If you love a book, write a nice review. It gives the author encouragement on days they want to take up scorpion petting. - @LianaBrooks on Twitter

A Cautionary Comic For Writers (plus one of my New Year's Resolutions)

Almost all of my comics are based on my own experience as a freelancer, as you might have guessed. This one is particularly relevant. One of my constant challenges is that for me, social media is more fun than work....but as a result, it can be way too easy to justify time I spend on social media as work.

This year, one of my work goals is to get my middle grade novel finished. 

While I can't control IF my novel is ever published (and I've become positive that this angst has a lot do with why I've been spending way too much time fussing about the outline and prep), I can focus on getting the book finished.

Which is why I've decided I really need to pull back a wee bit from some social media, especially Facebook. I suspect I'll be on much more than the average person, but I'm going to try being more conscious about when I use social media, and how I use it.

My favourite social media these days: Twitter and Instagram. Some people find Twitter too negative but I find that so much is about what feeds you follow, and how you interact.

Inkygirl in The Write Life's "Best Websites For Writers In 2018" list!

Thanks to The Write Life for including Inkygirl in their list of 100 Best Websites For Writers 2018!

Already given up on doing NaNoWriMo but look for an achievable daily writing challenge?

Every year, I think about doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I've participated in the challenge a few years in the past and completed a first draft of a middle grade novel. Doing NaNoWriMo is always fun and I did end up submitting the novel after many revisions. I got some encouraging rejection letters but in the end, I had to shelve the mss. 

One of my challenges in recent years has been that November has always been a very busy time for me in terms of travel and/or work. This year, I have three out-of-town trips during the month.

So....no NaNoWriMo.

But I'm going to be doing daily writing anyway. I've also added badges if you want to use pockets of time for revising instead of writing. You can find the details on this web page and feel free to browse my Inkygirl Daily Writing Challenge on Facebook for inspiration as well.

I hope you'll join me!

Another writer's success doesn't diminish your chance of success. Cheer on other writers. - Debbie Fuhry

Donalyn Miller's 9th Annual Summer #BookADay Challenge and how I'm using it this summer

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

I do read all year round, but I find the #BookADay event a fun extra excuse to do some extra reading, plus I love the community aspect. 

Here's where you can find more info about #Bookaday:

Click to read more ...

Give your stories time to develop before sending them out into the world: My Guest Post on Storystorm today

My illustrated guest post is up on Tara Lazar's blog today as part of Storystorm.

Featured Author on 12 x 12: My advice on staying upbeat through difficult times, tips for pre-published illustrators and more

Thanks to Julie Foster Hedlund for featuring me on her 12 x 12 Picture Book blog this month! I talk about switching from my programmer/analyst career into the arts, Jeff Ridpath, how I taught myself skills that helped me become a children's book professional, how I approach illustrating other people's stories, how I know when an illustration is finished, how many drafts/sketches typically go into one completed illustration, if my illustration style has changed/evolved over the years, how I stay upbeat even through difficult times, advice for pre-published illustrators still working to develop portfolios and/or get an agent, what I'd choose if I could have only ONE dessert to eat the rest of my life, and more!

I'm on the faculty at the SCBWI Winter Conference in 2017!

When I attended my first regular SCBWI conference back in 2009, I was super-nervous about meeting people. Would anyone talk to me? Would they like me? Would the costs of the flight and hotel and meals etc. be worth it? Would I ever get published?

If I could tell my younger self that I'd be on the faculty of one of the national SCBWI conferences eight years later AND have a nice number of books published with my name on the cover, I would have scoffed and then vowed to stop drinking so much coffee.

VERY EXCITED.

I'll be participating in the Illustrators' Intensive on the Friday; you can see the schedule (including my name, woohoooo!) on the SCBWI Conference website.

The main SCBWI-NYC conference webpage is here. Registration opens on Oct. 25 at 10 am PDT! 

