writing goals

I recently found this old post online. I had missed it back in 2018. It’s not a Caldecott. Or a Newbery. But when you are writing for kids, you want kids to love the book. Sounds obvious enough but sometimes, in the editorial process, you begin to worry about sales and marketing, critical reviews, what librarians think, what retailers think––but kids are the most important readers. We are writing for them, after all—not the parents or anyone else. I was so touched to see The Grumpy Pets get such scores from these elementary school kids. Look at all those dots!

Anyway, this isn’t to boast but to realign my priorities and writing goals going forward.I STILL remember my favorite books a a kid and it has stuck with me all these years. Books that made me giggle, wonder or bring imagination to life…

This week I caught the end of that 80s movie BIG, starring Tom Hanks. It shows just how being an adult can screw up our priorities and complicate even the simplest of things. I love that movie. Childhood is magical and that’s why I chose to write for that age.

on writing

I’ve been working on some new stories lately. It seems the writing process works best for me if I write in images versus words. I can see my story in pictures quite clearly, so I usually do small thumbnails to pace it out and then move to drawing out larger, more detailed images.

But the creative process isn’t always so linear. Sometimes i just need to go somewhere peaceful and let my mind wander. I will scribble notes, write a simple narrative, play with prose and very often return home to make some fairly large edits. Then I start drawing again. Eventually I will print and trim out each page and move them about in my studio until the story flows just so. Sometimes I make decisions purely in regard to the visuals and other times to correct the story’s pacing. I use my well worn Blackwing or Ebony pencil and a highlighter pen for layouts that need editing.

In between all this, there is lots of coffee, long walks, chats with friends, snuggles with Boo and tidying up the utter mess I’ve made in my studio. But it works for me, somehow. :)