Childhood aspirations

All this time I thought when I was a little kid I wanted to draw for a living when I grew up (I also remember wanting to be a teacher, a lawyer or an embryologist). See, when you get a book published, people ask what you were like as a kid, and what you aspired to, growing up.
You get all introspective about it, and try to remember.
And what I'd remembered was that, as far back as my brain would cooperate, I was a good writer and a good artist, but writing was my mother's forte and, being territorial, I figured I couldn't write. And so I drew.But my dear friend April just described her work-in-progress and it jolted my brain and suddenly I remembered something wonderful: When I was 7 or 8 I read Eleanor Estes' The Witch Family which I looooved. I read it a zillion times. I remember loving it so much I drew and wrote new scenarios for the witch girls. I longed to write and illustrate a real, published story about little witch girls at school and at home. I knew I couldn't do justice to the idea as a kid. I knew I'd have to become a grownup first.
Incidentally, The Witch Family was nothing like Harry Potter. It was for younger kids, and it had an entirely different sensibility.
Funny that I forgot it all these years.
Funny to suddenly remember why I've liked the name Clarissa all these years, and why bumblebees have never scared me, even though I was stung between the toes when I was 9.
And funny to know now, with absolute certainty, that at age 8 I wanted to grow up and write and illustrate kids' stories for a living.

Of two minds (or maybe it's three)

I sometimes wonder if I have multiple personality issues because on most things I am of at least two minds.Right now I'm happy to be writing this blog piece, here at the computer, but there's a nagging sense I ought to be in the dining room, writing more on my new story idea. When I get back to that, I will become the character, a 5-year-old boy who probably has A.D.D.
When I take a break from that story and turn to the sketch-diary work-in-progress, I'll become a 15-year-old adventurer. And then the next Ellie McDoodle book will beckon and I'll become a 12-year-old girl with all the inner-battling angst and confidence of adolescence. Then I'll bounce over to Marcella, a 6-year-old creative problem-solver. But even while I become those personalities, I still apparently nurture the nasty inner critic who tears apart everything I do. I don't mean to keep feeding her. I'd like for her to waste away, or pack up and visit someone else for a while. Alas, she thrives in my head and has no reason to move on. Actually, I suspect she's been busy reproducing because I hear other negative voices as well.All these characters, mischievous and virtuous, disparaging and uplifting, live simultaneously in my head.
Sometimes they all yell at me at the same time.Sometimes they yell at me at the same time that someone in my real-life family is yelling at me -- and usually the family member is the sort who thinks real-life people deserve priority attention.
It's not always a bad thing to have all these various brains inside me. It's often helpful, like when I am about to start an author presentation at a bookstore. I get butterflies almost to the point of nausea, in advance. Eventually one of the rational brains steps forward and takes control, assuring the others that I've done these visits many dozens of times, I can handle whatever comes up, and in the end the visit will work out well. Usually the other brains settle down and let that brain continue to distract me for the next few hours.Then when the visit is over, the other brains jump back in, bouncing up and down in my head (nausea returns) and I get the urge to run or turn backflips.
I've never in my life done a backflip; I'm sure I wouldn't survive it.
Thankfully, the Zen brain takes over and drives me quietly and calmly back to my home, by which time the backflippers are asleep from the white noise of the highway.
Maybe it's normal to have lots of competing brains inside you, if you're creative. But maybe it's what drove artists and writers insane, throughout history. For my own safety, I'm telling the voices they can stay; what I don't need right now is a full-head mutiny.I have to go. The 5-year-old in my head just woke up and is ready to tell his story.

Does life ever slow down?

Does life ever slow down? And would I want it to? No, and no, I guess.

(from an Attwood Elementary School Field Day 2008 sign; this year's theme was Ellie McDoodle! Last year's was Dr. Suess)

Ellie 2 is out! Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School is on bookstore and library shelves right NOW. Buy it! Borrow it! Read it!

I think it's a better book than the first. The first reviews are in, and they agree. It's the best I could make it... which means there's plenty of room for improvement. ;)

The book launch party at Schuler Books in Eastwood Towne Center last weekend went FANTASTIC. We had more people than chairs -- I was truly heartened (and surprised -- expected about 3 people there, and even told Jim at Schulers to only set up 3 chairs. He laughed and set up 40). My friend Lori reports on the event here.

Ellie and Er-ick play tug-o-war on a sign at the Attwood Field Day

I'm working on a few other book projects right now. When my wonderful-beautiful-brilliant (honestly, she is all that) editor says those magic words, "What do you have for the next Ellie book?" I'll be ready. In the meantime, I'm working on a book for older kids and a book for younger kids.

