Part 2 of my BIG NEWS: Judy Blume, Simon & Schuster Children's, audition process info & why I can't attend SCBWI-NYC this year

UPDATE: To see sample illustrations, final covers, photo of me meeting Ms. Blume in person, see DebbieOhi.com/judyblume.

So in Part 1 of my Judy Blume news, I mentioned that I was thrilled to be illustrating the covers of the seven middle grade editions of classic Judy Blume novels that are being reissued by Simon & Schuster Children's.

Well, that's not all.

Just got word that I can make this public: I am also excited to be illustrating the covers of three Judy Blume classics that are being reissued as chapter books AND PROVIDING THE INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS AS WELL.

These books are Freckle Juice, The One In the Middle Is The Green Kangaroo and The Pain And The Great One. (***Edit May 12, 2014: Hardcover editions come out June 3rd, paperbacks on May 27th, 2014***)

 

My history as a Judy Blume fangirl:

Like many others reading this, I'm a longtime fan of Judy Blume's work. Her books reassured my younger, angsty self that I wasn't the only one having all these bizarre thoughts and feelings and impulses. I was way too insecure and introverted to ever talk frankly about many of these topics with anyone. Books like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret comforted me, helped me gain the confidence to ask questions, to not feel so much like a freak. Reading her books, it seemed as if Judy Blume knew me.

My sister helped introduce some of Judy Blume's work to me, like Deenie. Ruth read the book just before she was diagnosed with scoliosis herself, and told me later that Deenie's experiences with wearing a Milwaukee Brace were very similar to hers. "Except I didn't have a guy fall in love with me while I wore mine. :-)"

At the SCBWI Summer conference in 2011, Judy Blume was on the faculty and I was struck by her down-to-earth good humor and easygoing manner. I was too nervous to consider approaching her during the weekend, but as I was about to head off to the airport, I came across Richard Peck and Ms. Blume in front of the hotel. On impulse, I asked if they minded if I snapped a photo and they kindly agreed:

Fast-forward two and a half years later. LOOK what Judy Blume tweeted a few days ago:

I have, of course, printed this tweet out and put it up in my office. I'm also going to print out and laminate a smaller version which I plan to carry around with me FOREVER, to remind myself that childhood dreams sometimes do come true.

How I became the illustrator of Judy Blume's revamped middle grade & chapter books:

On Dec. 19, Justin Chanda (my editor at Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers and also publisher) emailed to see if I was interested in auditioning for a book project "of great proportions" but that also had a very tight deadline. Intrigued, I said I was interested. Here is a transcript of the email exchange that followed...

---- Transcript begins ------

9:07 pm, JUSTIN:

    Did you perhaps read Judy Blume growing up?

9:08 pm, ME:

    OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGHOMHOG
OMG

9:10 pm, JUSTIN:

    Ok good. We'll talk tomorrow morning.

9:11 pm, ME:

    OMGOMGOMGIMGOGGGGG
     Very much looking forward to chatting tomorrow
    OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

---- Transcript ends ------

What I needed to do: come up with cover illustration sketch ideas for three of the books. Justin and I brainstormed and I also had notes from brainstorming sessions that took place at S&S Children's with Namrata Tripathi. Thanks also to some of my Torkidlit friends (whom I swore to secrecy) and a few others for helping me come up with some extra sketch ideas.

I had been warned that I may not get the job, so I knew that there was a good chance I'd be working through the holiday season and still get passed over, but I couldn't say no. I mean....JUDY BLUME!!!

Shortly after I began sketches, however,  the Toronto ice storm hit and we lost power in our house. My friend, Cathy Rutland, came to the rescue and offered to let me stay at her apartment until our power came back on. Jeff (MY HERO) took a break from trying to keep our water pipes from freezing and moved my scanner, iMac, Wacom stuff and other hardware I needed over to Cathy's apartment.

Meanwhile, Justin and I were in constant touch. He and I were exchanging emails, sketches, feedback on sketches pretty much every day throughout the holidays except for Christmas Day and New Year's. [Correction: Justin reminded me that we actually did exchange email on New Year's as well. :-)]

Because the books were coming out in April and they had not yet found the right illustrator, timing was tight. I estimate I drew over 150 sketches during that time and sent Justin 50 of those. When everyone else got back after the holidays, I continued the brainstorming and sketching process with Justin, Dan Potash, Namrata Tripathi and Lauren Rille.

