Travel Travails

Three weeks ago my dear friend Kirsten Cappy came to Michigan to interview Badge Velasquez and a few other guys from Bikers For Books, a charity promoting literacy for the youth in my area.

Charlie and I saw her at the Bikers For Books Rally on Sept. 10, and then again the next day at the Kerrytown BookFest in Ann Arbor.

Thank you to Bookbound for selling my books at the Kerrytown BookFest!

Charlie and I had dinner that second day with Kirsten Cappy, Matt Faulkner, Kris Remenar, Nancy Shaw, Pamela Patterson, Denise Fleming and husband David Powers and daughter Indigo Powers,

Also at the BookFest: Kelly DiPucchio, Shanda Trent, Heidi Woodward Sheffield, Nick and Ashley Adkins, Isabel O'Hagin, and wonderful SCBWI-Michigan webmaster and brilliant Austin-to-Ann Arbor transplant Debbie Gonzales,
I'm probably forgetting a few writers and illustrators. If that sounds like a lot of name-dropping, it is because they're smart creatives and I feel lucky to know them all.

At the end of the BookFest we walked Kirsten back to her car. 

She was on time to get to the airport, but she reported that her photographer friend Fred had not telescoped the camera tripod for air travel before he left, and she couldn't get that last leg to fold down on her own. 

She went through TSA with that very suspicious-looking tripod, but first endured extra searches and pat-downs and scrutiny. 

Now late for her flight, she ran through the airport with her unfolded tripod, to the obvious shock and dismay of many of the travelers.

As she related the story to me the next day I couldn't help but laugh... and draw it up for her.

This weird thing about time racing past

Chatting with a friend just now made me think: I am older than I expected to get. 
When I was a teen looking forward to the millennium change in 1999 I was disappointed that I'd be an old lady, barely able to enjoy it. The millennium change was 17 years ago. I enjoyed it JUST FINE. Ahem. 

What would my teen self think of me now? 
She wouldn't approve of my short hair or my body, but she'd like my studio and work. 
She'd want to be friends with my kids. 
She would think today's Charlie is a nice old guy, and the Charlie I fell in love with in 1980 was romantic. 
She'd like my dogs. 
She'd think it's weird that I eat vegetables for breakfast. 

She'd think it's cool but not groovy that I became friends with my siblings, 
that I have so many good friends in my life today, 
and that I'm this happy. 
All of this makes me plan what I'll be like in 2046. 
I'd better not disappoint me.

Have you entertained your 17 year old self lately? 
Or your 87 year old self?

This is a page from my sketch-journal when I was 17.

New! The wireless interface for reading!

Check out the above comic by Penny Arcade here:
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/9/

It's all about a new wireless platform for readers.
Can't wait to see more of these in stores and libraries! ;)

Legacy of love

In researching what I hope is the next Ellie McDoodle book, I've found tidbits of information that relate to some of the characters. One is this: Some animals live a very long time in captivity. An iguana in Aruba is 41 years old. Blue and Yellow Macaws live to be about 80.
These are people years, not dog years.
This struck me: What sane person would willingly take on an obligation that will last most of his/her life, nurturing a little creature that is totally dependent for food, love and socialization, even knowing the little creature would outlive the owner? How would you plan for its safety after you die?

Who takes over? It reminded me of something that happened 17 years ago: An elderly neighbor lamented to me that she worried not about her own future, but about her little dog. Who would take care of him when she was gone? Would they even find her dog in time to help it, if she keeled over and died at her house, alone? In my youthful idealism, I assured her we'd check on the dog and make sure he found a good home. Two years later we moved away. I sometimes wonder about that dog. I prefer to believe that, since they lived in the townhouses with lots of neighbors very close by, someone noticed when the woman died and someone took in the dog.

My own family adopted a dog after its owner died. It was not an easy adjustment but we figured it was the right thing to do.
So, who would knowingly acquire a pet that will long outlive them?
For that matter, who would lay the first brick in a cathedral, or set in a trust the first dollar for a benevolent foundation, or embark on a painting career in their 80s, knowing they wouldn't be around to see how it all turned out?
And then I thought, it gets even more mundane. Each of us who is a parent has done exactly that, as has every person in history: We start something hoping it's of sufficient value that the next generation will see it through.
We prepare for the future on faith.
I used to worry that the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 meant the end of the world as well. My husband says maybe it only means the end of Mayan civilization: Maybe an archeological dig will unearth the last of the Mayan culture at that time. Maybe an earthquake will reveal the last lost burial grounds of the Mayan and we might even find we have more in common with them than we thought (calendar aside).
Maybe we'll look back in 2016 and laugh, the same way we laugh at Y2k hysteria.
If people are still having babies and buying Macaws in 2011, that'll be a nice show of faith. :)
As for me, I'll keep building toward a future I won't live to see. I'll keep creating books for generations that don't exist yet -- and I'll somewhat reluctantly keep taking time away from creating books, to nurture the next two generations that do exist right now, my kids and grandkids.
It'll probably always be a struggle to maintain balance, but somehow it'll pay off, eh?

ICL chat with Harold Underdown

Harold Underdown will be guest speaker with reknowned interviewer Jan Fields at The Institute of Children's Literature for an online chat called "Down the Publishing Path" on Thur. May 22 from 8-10 p.m. Eastern.
Go here to join in the chat or to find out more info: chat page.
Email any advance questions for Harold to WebEditor@institutechildrenslit.com.
The 3rd edition of Harold's book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books comes out this month.
I recommend this book everywhere to new writers; I think it's the most useful publication for beginners on how to write books for kids. It's helpful for non-beginners, as well.
I've bought a few copies of it. Mine keep going out on loan.
And -- Harold's an awfully nice guy, very helpful with advice. I've "known" him online for more than a few years in a few writer communities (he's one of those kindly-instructor types: Patient, helpful, never pompous or overbearing), and I remember how excited everyone got when he announced he was writing this book. We all knew this book was desperately needed by the new writer community.

Go to Harold's Purple Crayon website for more detailed info on his book and also for up-to-date information on the children's books publishing industry.

Interested in finding out more about kids' books writing? Check out the amazingly overflowing ICL chat transcripts from years of interviews with experts and experienced writers: Very useful stuff here.

And, check out the transcript from my chat with ICL, about humor, here: Humor in kids' books. It's humorous but informative.

Institute of Children's Literature transcripts

You'll find some great transcripts of chats over at the ICL page.
And you'll also find (ahem) my chat about humor there also.

This Humor chat was a lot of fun to do. Jan Fields, the web editor for ICL and also the moderator of the chat, is downright brilliant. Still, we managed to digress into low-brow humor at times. Slapstick lives!

If you're a writer wondering about some part of the process of writing for kids, check out the index of transcripts dating back to 1999. The sheer breadth of it all will astound you. And sign up for their free Children's Writer e-newsletter. It's packed with useful information.