My sister's book trailer PLUS soundtrack composed by my niece

My sister, Ruth Ohi, just posted a book trailer for her newest picture book, Chicken, Pig, Cow and the Class Pet. She created it using iMovie, and the soundtrack was composed by my niece. And yes, I am fairly exploding with pride here. :-)

Ruth has illustrated over 53 books (12 of which she also wrote).

My sister's site: http://www.ruthohi.com

Creativity & Productivity: Rethinking my social media and blogging habits

Apologies for the hiatus; I've been away most of this month at a writer's conference and then on an anniversary vacation.

Though fun and (esp. in the case of the SCBWI Summer Conference) inspiring, it's been a hectic month, and I'm REALLY looking forward to getting back to work.

And what is that work, exactly? My main short-term goal:

To rethink my social media and blogging habits.

I'm a social media addict. I've been a huge fan of online communities before the term "online community" even existed. These days, however, I'm feeling spread too thin over too many social networks: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Second Life, various writing and illustration communities, plus all the blogs I either manage or in which I participate as a collaborator.

No, I'm not going to quit cold turkey. Nor do I think social media is inherently a time vampire. It CAN be a time vampire, but in my own experience, it can also be a huge boon to authors and illustrators if properly managed. Most of the publishing opportunities that have come my way have done so because of contacts I've made through social media, or posting and reading blogs.

Recent opportunities, however, have convinced me that I need to better manage my time. There are SO MANY BOOKS I want to write, or illustrate, or write and illustrate. The awards I won at last year's SCBWI Illustration Portfolio Showcase (which resulted in a book contract and heightened interest from publishers) and the Sue Alexander Award nomination I just received for my YA novel in progress have been a much needed kick in the pants.

My long-term goal:

TO GET MORE BOOKS PUBLISHED.

And to do that, I need to finish some projects and get them sent OUT there.

My interim goals:

-- To finish writing my YA novel. Whether or not it wins the Sue Alexander Award, the nomination has convinced me that this novel-in-progress has much more potential than my previous attempts. I've been working on my craft as well as benefiting from the critiques and advice of my MiG Writer group and some of my Torkidlit pals, and I believe that I'm a much better writer now than when I wrote my previous mss.

-- To finish my own picture book projects. Now that I'M BORED (Simon & Schuster, 2012) is nearly finished, I need to have more projects ready to send out: projects that I've written AND illustrated. I've been working hard at improving my illustration craft over the past year. I'm going to continue to work on my craft, of course, but it's time to get some new projects out there.

-- I also have several nonfiction book proposals I need to revamp and send out, such as the compilation of my writer comics.

So....

In order to achieve my long-term goal, I'm going to be taking a hard look at how I spend my time online.

And yes, I do see the irony of blogging about spending too much time online. But I figure I'm not the only one who has this challenge. Some of you have likely found your own solutions.

I'll be posting on my progress (feel free to share yours!)...but not as often as I'd like to. If that makes any sense. :-)

Sue Alexander Award Nomination!

I know I've been scarce on Inkygirl recently, but it's been craaaazybusy around here with travel, work and prep for the SCBWI Summer Conference.

I attended as both a writer and illustrator, and have been posting my kidlit illustration info and reports over on the Where The Sidewalk Begins blog for children's illustrators (SCBWI Illustration Portfolio Mentees blog). I'll be posting writing-related reports here on Inkygirl when I have a chance, but first I need to announce that...

My new YA manuscript has been nominated for the Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award!

Selected from manuscripts submitted for individual critique at the SCBWI Annual Conference in Los Angeles, the Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award is given to the manuscript deemed most promising for publication.

