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…

BUG! Publishing News

It began last October with a semi-desire to learn how to do scratchboard while tinkering with a story idea. As usual, my brain firmly resisted this new task that sounded messy, time consuming and difficult to learn. So, after buying all the materials and watching a few tutorials, I tried creating the scratchboard effect using…

Texting While Driving: a Writer’s Tip

We all know that sticking our nose in a device to read and answer messages while we drive is akin to driving while impaired, or worse. But safe texting while driving is something I’ve done for years. A lot of writers talk of their routine of “Butt in Chair” (BIC) from something o’clock to whatever…

Don’t over-pluck your picture book

If you write picture books, you know it’s a lot easier to tell your story in more words than probably anyone wants to publish. It used to be that 1,000-1,200 words was the limit. Now, it’s more like 700. Or even shorter! But that does not mean you cut all but the first 700 words…

Are You Done Yet?

Wow, it’s been thirty years since my first children’s book contract. So… what have I learned in thirty years? I’ve learned that people often don’t respect or understand just how long it can take to accomplish a task that might appear, to the one not doing it, to be easy. I think everyone has experienced…

Hand-made Books

A year or two ago I bought up a bunch of my pop-up books when they were remaindered (the remainder of inventory that the publisher wants to let go rather than warehouse any longer): Up All Night Counting and Creepy Crawly Colors. Now I’m officially an Amazon Bookseller, so be sure to come by for…

Biding Our Time

A big brown bat appeared in our bathroom. Okay, it didn’t just appear, it flew around the room to let us know whose domain we had entered that evening. We figured the little guy came in through the vent fan from the attic and got to the attic via the roof vent, though we’re not…

Autographed Books available from Robin Koontz

Autographed books available from author/illustrator Robin Koontz – great gifts! (author copies – limited quantities) Friends ask about getting my books and I encourage them to order from their local bookstores – my titles are more for the educational market so you won’t find them on the retail shelves. But, if you want personalized copies,…

Holiday Employment

I don’t want to complain about working during the Christmas/Whatever holiday again – it’s great to be employed when you’re a full-time often-starving artist. I was hired to write four books for Rourke in October (with the usual fast deadline) and then learned that I had a crack at illustrating them, too. If you read…