Side note: I've noticed some mistakenly think that I did the cover redesign. I want to emphasize that Lauren Rille did the wonderful new cover designs, not me. I just provided the illustrations.

Up to this point, I had mainly been focusing on hand-drawn sketches that I scanned into Photoshop, but Dan Potash asked if I could redraw some of their favorites into vector-line style. This wasn't my usual illustration style but I love creative challenges. :-)

Finally we came up with some cover samples that were good enough to send to Judy Blume, and then I waited to hear if she liked them or not. This is when I posted the following on Facebook:

The waiting was AGONY. I was such an airhead at home, forgetting where I put things, only half paying attention to what was going on around me. I burned meals. I also put dish soap in the rinse agent compartment of our dishwasher....there were suds everywhere! Jeff was incredibly patient. :-)

Justin called me on January 16th, 2014. I remember noticing the 212 area code and immediately thinking newyorknewyorkohpleaseohplease and then picking up the phone and JUSTIN TOLD ME THAT JUDY BLUME LOVED THE COVERS YAAAAAAAAY *AND* that they wanted me to also do the interior illustrations for the three chapter books. (!!!!)

I freaked out. I became aware I had started screaming at Justin, tried to calm down and be professional, but then started screaming again. At one point, he had to reassure me that "Yes, this is really happening." After the call, I immediately called Jeff at work and screamed at him and then I emailed my sister and my agent at Curtis Brown, Ginger Knowlton (by that point my throat was sore from all that screaming :-)).

Some of you may have seen my "Blooming" found object doodle recently:

The material came from a congratulatory bouquet of flowers from my friend Cathy, who said they were blooms for my Blume news. :-)

And this brings me to why I can't attend SCBWI-NYC this coming week:

Because the chapter books are coming out in May, the deadline is tight. Cover details are still being tweaked. And I've been madly working on the b&w interior illustrations, which need to be finished in the next couple of weeks. I'm using a much looser illustration style for the interiors; I'll post samples when I can.

I had to cancel my trip to NYC and the SCBWI Winter Conference and have been working through weekends and many evenings, turning down social invites. Jeff treks down to my basement office every once in a while to check on how I'm doing. He and I have been getting takeout a lot lately.

But every so often I'll force myself to press pause, sit back and appreciate the moment. I AM ILLUSTRATING BOOKS BY JUDY BLUME.

JUDY BLUME.

My husband has gotten used to me sending him random texts during the day consisting of just the following:

Early in the process, Lauren Rille and I were chatting about being Judy Blume fangirls, and how absolutely COOL it was we got to read and reread Judy Blume books and say it was part of work.

One thing I noticed as I was rereading her books: Judy Blume books are as relevant and inspiring now as they were years ago, dealing with universal issues and feelings while growing up. At the L.A. Times Festival Of Books, Judy Blume had advice for grown-up fans of her work who want to introduce their children to her books.

"First, invest in one with a new cover," she says. "Even if you like the old, original covers. Second, don't give it to them. Just leave the books strategically placed around the house and then occasionally say: 'Oh no, you're not reading that -- you're not ready for it yet.' " Heh.

You can find out more about Judy Blume and her work at  JudyBlume.com, including tips for aspiring writers.

Meanwhile, I'd better get back to work. THANK YOU for all the kind words, congratulatory messages and encouragement. They are so much appreciated.

Will Write For Chocolate updated: "Comma Shock"

For more Will Write For Chocolate comics, please visit WillWriteForChocolate.com or my Will Write For Chocolate Facebook Page. Also see the Will Write For Chocolate archives.

Comic: If Cinderella Was A Writer

Thanks to A Mighty Girl for sharing one of my older comics on their FB page; I've noticed it's already been shared around 1500 times! I also VERY MUCH appreciate A Mighty Girl including an illustration credit in the post text (thank you!), since the image being shared has my copyright info cropped out. 

For those looking for the original and who want to share it, I'd appreciate you sharing the image below instead of the cropped version, thanks:

Judy Blume, Simon & Schuster Children's, and MY BIG NEWS (Part 1)

 February 16, 2014 edit: Also see Part 2 of my Judy Blume news!!!!