I feel deeply honoured to be nominated for an award named after such an amazing woman. Here's info about Sue Alexander from the SCBWI site:

Sue Alexander was the first member to join SCBWI and was vitally involved with the organization from its inception to her death in 2008. Her responsibilities for SCBWI included, among others, serving as Chairperson of the Board of Advisors (33 years), managing the office (20 years), coordinating -- with Lin Oliver -- the August conference in California (25 years), and coordinating the Golden Kite Awards (25 years). She was the author of more than twenty-five books for young people, including World Famous Muriel; Small Plays for Special Days; Witch, Goblin and Sometimes Ghost; Sara’s City and award-winners Lila on the Landing; Nadia the Willful; and Behold the Trees. In addition to her books, she wrote stories for magazines and for the Los Angeles Times "Kids’ Reading Room" several times a year. Sue passed away suddenly on July 3 at her home in West Hills, California. She was 74. For more about Sue, visit www.sue-alexander.com.

(Photo, ©1998 Marilyn Sanders.)

Many thanks to the MiG Writers Critique group, Torkidlit, Jeff and Sara for helping me get my submission into shape before the conference.

In NYC right now

(Above: I just got my very first NY Public Library card, yay!)

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I'm in NYC at the moment, and don't have reliable Internet access where I'm staying.

Visited Surtex and the National Stationery Show (I have a weakness for paper and office supplies) and am meeting this afternoon with Justin Chanda and Laurent Linn at Simon & Schuster to go over the first set of layouts for I'M BORED, a new picture book written by actor/comedian/writer Michael Ian Black and illustrated by yours truly.

Not happy with Zazzle and Warner Bros right now

UPDATE: Ok, I found out what probably caused the problem (thanks to Kelly Light on Twitter, Christine in my blog comments & Patricia Storms on Facebook) -- Warner Bros must own the name/phrase "Harry Potter" and are protecting their trademark. -- Debbie

So I've had a Zazzle store with some of my cartoons on cards and t-shirts for a while. I don't tend to publicize my Inkygirl Gifts For Writers shop much because I don't keep it updated with new material -- I'm too busy with my illustration and writing.

Today, however, I received the following letter from Zazzle:

Dear inkygirl,

Thank you for your interest in Zazzle.com, and thank you for publishing products on Zazzle.

Unfortunately, it appears that your product, Four Things You Should Never Say To A Writer, contains content that is not suitable for printing at Zazzle.com.

We will be removing this product from the Zazzle Marketplace shortly.

Please help us make our content approval process better by taking this short survey.

The details of the product being removed are listed below:

• Product Title: Four Things You Should Never Say To A Writer
• Product Type: Shirt
• Product ID: 235977150042632245
• Result: Not Approved
• Policy Violations:
o Your product has been removed from Zazzle’s Marketplace due to an infringement claim by Warner Bros. This may be due to the actual design of the product, description or search tags that references properties owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
• Image: Image

We apologize for the inconvenience, a detailed description of the policies are located here.

If you have any questions or concerns about the review of your product, please emailcontent_review@zazzle.com

Best Regards,
Content Review Team
Zazzle Inc.

You can see the t-shirt design image at the top of this post. I assure you all that *I* came up with it all by myself, based on real life experience (though slightly exaggerated in some cases :-)).

The image link in the Zazzle letter did NOT match the name of the product title, but referred to another of my t-shirt designs:

Now, I'm assuming that Warner Bros ISN'T claiming that they own the phrase "I write."

I've written to Zazzle to find out more info.

Have to say, though, that I'm not crazy about the fact that they took down my "4 Things To Never Say To A Writer" t-shirt (it's gone from the store already) without asking me about it first.

Back home, catching up

I'm back from my trip to California! Unpacking and catching up with e-mail. Will resume posting in Inkygirl very soon. Hope everyone's writing is going well!

Writers For The Red Cross

I'm participating in Writers For The Red Cross, and am donating a selection of my writer greeting cards as well as a hand-drawn doodle and handwritten instapoem to the winner of the bid. Read more here. Bidding doesn't start until the event officially kicks off on March 1st.

About the event, from the site:

This online event celebrates Red Cross Month (March 1-31). It is intended to raise funds and awareness for the Red Cross and its work in communities across the country. We’re auctioning off publishing-related items and services donated by authors, publicists, agents, and editors. We’ll also have daily guest posts from authors about “What the Red Cross Means to Me.” All donors who give over $25 will also be able to select one free book from a range of books donated and shipped by publishers for the event.