I've done a zillion sketches this summer, but haven't scanned many in because I've been too busy with other obligations.
Here are two sketches from my cousin's Ordination as a Priest, in May.

It was a fascinating ceremony, held in downtown Detroit at a lovely cathedral. Here's Father Charles, no longer Chuck:

Our car is in the shop, the first loaner car died (same problem as our car, ironically), and now the second loaner car is dead. I'm distressed; I missed a crit group meeting this morning and will probably miss my friend's birthday party this afternoon.

Crying doesn't help, so I'm writing (working on a book about a kid in NYC).

And, when I need a break, I pull pranks on my kid.

I'm laughing at the moment, because she just walked into my studio dressed like me! And talking like me! And it's hysterical.

Got time on your hands because your car isn't working?

Read this: Debbie Diesen's blog

Her book just went into a second printing -- and it's only been out a couple months.

And read this: Ann Finkelstein's blog.

And this one: Lori Van Hoesen's blog.

And check out this site: http://runamokink.com/ That's April.

These are all brilliant writers in my crit group. (Tim, Amy and Kay don't have blogs yet)

I love them so much I put their pictures in my second Ellie book. Page 7.

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.

Working on my studio

The current problem: The studio's too small, too cluttered, and too disorganized.
The plan: Reorganize it. I have two days to make it work, before I need to return to the various works in progress.
The process: Write out my "Wish List," all those things I really want the studio to provide, accommodate, and be. Then figure out what needs to be where. Then move everything into place.
The obstacles: A million other projects, the voice in my head that says to work on something more concrete, limited time, tight finances, tendonitis, Snood.
The rewards: Substantial. No more embarrassment about how the studio looks. And a return to those distant happy days when I loved my studio and found it easy to do any kind of work in it.
The progress: To be announced.

Catching up

I've been working on a new book, and lots of author presentations, and trying to keep up with my kids' busy schedules.
The end of the school year is always so crazy...
Next week I'm off to camp with the fourth graders. I don't expect it to be a vacation. (I'll post the sketches)
Here are a couple from last year's camping trip:

That's me in the bottom right corner, completely exhausted from hiking in the dunes.
Unfortunately I am not in much better shape this year.

Oh, this is too funny. See the date on that last sketch? 2005? It should have been 2007. I guess I really was tired! Funny that nobody apparently noticed. These sketch composites were copied and distributed to the kids who went.

Other Kid Stuff:
My 10-year-old won a local school district writing/illustrating contest. I took a hands-off approach to her entry, because I didn't want to use unfair influence. Besides, she didn't want me involved. She barely let me read her entry.
I'm so proud of her, and how much work she put into her book! She tells me she wants to be a singer when she grows up, but I know her real aptitude is for writing and illustrating. I'm trying to let her discover that for herself.

Tonight my son's fiancee showed me her wedding gown. I'd post pics here (I sketched it and also took photos) but I'm supposed to keep it a secret from him. I won't jinx their happy life, so I'll just say this: It's beautiful. So is she.

My oldest daughter is having a baby in Sept/October, and we've found out it's a girl. Her 5-year-old son is nonchalant. He was hoping for both a boy and a girl, both -- so they could play with each other and leave him alone.
He has a funny sense of humor. He told his teacher he wanted to change his name to Tylenol. He doesn't even know what Tylenol is. I guess he just likes how it sounds.

My middle daughter is home from college. It's fun having her around. She heads back in a month for summer classes. She's hoping to buy an old car, soon, so I don't have to keep driving her. If you have a lead on a cheap car, let me know.

For Mother's Day two of my kids (the middle ones) wrote long letters that made me cry. (Joy, not pain) And the youngest wrote a lovely song which she sang and played many times on her cornet for me. She also gave me a long list of coupons (backrub, clean house, mom/daughter time, all sorts of goodies!). And she made me a beaded bracelet. My oldest bought a game for us all to play on Family Night, and she brought a balloon that plays You Are My Sunshine (amazing what balloons can do, nowadays). That was our song back when she was 2. My son gave me a new digital camera -- I accidentally broke the LCD screen on my fancy camera last month, to my great distress. My future daughter-in-law gave me a necklace. They all took me out to dinner -- Chinese, our favorite.
I am sure I have the best kids in the world, but I'll try not to brag, because it will only make you want to borrow them, and I like having them here.

