Toby!!! Our newest addition had the whole 'studio dog' thing figured out by hour two.  Sweet.

Global Blog Tour Continues -Mary Peterson

The wonderfully talented illustrator, and fellow Iowa transplant Mary Peterson has agreed to take up the blog tour batan.  You can find her posting here: http://www.marypeterson.com/  Mary's new book, WOOBY AND PEEP (Sterling 2013) is in stores now. Check out WOOBY AND PEEP's website http://www.woobyandpeep.com/  It's got all kinds of fun info along with some pretty fantastic fan art.

Kite Tales Article

I recently wrote an article, "Me, My Editor, and Has It Really Been a Decade?" for Kite Tales, SoCal's regional scbwi publication, Illustrator's Perspective (pg 19-20) about my career (so far) in picture books.  You can see it, along with many other interesting things here: http://www.scbwi.org/Resources/Documents/KT_Spring13.pdf  -You may need to be an scbwi member to view the current issue.

Global Blog Tour

I've been tagged by the wonderful illustrator Jennifer Goldfinger to participate in a blog tour! Since I'm obviously not the best at updating my blog, this seems like a good excuse to jump back in... at least for one post. For the tour, I'm supposed to answer some questions about a recent or upcoming book and then pass it on to some author and illustrator friends. So here goes:

 

1. What is the working title of your next book?  CATERINA AND THE PERFECT PARTY, It will be published by Dial July 11, 2013
 

2. Where did the book idea come from for the book? I started with the character of Caterina who is a little bit me, a little my bit my daughter, but far more organized than either of us.

3. What genre does your book fall into? Picture Book

4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Gosh, I don’t know, I’m bad at actors.  My daughter did the voice on the book trailer and she sounds about right.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? Caterina is a bird with lots of colorful ideas – lists and lists of them!

6. Who is publishing your book? Dial. They’ve supported the project from day one and I couldn’t be happier.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft? It took only a couple days to write the first draft, but it took a couple years and too many drafts to count before I got the right story.

How long to sketch and draw and paint the illustrations? Once we were set on the basic story it took around 6 months to complete. There were changes to the spreads right up until the end.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? It’s hard to say. CATERINA AND THE PERFECT PARTY’s editor, Jen Hunt, and I were interested in character driven books. We researched our favorites, Charlie and Lola, Eloise, Curious George, Skippy Jon Jones, along with countless others. I’m hoping Caterina reflects some of those classics’ emotional honesty.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? My daughter. She’s not nearly as type A as Caterina, but her expressions are definitely in the illustrations.

 

10. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? I always saw Caterina as a bird of many interests who might inspire kids to try new things. In keeping with that, I’ve been building a website for her with activities, recipes, and crafts so that kids can “Plan something fun every day,” just like Caterina does. The site is: www.caterinascorner.com

Thanks again to Jennifer for tagging me on this tour.  Make sure to check out her site, she's working on some really great projects: http://www.jennifergoldfinger.blogspot.com/ 

 

Happy Valentine's Day.. Late

Eat your heart out....

I actually sent this out to family, friends, and associates on Valentine's Day.  I just forgot to post it here :)  This is Tiki.  He belongs to our cousins down in San Clemente.  He's your typical surfer,  snorting, farting, family dog.  While Tiki is a bit of a terror he is still a dog and I really really want a dog.  I'm telling you, when this deadline is done I'm getting a dog. 

Caterina meets Penguin

Caterina (a little brown bird with great big colorful thoughts) and I are both excited to be working with Dial Books for Young Readers on a new picture book.  Yay!!! 

Book Signing at Costco

I'm heading home to the Midwest this week. I'll be signing copies of TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN WISCONSIN this next Saturday, Dec. 3 at the Middleton, WI Costco from 11am-2pm. (outside Madison) Stop by if you're in the area, I'll be the one shivering in the corner. :)