You can see the official cover reveal today in:

but S&S gave me permission to post the other middle grade covers here as well.

THOSE ARE MY ILLUSTRATIONS.

ME.

AND JUDY BLUME.

Huge thanks to Justin Chanda for inviting me to audition for this project. When he called me a few weeks ago to tell me I got the job, I screamed. A LOT. I'm sure I broke his eardrums.

Then I called Jeff at work and screamed at him as well.

It's been huge fun working with Lauren Rille, the art director on this project responsible for the fantastic cover design, and working with Justin Chanda and Namrata Tripathi on ideas as well. I'll be posting more details and thanks in a future blog post.

But for now...

Wow.

Just WOW.

(Note about the above: I only illustrated the cover for ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET; there are no interior illustrations - I suspect this listing may change, so had to take a screenshot before it did. But still, I really do wish I could send the above listing to my younger self.) 

 February 16, 2014 edit: Also see Part 2 of my Judy Blume news!!!!

Interview: Carmella Van Vleet on middle grade novels, publication, writer advice and ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG, FAT QUITTER (Holiday House, launches Feb. 14, 2014)

I met Carmella Van Vleet through MiGWriters, a wonderful critique group I discovered through the SCBWI message boards. Carmella is a former kindergarten teacher and the author of numerous hands-on science and history books, including Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself (Nomad Press). She loves lists, cooking shows, exclamation points, and taekwondo - but not necessarily in that order! ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG, FAT QUITTER is her first novel and launches on February 14th!

I love this story and its protagonist, Eliza Bing, and can't wait until this book hits the bookstore shelves next week.

Where to find Carmella online: Website - ClassOf2k14 - MigWriters - Facebook - Twitter

ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG FAT QUITTER

Author: Carmella Van Vleet

Cover artist: Karen Donnelly

Publisher: Holiday House

Launch date: February 14th, 2014

Goodreads - Indiebound - Amazon.com

Plot synopsis for Eliza Bing Is (Not) A Big, Fat Quitter:

Eleven-year-old Eliza has had many hobbies - and most of them haven't lasted very long. After she and her friend Tony create a baking business for a class project, Eliza is certain that cake decorating is her destiny. But her parents insist that the summer "Cakes with Caroline" class is too expensive, given Eliza's history of quickly losing interest in things.

Desperate to show them that she can stick with something, she volunteers to take her brother's unwanted spot in a taekwondo class. At first, Eliza has no interest in martial arts, and taekwondo is a huge challenge for her since she has ADHD. Eliza is tempted to drop out, especially when mean girl Madison shows up in class. Eliza may have set out to prove she’s no quitter, but she discovers something else: it’s okay to change your mind about who you are.

Q. What's your writing process? or What was your writing process for ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG FAT QUITTER?

Carmella and her daughter.A. I spent ten years writing non-fiction before switching to fiction. I thought the transition would be pretty easy, but I quickly discovered that the process for writing fiction - at least for me - was much different. When I working in non-fiction, my drafts were outlined and completed on a set-in-stone schedule. And often times with the television or my three kids making noise! For fiction, I need a quiet house and plenty of room to warm up and play around. I had a rough outline for ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG, FAT QUITTER but, for the most part, I was “pantser.” It was definitely a challenge to find the right voice; instead of my Teacher Voice, I had to get in touch with my Inner Middle Schooler. But once I found Eliza, she was pretty talkative. It helped, too, that much of the book was based on my daughter’s experiences with ADHD and bullying and our taekwondo training.

Carmella's office, where the magic happens!

From idea to ready-to-submit-to-agents, the book took about two years. (I’m not a fast drafter; I’ve learned to accept that. One of the most important things you have to remember is not to compare yourself to other writers.) Part of the process was working with my critique partners, the MiGs to get feedback. I also made the decision to work with freelance editor Diane Bailey. She was able to bring a fresh, critical eye to the manuscript. I’m not suggesting every writer needs to spend the money to hire a freelance editor but for me, and for that particular project, it was I needed to get my writing past “good” and into “good enough for publication” (In the interest of full disclosure, Diane and I are friends.)

