There were scores of rejection letters. I hadn’t kept them all or else there would have been hundreds.
A Tale of Twin Books
Here’s a bit of the bunny-eat-bunny world that I’d put out of my mind up until recently. A terrific cartoonist I follow blogged about people stealing his ideas, and it brought back memories. Twice in my 35 year career, I felt that an idea I submitted had been stolen. I knew that we could not…
Don’t Quit Your Day Job!
…if your illustrating/writing abilities are valuable enough for someone else to profit from them, then maybe honor yourself enough to try being your own boss and choosing who gets to make money off of your talents.
A Fishy Story, continued…
I’ve been meaning to continue the Fishy Story for a while, but it has been a busy summer and autumn so far, what with gardening and harvesting, clean-up, and acclimating our new 3-1/2 year old border collie rescue who, like all dogs, requires lots of attention. Say hello, Hank. It turns out to be a…
A Fishy Story
I began my career with a picture book contract after about seven months of soliciting. The contract was with a very small children’s book imprint that was part of Dodd, Mead and Company, one of the pioneer publishing houses in the United States. During the 1980s when I started, the children’s book industry was diverse,…
More Casualties of COVID
Valentine’s Day was a sad day at the Funny Farm this year. I had Jeep put to sleep early that Monday morning, after a brief spell that began on Saturday. Nearly 16 year old Jeep died peacefully on his car blankees with me petting him, he having no clue what happened since the vet came…
The Failure of the Levees
What Was Hurricane Katrina? was published in 2015, close to the tenth anniversary of that historic horror. While I’m proud of this book for middle-grade students and it’s sold pretty well over the years, it did not turn out to be what I had originally proposed, and that has always bothered me a little. So,…
Make your own Pop-up from Up All Night Counting!
So, here is all you need to create the hanging momma and her seven babies from my 2012 title Up All Night Counting, which you might be able to find used on eBay.
One Old Dog Learns Paper Piecing
Say turtle table topper quickly three times if you can.
“How was your year?” Me:
Happy almost end of 2020. On a recent NPR program, the Takeaway, there was a story about how our dressing habits had changed so much due to the shutdown. Men and women now working at home were slogging around in t-shirts, shorts, sweats, even lounge wear and bathrobes. When an online meeting was scheduled, they…
"Be part of something good; leave something good behind." 