To find out more about Writers For The Red Cross and about the other participants, organizers and bookstore partners, please visit the Writers For The Red Cross site.

Laurent Linn & Excitement & CAN'T WAIT

Ok, so that may not have been the most coherent blog post title I've ever written but I CAN'T HELP IT! Because I just found out that I'm going to be working with LAURENT LINN at Simon & Schuster as I illustrate Michael Ian Black's new picture book, I'M BORED.

Soooooooooo excited about meeting Laurent in a couple of weeks.

Caught up in comment moderation -- apologies!

I love Squarespace, but their spam-handling tools are abysmal. Supposedly this will be addressed in an upcoming release but so far there's no word on when that release will be.

As a result, anyway, I have to put ALL comments through a moderation stage where each comment needs individual approval (ugh). Time-consuming and a hassle, but it's either that or let all the spam comments through...and there have been a LOT of spam comments which I've had to block.

I've been a bit behind in comment moderation but have caught up now. Apologies for anyone who has been wondering why their comment hasn't been posted!

Please vote: Writers Digest 101 Best Websites For Writers

Hi all,

If you've found Inkygirl useful, inspiring or entertaining this past year, I'd be appreciative if you'd nominate my site for the Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites list.

How to do it:

Send an e-mail to writersdig@fwpubs.com with "101 Best Websites" in the subject header, and mention that you're nominating Inkygirl.com.

Whether or not you decide to nominate Inkygirl, I'd like to thank you all for your encouragement and support this past year. This site is run by one person (yours truly) and funded out of my own pocket, and the info and feedback I've been receiving by e-mail and in comments make it all worthwhile. Thank you!

- Debbie

p.s. If you'd like YOUR site to be considered by other writers for nomination, do post your site name and URL below!

Inkygirl Haven mentioned in The Second Life Enquirer

Recently, I mentioned that Jilly Kidd had generously donated some space for me to set up a display of my work as well as a children's book writer & illustrator resource center on Second Life.

The Second Life Enquirer recently profiled The London School Of Journalism's virtual space station, and I got mentioned. :-) The quote:

Inkygirl Omizu: This RL writer and cartoonist has a lovely display of her work, resources for children's writers, beautifully designed free furniture and items for writers and readers, and desks with writing animations if you'd like to sit and work in her compartment.

Yay! RL, by the way, is short for "Real Life" (as opposed to SL = Second Life).

For those not familiar with Second Life, "Inkygirl Omizu" is my avatar name. Anyway, feel free to check out the article for a description of some of the other LSJ resources for writers. My display is on the second floor.

Lack of updates

Sorry for the recent lack of posts, all. I've had a nasty cold for the past week. :-(

Hope everyone's writing is going well!

Business Insider profiled me in an article!

Hey, check out this Business Insider article: "10 Ways People Are Using The iPad To Create Content, Not Just Consume It." Heh.

Excited! And here's why...

A children's book publisher I admire a great deal recently invited me to send them a picture book story. Well, I did...and THEY LIKE IT! They've asked for a few sketches, so that's what I'm working on right now. So if I'm a bit scarce in Inkygirl for a little bit, that's why.

Meanwhile, I've just sent a proposal for a nonfiction book to my agent for her comments, and will be sending that off soon.

Sooooooooooo excited! Please keep your fingers crossed for me, thanks. :-)

No one loves their iPad more than I love my iPad

I've been featured on the Padgadget site! You can read the article here:

Padgadget Creative Corner - iPad Artist Debbie Ridpath Ohi

SCBWI Illustration Mentees Blog Launched

I'm pleased to announce that the SCBWI Illustration Mentees Blog is now ready for visitors! In it, you'll find info and resources for those interested in children's book illustration as well as updates about our own illustration projects. I'll also be posting from the viewpoint of a writer venturing into children's book illustration for the first time.

Please do come visit, and tell your friends. :-)

http://bit.ly/mentees

Ginger says I can post the news, so here goes...

I am pleased to announce that I will be illustrating a picture book written by author/actor/comedian Michael Ian Black for Simon & Schuster. Tentative publication date: Spring 2012.