Are you an introvert who finds it hard to network? I posted some tips at KidLitArtists.com

I have a new post up on the Kidlitartists.com blog with tips for introverts who are attending the upcoming SCBWI Summer Conference in LA, but the post has useful info for any introvert nervous about networking.

How does Penguin Random House senior art director Guiseppe Castellano find illustrators?

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.

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.

In memory of Debbie Alvarez, The Styling Librarian

Deeply saddened to hear that teacher/librarian Debbie Alvarez has lost her battle with cancer. Though we don't know each other in person, Debbie and I have emailed each other as well interacting on social media. She has been so generous in her support of me and work on her blog, including a post just last week. 

Click to read more ...

Short on writing time or falling behind in NaNoWriMo? Try this more flexible challenge.

Too often, I find that writers start motivational challenges like NaNoWrimo with enthusiasm and good intentions, but give up when they start missing their daily targets for more than a few days in a row...undermining their confidence and defeating the purpose of the original challenge.

If you need a motivational writing challenge with some flexibility, try checking out my 250, 500 or 1000 words/day challenge. I'm doing NaNoWriMo right now as a way of helping kickstart my middle grade novel....but I'm already falling a wee bit behind the "1666 wds/day" goal.

If I do end up having to bail out of NaNo, I'm vowing NOT going to get discouraged but am going to keep going, but try a lower wordcount instead.

To those of you with lots of writing time and don't need these challenges: I envy you! :-) These days for me, paying work has taken priority and my non-contracted projects keep being pushed to the back burner. I find that wordcount challenges can help motivate me to get into the habit of putting in at least a little bit of time EVERY DAY on my novel-writing. 

Some of you may snicker at my measley wordcount goals but for me, even 250 words a day is better than nothing at all. 

Free, print-ready poster: "Reading Lets Your Imagination Soar"

Added to my For The Love Of Reading resource for teachers, librarians, booksellers and young readers: a free, print-ready "Reading Lets Your Imagination Soar" poster. For all my free, print-ready material, please see Debbie's Print-Ready Archive.

Click to read more ...

Madeleine L'Engle quote about children's books (and a free, print-ready poster)

I've added a free, print-ready poster version of this wonderful Madeleine L'Engle quote to my For The Love Of Reading page.

You can find links to ALL my free, print-ready bonus goodies at Debbie's Print-Ready Archive.

Golden Marmot Award: Chuck Wendig's "If you like a book" tweet

 

 It's been a while since I've awarded the Incredibly Prestigious and Exquisitely Ephemeral Golden Marmot Award, but this week it NEEDS to go to Chuck Wendig for this wonderful tweet.

In addition to following @ChuckWendig on Twitter, I encourage you to read his Terribleminds blog. (*** To those offended by strong language: be warned that Chuck embraces it. :-)) While his focus is not specifically on children's books, many of his posts contain nuggets of wisdom useful to writers all genres.

Bad-Poem-A-Day, Where Are My Books?, Sherlock Holmes, Music and the Brilliance Of Kari Maaren

I've been a fan of YA writer Kari Maaren fan ever since I heard her perform Kids These Days, a song from the viewpoint of a traditional vampire complaining about the Twilight generation of vampires.

Click to read more ...

Scorpion Petting and Book Reviews

I love this Liana Brooks quote so much I decided to illustrate it. :-)

And on the topic of helping the authors whose work you enjoy, here are some ways to help authors even if you can't afford to buy their books.

Gratitude Post: David Diaz, mentoring, found object art inspiration

Many thanks to my friend David Diaz for his friendship and mentorship. I got to know David through the SCBWI, when I was chosen for the SCBWI-LA Illustration Mentorship program in 2010. David has been recently touching base with many of the Mentees, past and present, to find out how they're doing...he is doing this on his own time and volition, not because it's an official part of the program. He and I chatted yesterday, and I had the chance to thank him again for his early advice. I also told him how my venture into found object doodles started because of HIM, at one of his Lost Weekends.

You can find out more about David on Wikipedia, Facebook and an Illustrator Spotlight via Kidlit411.