I used to make it a point to get something new on this blog maybe a couple of times a week. I always felt I needed to have some kind of image to talk about before I could post. This time, though, I’ve decided the images will have to wait while I write some words. Ugh. I dread writing, but …
So late with this here, but HEY! I HAVE AN AGENT!!!
It’s true. I pinky swear. We had Tricia Lawrence from Erin Murphy Literary Agency on our faculty at a somewhat recent Western Pennsylvania regional SCBWI conference, and the two of us seemed to hit it off pretty well. But that was November of 2014, and it had been months since I had submitted a picture book dummy to her. And, honestly, I had assumed it …
A mushroom drawing kind of day
Mushrooms. Drew them today. Part of something much, much bigger, in case you couldn’t tell.
Little Rooster (color and sepia)
I’ve been working on new color versions of Little Rooster, mostly because I was concerned about the logistics of using analog pastel. My concerns were primarily with shipping and scanning and not being able to fix the pages before sending them out. So I’ve messed with some settings in Corel Painter, and I have two new color versions of Little Rooster to show …
I write, therefore I am
Do you have any idea how hard it is to write? I’m sure some of you do. The ideas are playing out like a movie in my head. I can see them very well. They’re there, it’s just so hard to abstract them into words and sentences in the right order. So I write Christmas cards. I answer email. I …
My first agent submission
I finally went and did it. My first submission to an agent. Ever. You never forget your first. This also meant I wrote my first query letter, which seems to always want to be spelled “queary” when I type it out. I think it has something to do with the word “queasy,” but I’m not sure. Oh, and my first …
An illustration I drew with my FINGER!!!
I bought a new app because I love new apps and I’m a software geek. I can’t help it. The app is called ASKetch, and it’s made for an iPad. And it rocks. I found out about the app because of Laura Zarrin (who I follow on Twitter) who retweeted a tweet from Christina Forshay (who I now follow on …
Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side @MikeArnzen
As you may (or may not) know, Twisted: Tales to Rot Your Brain Vol. 1 owes a lot to the instigations of Mike Arnzen and his Twisted Prompts for Sicko Writers. For years I’ve been stealing his short, dark story prompts from the Gorelets blog and collecting them in a Word file that I revisit on occasion when I’m short …
Appendectomy: The Final Sucking
Here’s my final drawing for the chapter “Appendectomy” planned for use in Twisted Vol. 2. Can’t wait to show my doctor. I think she’ll approve.
Appendectomy
I had a few stories left over from Twisted Vol. 1 that weren’t quite ready for prime time, and I decided to save them for Vol. 2, but last week I had my first new idea for Vol. 2 that I felt like I really needed to work on. Here’s the sketch: It’s what actually happens after you go in for surgery and …
All Hallows Read
In case you didn’t know about it, Neil Gaiman had an idea a couple of years ago that he called “All Hallow’s Read” where, instead of (or in addition to, it doesn’t really matter) giving candy at Halloween, you give a scary book instead. You can gift it, you can leave it somewhere, you can give it to a library. …
Twisted one-sheet
I’ve updated the one-sheet I put together for Twisted, and the hi-res pdf version of it is available here. I’ve included quotes from Kirkus Reviews and the Midwest Book Review along with the entire Publishers Weekly review. The QR code takes you to the Hairy Eyeballs website. I pulled the colors directly from the cover image to tie it all …