I’ve started working on a new picture book idea (YAY!). After I pick an idea I’m excited about, I start writing the text. Because I tend to think visually when writing, I also usually start paging out the manuscript and scribbling stick figure thumbnail sketches to help me figure out . . .
Thanks to Robert Lee Brewer and Brian Klems of Writer’s Digest for inviting me to be on their new WritersMarket.com podcast! I talked about how I started writing and illustrating books for young people, what I’ve learned so far, my middle grade novel, meeting Judy Blume, how much I love illustrating . . .
Lucy Ravitch is the author The Pancake Menu, a children’s interactive book that helps kids practice math skills as they play restaurant. The book won the 2016 Bronze Independent Publisher Award in the Children’s Interactive category, and was also the bronze Reader’s Favorite award for Children’s Concept Books for 2016. Lucy says she has loved . . .
Who could not want to read a book with a title like Sheldon Unger vs The Dentures Of Doom? This new middle grade book comes out from Star Crossed Press on October 1st, 2016. You can find more info about Jeff Szpirglas at Twitter and Facebook, and more about Sheldon Unger vs The Dentures Of Doom on Goodreads and . . .
Congrats to my friend and agency sister Hazel Mitchell on the launch of her debut solo picture book, TOBY, published by Candlewick Press! Even though I’ve never met the real-life Toby in person, I’ve been following Hazel’s photos and posts about this sweet rescue dog via social media. And like many other Toby fans, I . . .
Back in May 2013, I posted an interview with Celia Lee, an editor at Cartwheel Books / Scholastic, and Celia invited Inkygirl readers to submit manuscripts for a limited time; apparently Celia received over a thousand submissions (!). A couple of years later, I met Josh Funk at nErDcampMI and found out that he had . . .
Reminder: For those of you who are writing and/or illustrating children’s picture books: Feel free to download and use my picture book thumbnail templates during your early brainstorming.
Aspiring children’s book illustrators should check out Guiseppe Castellano’s blog post, “The Search For Illustrators.” Lots of useful and interesting info here about how to connect with people in the industry, whether or not you’re an illustrator.
Thanks to Wendy Martin for making Inkygirl.com a stop on THE STORY CIRCLE / EL CIRCULO DE CUENTOS blog tour. And Happy Book Birthday to THE STORY CIRCLE, which launches TODAY! A transplanted New Yorker now living in Missouri, Wendy Martin has worked as an illustrator for more than 25 years. She has written and . . .
Thanks to Sylvia Liu for letting me be part of her A MORNING WITH GRANDPA book tour! Sylvia Liu is an environmental lawyer turned children’s author and illustrator, inspired by aliens, kraken, cephalopods, and the oceans. She lives in Virginia Beach with her husband, two daughter, Siberian kitten and guinea pig. A . . .