federal money around for libraries.

AB: When was that?

EK: The late 60’s. The last of The Great Society. Can you imagine a publisher taking out an ad like that today? So I wrote something, sent it to Harper and Row, they gave me a lot of really good feedback, but I was so green that I looked at the two-page letter and all I saw was rejection. So I sent it out again to one of the great editors of our time, Ferd Monjo at Coward McCann, and he accepted it and revised that thing for the next four years. But it was a lot of hard work. The Tartar’s Sword (Coward McCann, 1974) was a lot of fun to write. It’s not a horrid book, considering that I didn’t know what I was doing! It does have its charm. I just got a letter from a kid in Texas who found it at a yard sale and wrote to me how much she enjoyed it. So I guess it wasn’t all that bad! I learned how to be a writer from Ferd Monjo. Then I did another one with him, and then Coward McCann’s warehouse burnt down and I was out of print over the weekend.

AB: Because the warehouse burnt down?

EK: Yeah, the books were gone and they weren’t going to reprint them. [laughing] Welcome to the world of publishing! That’s why I say to new writers, “You don’t know pain!”

AB: Earlier in our interview, you talked about Louis Armstrong having to keep going in A Horn for Louis. Now that rings true in your life as well.

EK: Yeah! You keep going! You spend years writing a chapter book or novel and it goes nowhere. You put your blood into it and it may well be your best but nobody cares!

AB: So, it’s the journey?

EK: It’s the journey, that’s right. You come to a kind of honesty that’s between you and that blank screen. One of my favorite quotes is from the editor Margery Cuiler. “Show me something new and wonderful that I haven’t already seen ten times today and I’ll send you a contract.” Do your craft. Do your art. Like the people in Saturday Market or someone with a guitar in Pioneer Square. Start! Do it.

AB: What do you say to burgeoning writers?

EK: There’s only one thing you can count on: if you have a story to tell, then write it. And what will be will be and if you want it in print, post it. Send it out. Send it to your friends. Or, put it in a drawer. It’s your choice. The joy has to come from the act of creation. And that’s a whole other world. You’re with the characters, on their adventure, having a good time. I’ve got tons of stuff I wrote that has never gone anywhere, but in fact, I think it’s some of my best work.

AB: You’re talking about the intrinsic value of a piece versus the marketability of it.

EK: Yeah. And those are two different things. And my answer is you just keep writing. You might get lucky and get a good cover! [laughing] And a movie deal!

Tribute to a "Wicked Angel"

James Marshall is my hero. So is his "cousin"/pen name Edward Marshall, a pseudonym he created to bypass contract obligations when he created the Fox series. The depth of character Marshall created with his deceptively simple lines and spare yet rich text thrill me. He was the master of the picture book form. I found this lovely tribute written by his friend Maurice Sendak. Perhaps you've heard of him? I felt compelled to share, and hope that you enjoy it.

In the meantime, I'll keep cracking the whip. Caffeinate, write, revise- in that order.

Have a lovely, creative day!