Comic for Harry Potter fans

#BookADay: THE WILD ROBOT by Peter Brown

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More info: Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge | Archives of my #BookADay posts. 

Yay, it's time for Donalyn Miller's annual summer #BookADay Challenge!

YAYYY! Donalyn Miller just announced the 8th Annual #BookADay Challenge on her blog.

Do read Donalyn's inspiring post above about why she started the Challenge, how to involve young readers, the various ways you can approach it. An excerpt:

"It doesn’t matter if you actually read a book every day or not. Dedicate more time to read. Celebrate your right to read what you want. Make reading plans. Share and collect book recommendations. Connect with other readers.The #bookaday challenge is personal, not a competition. Finish that series. Tackle that epic historical your mother gave you for your birthday (last September). Try audiobooks. How would you like to grow as a reader this summer?"

I will be mainly be posting my #BookADay reads on Twitter at @inkyelbows but will link to posts in my #BookADay archives.

Yes, I do read books the rest of the year! But I love the specific summer reading challenge as extra motivation. I've been working a lot of weekends and evenings in recent months, and I think it would be good to get out of that habit and do more reading instead.

Comic For Bibliophiles: Coffee Stain Breakup

Writers & illus: Resist comparing yourself to others. Instead, appreciate & enjoy your OWN journey.

Comic: Writer Health Tip (a.k.a. "Why writers should take regular breaks from the keyboard")

Here's my superpower. What's YOURS? #DTLMySuperpower

So what's YOUR superpower? 

We want to know.

Some dream of invisibility or being able to fly, but each of us already has a real-life superpower that can change the world.

In Laurent Linn’s powerful debut novel, Draw the Line, Adrian Piper Adrian Piper creates a superhero version of himself named Graphite. As Adrian tries to do in his own life with his creations, he gives Graphite the superpower of art to fight brutality. He also draws superhero versions of his best friends, bestowing upon them powers unique to who they really are.

So we’d like you to create a drawing of you as a superhero.

Everyone can make a difference in the world, no matter who we are or what we do. What would your superhero look like, and what would be your unique superpower? It should be what you love to do: for example, it could be art, writing, math, cooking, making people laugh . . . anything! How could you change the world?

Enter the Riveted "Draw The Line: What is YOUR Superpower" Sweepstakes and you may win a copy of the book and an original illustration of Graphite based on the art from the book! 

See DETAILS AND HOW TO ENTER on the Riveted website.

You can see me as The Food Doodler above. :-) My friend Laurent also happens to be my awesome art director at Simon & Schuster, and I'm soooooo excited about his debut novel!

Comic: Bad Dog

Writers: You only fail if you quit. Don’t think about the odds and don’t give up. - Matt Myklusch

Writers: You only fail if you quit. Don’t think about the odds and don’t give up. - Matt Myklusch.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. - Ray Bradbury

Comic: Why you should always proofread your email one last time before hitting SEND

Comic: The Scrabble Addict

Comic: Another Advantage Of Print Books

I love Martha Brockenbrough's strategic advice for authors about Goodreads and Amazon rankings

ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES by Jennifer Niven: funny, sweet and heartbreaking

I finished reading Jennifer Niven's ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES on the flight home from Chattanooga. Tears were involved. Such amazing writing, so many truths, humor and heartbreak. The characters and story still haunt me, but in a good way. Highly recommended.

Added: Ooo, and Jennifer just gave a sneak peek of her new book, HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE.

Exciting non-sad news: I'm illustrating I'M SAD (a sequel to I'M BORED)!

Just got permission to make this public: I am ***THRILLED*** to announce that I will be illustrating I'M SAD, a sequel to I'M BORED written by Michael Ian Black, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2018!

I'm excited to be working with editor Justin Chanda and art director Laurent Linn again.

CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT.

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Comic: Print vs Digital

Comic: Punctuation Kidfight

Advice For Writers, Taxidermied Piranhas and Family Memories:Three Questions with Sylvia Liu

Photo credit: Copyright K. Woodard Photography

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 MORNING WITH GRANDPA is Sylvia's debut picture book! The story won Sylvia the 2013 New Voices Award from Lee and Low. Such a sweet and inspiring story, gorgeously illustrated by my friend Christina Forshay, whom I met through the SCBWI Illustration Mentorship program.

Thanks to Sylvia and Christina for letting me be part of their A MORNING WITH GRANDPA book tour!

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Amazing Cake Illustration Process From Up-and-Coming Children's Book Writer/Illustrator Akiko White

Find out how Akiko White created this incredible "cakelustration" in the interview below.

I was blown away when I saw Akiko White's winning "cakelustration" in 2014 when she won the SCBWI Tomi dePaola Award. Find out more about Akiko's process from early sketches to final illustration.

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