More (MUCH more) later.

Still waiting...

An update to those who saw post earlier this week: Yes, I'm still waiting until my good news is official before posting about it.

On a related note, I LOVE MY AGENT. I know I don't have to stress about contractstuff, knowing that Ginger is   looking out for my interests.

Meanwhile, I've been approached by two other publishers interested in my work (writing and/or illustrating). After the long dry spell I've had in terms of submissions, this is all a tad overwhelming. And very, very exciting.

More coming soon, I hope!

Waiting

Just a heads-up that the good news I'm hoping to share soon isn't public yet. I promise to post on this blog as soon as it is. :-)

A Brief (And Somewhat Stunned) Post From The SCBWI Conference In L.A.

The image above was one of the pieces in my portfolio, and was displayed on the screen at the Golden Kites Luncheon, when the award winners were announced.

[August 21, 2010 update: WOW, Simon & Schuster wants me to illustrate a book! Author: writer/actor/comedian Michael Ian Black. Tentative release date: Spring, 2012.]

I'm writing this from a hotel room in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in L.A., where I'm attending the SCBWI Summer Conference. It's been a FANTASTIC conference. I dare anyone to come to this event and not leave super-inspired, armed with new knowledge about the craft and business of writing and illustrating. I've been taking all my notes on my iPad.

This was also the first time I attended this conference where I attended some illustrator tracks in addition to writing tracks. My California illustrator friend, Beckett Gladney, convinced me to sign up for the Portfolio Showcase at the last minute. I was highly resistant, telling her my work wasn't good enough yet, that I wouldn't have the time to polish the pieces I wanted to include.

But (as good friends do), she pushed hard enough that I finally thought heck, I might as well. I'm always encouraging people to step outside of their comfort zones and push their own personal envelopes, so I should listen to my own advice. My mega-talented author/illustrator sister, Ruth Ohi, also encouraged me to enter, offering me portfolio and art tips.

When I almost pulled out because of lack of time, Beckett helped me by going into my Flickr set of illustrations online, picked out the pieces she thought would showcase my strengths, and printed them out for me. She also sewed a gorgeous handmade cover for my portfolio that attracted a lot of positive comments (to you artists out there: Beckett sells custom-made portfolio covers in her Etsy shop).

Photo by Beckett Gladney.

At the hotel, we spread all the pieces on the floor of our hotel room, and she helped me put my portfolio together. I was surprised by her choice of pieces -- they weren't the images I would have chosen. But I trusted her instincts, and I'm glad I did. Because...

I WON TWO AWARDS AT THE SCBWI PORTFOLIO SHOWCASE!

Not only did I place in the top three (an Honor award) overall, but I was also selected by a second set of judges as one of the six Mentorship Award illustrators. The Mentorship Award is given to illustrators participating in the annual Portfolio Showcase "whose publishable work shows great promise and potential." Yesterday morning, I had individual critique sessions with six members of the SCBWI Board Illustrator Committee  as well as publishing industry pro, Rubin Pfeffer.

Mentor List (added later because some people were asking):

Cecilia Yung, Art Director and VP at Penguin Young Readers;

Pat Cummings, Illustrator, Writer, and Instructor at Parsons;

Priscilla Burris, National Illustrator Coordinator;

David Diaz, Award Winning Illustrator;

Bridget Strevens-Marzo, International Illustrator Liason; and

Rubin Pfeffer, Agent at East/West Literary Agency.

I was completely stunned, considering the level of craftsmanship I saw in the portfolios display in the showcase.

I'll post more info when I get back from L.A., but I had to post the news here because you've all been so supportive of my cartoons and doodles. THANK YOU! Special HUGE thanks to my friend Beckett and sister Ruth for encouraging me to do this.

After talking with the Mentors yesterday morning, I'm SOOOO excited about new possibilities in my creative work that I hadn't considered before.

Part of me is still wondering if I'm going to be waking up at some point.

Ok, so this post wasn't so brief after all. And AUGH, I can't believe it's already the last day of the conference!

Must log off now...