Author Stuff:
I've done some fun school visits this spring. Elms Road Elementary in Swartz Creek, near Flint, sold 155 copies of Ellie McDoodle! Amazing!! After signing, my hand hurt for a week.

My work-in-progress is officially submitted and looking for a home. It's hard to type with fingers crossed.

My critique group writer friends and I have begun a group blog, here. Most of them have separate blogs also, and they're very entertaining.

More later. Off to bed...

Ellie McDoodle: New Kid on the web

This is so cool. One of my dear writer friends is new to blogging and her first post is a review of my second book, Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School. And it's a well-written review. She happens to like New Kid in School -- which is nice -- but I especially like how she wrote the review. You can tell she's a writer.
I love it when I read something that's so well-written it makes me wish I'd written it.

And, I have to say, it's very nice hearing an opinion on the second book.


I worked in a vacuum for so long, tweaking the book and trying to make it better than the first, and all this time I've been craving feedback. Something other than my editor's comments.
Not that I discount my editor's words - far from it - but she's working on the book, not just reading it for pleasure.
I wanted to hear from a reader. Someone who isn't looking for typos, art snags, or a better way to convey a scene. Now I have, and I am happy.
And, incidentally, this lady is in the book, on page 7, with the rest of my wonderfully amazingly talented and skilled critique group.*

The final copyedits went to press just a couple days ago.
I'm done. The book is done. For better or for worse, it's done.
So now I'm working on the next book. :)
And I just finished my taxes, my kid's FAFSA, the flu, Family Night, some heavy-duty March is Reading Month author visit planning, and I put in some quality time as a parent. That last bit is not to be underestimated. I'm not yet allowed to announce the life changes affecting a few of my kids, but lets just say it's all happy and it doesn't get any bigger.
So now I finally have a window of opportunity to upload the SCBWI Conference sketches from two weeks ago.
That'll be a huge job, but not as big as some of this other stuff has been.
Ahh, life is good.

*except one whom I love dearly, who moved to another state. I felt there were too many people on page 7 and it started to look self-indulgent and I hate that in books and comics, so I pulled her out and put her name on page 10 instead. I'll probably always beat myself up about that. Would one extra person on the page really have been too much? O, the incessant self-analysis. It's proof I am alive. I breathe, therefore I analyze. Anyway, maybe I'll draw her into the next book...

Five Random Things About Me

Fiona Bayrock tagged me to play this game.
Here are 5 random things about me:

1. I'm a pretty good harmonica player.

2. Most of my best friends have died young.

3. I collect cool containers, almost obsessively.

4. I have A.D.D. and it's sometimes a pain to deal with. Oh, look! A chicken!

5. I roll little pieces of Kleenex between my fingers to make tiny balls. I'm compulsive about this -- have been since I was 4. I always figured I was the only person in the world who did it... until my grandson was born. He does it too.

I tag these 5 people: Barb Johansen Newman, Elizabeth Dulemba, Kim Norman, Karen Lee, and Sherry Rogers.

Paco's Book Blog Tour

It's Paco time!

New this week: Paco and the Giant Chili Plant, written by Keith Polette, published by Raven Tree Press, and illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba.
To celebrate, Elizabeth's blogging author/illustrator buddies are sending her on a book blog tour. For my stop in the tour, I've asked her 6 questions. Read her answers, below, and then check out the other station stops in her tour.
And buy her book!
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1. Which title do you take more pride in, author or illustrator?
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I was an illustrator first, so it's the title I'm most comfortable with, however, I probably take it for granted. The author tag is new and still somewhat untested. Although I've sold many articles, a short story, a poem, have won honorable mention in several writing contests and am writing my second novel, I have yet to see my name on the cover of a published book as author. So that's what I covet the most right now.


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2. I admire that you took a lot of time to develop your work, a few years ago, to get it ready to submit to publishers. That takes patience and persistence. Care to share how you did it?
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Oh, I was sending work out while I tried to develop my style, don't get me wrong! I just hadn't found my voice yet and there wasn't much interest until I did. To find it, I experimented with everything: acrylics, oils, gouache, markers, colored pencils, you name it. The supplies are scattered around my office . . . somewhere. It wasn't until I went back to the computer and the software program, Painter, that I sprouted wings. (I'd dabbled with Painter for years, but frankly, computers weren't up to the task until just a few years ago. It's a behemoth of a program.)