Carmella signing her book contract

Q. How did ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG FAT QUITTER get published?

A. I found my agent the old fashioned way - through lots of research and rejections. I got pretty close with a couple of agents before I found Marie. She was new to agenting, so I like to joke that I was just waiting for her to show up to the party. “The Call” is actually kind of a funny story.

Carmella with her agent, Marie Lamba (The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency)I’d been sending out my book for a while and getting pretty discouraged. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this fiction stuff. You know? Around that time, my publisher contacted me about doing another non-fiction book for them. I was at a crossroads. Go back to non-fiction, which I loved and enjoyed success with, or keep pursuing my dream of writing fiction? One morning, I asked the Universe for a sign. I said, “And please make it something big since I’m dense sometimes!” Later in the day, I decided to draft a letter to my editor, turning down the non-fiction contract. I just wanted to see how it would feel. Right in the middle of typing, the phone rings. I can see from caller ID that it’s Marie and knew right away why she was calling. I thought, “Okay, Universe! I get it!” I’m sure Marie had no idea what to think when I answered the phone laughing!

Once I signed with her, I did a few more revisions and then we were ready to submit to publishers. We got positive feedback, but it was maybe eight weeks or so before an offer came. After I called my husband and parents and a close friend (all sworn to secrecy of course), my daughter went with me to buy a cake. I also treated myself to some fancy nail polish. It wasn’t until I was half way home before the irony hit me. You see, my main character gets herself into big trouble because of an incident with nail polish!

The editing process went very well despite an early bump in the road. The editor who originally made the offer, left the publishing house. (It happens sometimes.) But I was quickly adopted by another editor who loved Eliza just as much as I did and took very good care of the both of us. Julie was terrific and I agreed with almost everything she suggested, so things went quickly and smoothly.

One of the best parts of the process was when I went to New York (I was there for a SCBWI conference) and got to meet the folks at Holiday House in person. Everyone was so kind and welcoming. And I was humbled to discover that everyone in the small house was familiar with my book. Plus, I got to meet Eliza’s first reader, Assistant Editor Sally Morgridge. I wanted to give her a bear hug her or buy her a car or something, but for the record, I acted professionally. LOL.

Galleys for ELIZA BING

Q. What advice do you have for aspiring middle grade writers?

A. My best advice for middle grade writers is to do whatever you can to remember or get yourself back in touch with your kid-self. Read old journals, look at yearbooks or photos or videos. Ask your parents or siblings if they remember any stories about you. Middle schoolers are funny, thoughtful, curious and open. But at the same time, they’re under tremendous pressure to “fit in.” They’re much wiser than many people give them credit for, too. Don’t preach or teach - reach for them. And show up with honesty and a good sense of humor.

While it’s not absolutely necessary, hanging around middle schoolers is a good way to get inside their world. Listen to the way they talk, what they’re talking about (or not talking about) and how the interact with each other. This might mean volunteering to be the carpool parent or dance chaperone. If you don’t have pre-teens of your own, borrow a friends or coach or sit down at the food court at your local mall and eavesdrop.

My other piece of advice is to catch middle schoolers reading and pick their brains. For example, I train at a a taekwondo school. There are lots of kids around and whenever I see one reading a book, I make a point to ask them about it. Are they enjoying it? Is there anything they wish they could change? What made them pick up the book in the first place? The point isn’t to quiz them but to open up a conversation between readers. Because that’s what all writers should be first and foremost - good readers.

Q. What are you working on now? Any other upcoming events or other info you'd like to share?

I’m happy to announce that I recently signed a deal for my first picture book. TO THE STARS!, which I co-authored with astronaut Kathy Sullivan, will be released in 2016 from Charlesbridge Publishing. It’s about how Dr. Sullivan’s curiosity and love of science led her to become the first American women to walk in space and uses this really cool back-n-forth format.

I’ve recently finished writing a young adult novel as well. I’m hoping we can start submitting to publishers soon.

I’m also hoping to speak at writers’ conference about the rewards and challenges of writing in multiple genres and other topics. So if there’s anyone out there who needs a speaker...please contact me via my website. I’d love to hear from you!

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For more interviews, see my Inkygirl Interview Archive.