I did it!

I sent my first query with my pb bio, art and dummy to AAL today! I don't think I could have targeted better having read his website content, and meeting and listening to him. This ms has been thru critique and art approval for years, tho the dummy is still loose. So he will have it soon enough...and I will show him Doll Saver when the dummy is done...hopefully not too long.

And my lovely daughter.. the Harry Potter daughter...is ready to eat at the Back Off (her name for the Outback). Must go chomp down some sirloin.

My Dear: Your Query is your Voir Dire!

I love writing queries. Not only because I am telling what my book is about, but because I am getting to the essence of it. It is a fun challenge!!

I can tell why my first manuscripts didn't go. Because I couldn't say what they were really about. Were they about anything? What is the truth and meaning about what I have to say about my character and story?

Today, I use M.T.A's (Manhattan Transit Authority?...I think not) Handel Biography to see how he does it...as mine is comparable... somewhat.

In his jacket copy, his first two lines sum up the man in his story.

Throughout is life, George Frideric Handel always knew what he liked. And he was never afraid to do what he liked LOOKS SO SIMPLE...DOESN'T IT?


From childhood Louis Moreau Gottschalk loved the musical sounds he heard around the world. He mixed them all together in his own musical ragbag, then took them out and shared them.

Has been changed to: Louis Moreau Gottschalk soaked up every musical sound he heard around the world. He mixed them in his own musical ragbag. Then he took them out and shared them. (Better I think...and off it goes.) YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we talk a bit about the hardships along the way. And his determination.





Getting there thru trial and error






getting there.

I found the perfect car

for David McKee and Elmer.

Hidden Talents

Picture Number One: Well, Emily did leave the house...sort of.

Picture Number Two: Emily secretly wrote poems. Secretly.

Picture Number Three: Lavinia discovered them. But look carefully at Lavinia. She is as pale as a ghost. She sees somebody in the room...

"There's somebody in the room!"

it's... it's...

"No. I'm nobody! Who are you?"

So You Want to be Vice President

I'm illustrating a YA picture book and looking for a writer. Must like shotgun weddings.

And she locked herself away until she finished her first draft

The first thing you should notice is the note on the very top of the page.

Poor Emily. She was homely. She never left her room. She brooded. But she wrote incessantly and became famous.

Sometimes that is what it takes. I am going back to my room to finish my poem...my book report...my pb first draft. Whatever.

Stay tuned for the art. It will knock your socks off.

An Unexpected Guest and Memories of Summer Stock

My inlaws gave us tickets to this. Unexpectedly. And the Red Barn is just the way I remember it when I was about 10. When dad brought us here for the summer while he directed summer stock. The Barn still creaks, smells musty and boasts great amateur theater. The people still creak too. Photos of actors...all around. People I remember as if were yesterday.

The thing that I love is that every show here is done very well, the speech and acoustics are clear, the artisitic direction is simple yet effective, and the actors are for the most part top notch.

I understood every Agatha Christie bit of dialogue (in quite good Anglo-parle) and was of course surprised by the Christie ending. She is famous for her endings and the way she unravels her plots and characters. And the Whodunnit always makes everyone gasp. Never who you'd expect (well, usually never except for the lady behind me's best friend.... grrrr.... who has to let everyone know how brilliant she is).

The Receiver: But something is not adding up...what did I miss? It wasn't in the middle. It was something that should have paralleled with the beginning and the end. Guess I'll have to read this. I love a good mystery and get antsy when something is not quite right (It is right, but something went over my head and I have to catch it).

The Creator: What does this have to do with illustration and writing? For me, if something is not quite right, I have to figure out why and catch it.


Back to My Accident.