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3. Describe your best speaking gig so far.
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Hands down, the Decatur Book Festival. Now heading into its third year, it started up right after I moved to the area. The owner of my favorite independent bookstore, Little Shop of Stories, is in charge of the children's stage and has been so supportive of my career. That first year, I read GLITTER GIRL AND THE CRAZY CHEESE to a crowd of hundreds under the children's tent - what a thrill!
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4. What competes for your time, and how do you manage to give your writing and illustration work the time it needs?
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I just work my tail off, no way around it. I have two muses fighting for 100% of my time and it's tough to keep them appeased.
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5. What are your goals for your work?
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I always want to produce the absolutely best work I can, which can be challenging when I'm not given enough time or have too much on my plate. But I got into children's books to create inspired work, work that attempts to be in the same league with that of my heroes (children's book illustrators). My goal is for my work to entrance and transport the viewer to magical places.

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6. Now that Paco's out, what are you working on next? ---------------------------
Lots! I'm writing my second novel (the first is with my agent). I'm illustrating the second two books in a parental aid picture book series - I also illustrated the first two which come out this June. I'm finishing up a few coloring book covers and writing more picture book stories. And of course, I've got lots of engagements lined up to celebrate Paco! I can't wait! (My calendar of events: http://dulemba.com/index_schedule.html ).


In keeping with my fellow bloggers' recipe offerings, here's mine:
Five Year Old Quesadillas (pronounced Kay-sah-DEE-yahs)
(so named because they're easy enough for a 5-year-old to make -- not because they're old ;)
1. Lay a flour tortilla on a glass dish.
2. Sprinkle it with about 4 tablespoons of grated cheese, more or less to taste. Grated cheddar, mozzarella, Monterey Jack or a taco blend all work well.
3. Top with another flour tortilla.
4. Zap it in the microwave for 20 seconds or until the cheese is melted.
5. Remove from oven, let cool, and slice it into pie-wedges using a pizza cutter.
This is my 5-year-old grandson's favorite recipe, at the moment.

To read the rest of Elizabeth's interviews and find a few more recipes, check out these blogs:
Monday: Kim Norman's Stone Stoop! Kim is the author of "Jack of all Tails" and shares a great recipe for Tasty Tortilla Snowflakes!!
Tuesday: Barbara Johansen Newman's Cat n' Jammers Studio. Barb wrote and illustrated "Tex & Sugar."
Wednesday: Janee Trasler's Art & Soul. Janee's latest book is "Ghost Eats It All!"
Thursday: Ruth McNally Barshaw, creator of "Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel!" (Elizabeth says: If you like "Diary of a Whimpy Kid," you'll love Ellie! -- thanks, Elizabeth)
Friday: Kerry Madden, author of "Jessie's Mountain," the thrid installment in her Maggie Valley trilogy (read about it here.)
Saturday: Sarah Dillard, illustrator of "Tightrope Poppy" and author/illustrator of the forthcoming "Perfectly Arugula!"

And -- check out Elizabeth's site for more of her luminous art-- like this piece:

A new year, a new book

Life has changed a lot for me in the past month.
The biggest change: I'm not working day and night on the second Ellie book anymore (although I do have copy edits due in a few days). Now I'm working day and night on a picturebook about a drama queen. I've been writing and rewriting and drawing and redrawing this book since April when the idea first hit me.
My agent saw it a couple times, loved it, asked if I wanted to tweak the cover art, and I took it back and tightened the writing, redrew the whole thing, showed it to a famous author during a conference portfolio review...
She loved it too, made a few little suggestions, and I took it back to my cave, tightened the writing again, started to redraw the whole thing again, and am trying to finish before jetting off to NYC for the SCBWI Conference there in a couple weeks.
My agent wrote a few days ago, asking if I take on these punishing tight deadlines/long work hours on purpose, since they seem self-induced.
I suppose I do. For one thing, I'm deadline-oriented. Nothing like a deadline to scare the bejeebers out of me and make me achieve something I think I can't do.
For another, I most certainly have A.D.D. (Took a test and found out the only indicator I *don't* have is I am not male) Having so many distractions makes it tough to stick to a task unless it's critical.
Here's another thing that's hard for me: Staying loose under pressure. It only took about 5 redrawings of the first page of this third book, to get me back to the normal, loose line I so easily produce in my on-the-spot sketches. I think that's because it's a different genre than the Ellie books -- I'm more uptight about it.
Which reminds me - here are more sketches from my trip to Santa Fe:If all goes well in the next couple weeks, I'll finish the Marcella book *and* be in another airport, sketching planes.