THIS SITE HAS MOVED. Inkygirl posts are now part of DebbieOhi.com.
====
Debbie Ridpath Ohi reads, writes and illustrates for young people. Every once in a while she shares new art, writing and reading resources; subscribe below. Browse the archives here.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| My other social media. | |||
*NEW!* Also see my Broken Crayon resource
Writer comics by Debbie Ridpath Ohi are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
More details: Comic Use Policy
Welcome to Inkygirl: Reading, Writing and Illustrating Children's Books (archive list here) which includes my Creating Picture Books series, Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, Writer's and Illustrator's Guide To Twitter, Interviews With Authors And Illustrators, #BookADay archives, writing/publishing industry surveys, and 250, 500, 1000 Words/Day Writing Challenge. Also see my Inkygirl archives, and comics for writers. Also check out my Print-Ready Archives for Teachers, Librarians, Booksellers and Young Readers.
I tweet about the craft and business of writing and illustrating at @inkyelbows. If you're interested in my art or other projects, please do visit DebbieOhi.com. Thanks for visiting! -- Debbie Ridpath Ohi
This week's incredibly prestigious Golden Marmot award goes to sf author and marine biologist Liana Brooks for her tweet above. You can find out more about Liana at her website: http://www.lianabrooks.com/ and follow her tweets at @LianaBrooks.
Saw this outside a Starbucks on Yonge Street in Toronto (just south of Eglinton). Note the small text in the lower left corner: "We'll miss you, Maurice."
Just a few weeks ago, they had this sign:
One of these days I have to go in and meet the person responsible for these very cool signs. :-)
Came across this sign outside a Starbucks on Yonge St., just west of Eglinton W. in Toronto.
No, I didn't have time to order an Espresso Patronum. But I love the illustration and the idea! :-D
If you're looking for a fun board game to try with a group of writers (all levels of experience), I recommend CYRANO.
When I introduced this to our local gaming group, people were skeptical and hesitant ("I can't write poetry!"). By the end of the game, however, most of the participants admitted that they enjoyed the game much more than they expected. One of them said that his kids would enjoy the game as well.
In each round, a card determines the theme (in the case above: "Mythology") as well as the line endings (the card also gives suggested rhyming words for those who are having trouble coming up with their own). Each player then composes a quatrain (poem of four lines) with two of the lines ending with one of the rhymes and the other two lines ending with the other rhyme.
I found that because the poems had to be written very quickly AND with specific parameters (rhyme scheme and theme), I stopped worrying about whether the poems were any good or not … and just had fun. :-) The game is also a great creativity booster and reminder of the joy in writing purely for the fun of it.
I suspect that playing with a group of writers would be even more fun! You can find out more info about the game on BoardGameGeek.
Basic info:
4-9 players
Playing time: about 45 minutes
Suggested age of players: old enough to be able to write rhyming poetry. Manufacturer suggests 8 and up while BGG users suggest 14 and up.
Anyone else feeling like this?
I did buy the e-book versions from Pottermore, which gives me some comfort. But it's just not the same as knowing there's no new Harry Potter books to anticipate. Sigh.
I've started posting comics from my Inkygirl archives on Tumblr, by the way, as well as Pinterest.
Sean and Lisa Ohlenkamp of TYPE Books (one of my favourite bookstores in Toronto) spent "many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at TYPE" to put together this amazing video.
IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ALL CAPS / CAPS LOCK DAY, SEE CAPSLOCKDAY.COM (warning: strong language and dancing Santa images that may make your eyes bleed).
Also see:
Today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, but what is it? (The Next Web)
Above: Neil Gaiman and his kitty, Oz.
Ok, so this blog has zero practical info, but how can you resist photos of writers and their feline friends? Check out Writers and Kitties.
Thanks to school librarian Lynda Shoup for the Stylish Blogger Award:
Heh. The award immediately inspired the cartoon above.
Apparently I'm supposed to tell you all 7-10 things about myself and then pass the award along to someone else. So here are some things about me that you may or may not know:
1. I work in a basement office which both Jeff and I nickname The Cave. There are small windows near the ceiling but I cover them up with scarves for privacy. I painted a tree on the wall. There are floating piles of books in its branches.
2. My music group recently put out a Mockumentary DVD which has some of our concert song performances on it! In one, Jean-Luc Picard dances with me. Here's the trailer I made on YouTube about it. You can buy a copy for $20 (plus shipping/handling) in our Urban Tapestry shop. And yes, I'm shameless!
3. I sold a website.
4. I was a clown in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade. Here's proof.
5. I have a weakness for miniature food.
6. A lot of people think I'm an extrovert, but I'm actually an introvert at heart. While I love hanging out with and meeting creative people, I need solitude to recharge.
7. I'm a board gamer. Jeff and I recently came home from a 10-day board gaming event (Alan Moon's Gathering of Friends) and those 10 days went by SO fast. I post board gaming comics and news on BoardGameBook.com as I work on a book which I am hoping will get more people into the hobby. Also see my profile on BoardGameGeek.com. Alan Moon just released a fabulous new game called Airlines Europe, by the way: a fun family strategy game!
8. I'm illustrating my first picture book! It's called I'M BORED and is written by actor/comedian/writer Michael Ian Black. Simon & Schuster is publishing it in 2012.
9. I have a meeting at Simon & Schuster in NYC next week, woohoo! We're going to be doing the first pass at the final layout of I'M BORED. Very excited.
10. I'm attending the SCBWI Summer Conference in LA this August (booking my flights today!).
And now I'm bestowing the Stylish Blogger Award onto my writer chef pal:
AMANDA SNYDER
for her blog, MY LIPS ARE RED
As you can see from the photo to the right, Amanda is a MUCH more Stylish Blogger than I am. :-)
Writer's Block by DebsAndErrol
Above: A fun song from Debs & Errol (a.k.a. Deborah Linden & Errol Elumir). Errol & Deborah are looking for new song ideas, by the way. If you'd like them to come up with some more writing-related songs, do go over to their CD Song Contest page and post your song ideas! You may win a free CD.
My "writer uniform" today:
-- Red track pants
-- T-shirt
-- Fleece jacket
I try to avoid working in pajamas. I know some writers do, but I don't because I inevitably lose track of time when I'm working, and I don't want to have to answer the front door.
What do YOU tend to wear when you write?
(Thanks to David Diaz for the YouTube link)
Short and fascinating.
Thanks to David Diaz for the link.
Today's incredibly prestigious Golden Marmot award goes to middle grade writer Mike Jung for his entertaining Facebook post above.
Mike recently announced that his book GEEKS, GIRLS & SECRET IDENTITIES, is under contract with Arthur A. Levine Books (yay, Mike!).
A publisher has offered its readers a lifetime subscription to its titles if they get a tattoo inspired by one of their books. Wow, now THAT's loyalty.
Reading about this inspired me to draw the cartoon above today. :-)
Title: "I Am The Very Model Of A Wrimo Individual," from Errol Elumir. Keep an eye on the NaNoWriMo blog during November from a comic collaboration from Errol and me. :-)
A brilliant NaNoWriMo song by my friend Errol. From Errol:
I like to do an intro video for Nanowrimo. For 2010, I did a parody of the song Good Ol' A Capella because I was too lazy to write my own song.
You can learn more about Errol and his creative projects at:
Friday, June 8, 2012 at 4:18 PM
