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(from Illustration, animation and general thoughts from the merry land of Otis.)
  • Illustration, animation and general thoughts from the merry land of Otis.
    "Author"

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Viewing Post from: Illustration, animation and general thoughts from the merry land of Otis.
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1. "Author"



I just realized that it has been three months since my last post. Where did that time go? It seems like a few days ago we had over three feet of snow on the ground here in Maine. Now it is sunny and warm. The windows are open and a breeze comes drifting in, teasing me to go outside.

During this three month absence, a few things have happened. Danielle Smith (Red Fox Literary), my new agent, and I have been doing a focused mailing of a promo booklet that we put together. We have sent out around a 100 of them. Danielle is such a treat to work with and I look forward doing a ton of books with her. I am one lucky person.

The other BIG THING is that my book Faraway Friends (Sky Pony Press) has been launched into to the universe. This is my first book that I wrote and illustrated. So now I have the title of "author" added to my name. This is a bit surreal.

"I did not earn this title." I tell myself every day.

"One book does make an author." Is another one that crosses my mind. It is like one nail does not make a house.

"Is the book good enough for me to earn the right to use 'author'." I dunno.


"Am I sham?" Probably.

I reached out to a well-known author and asked her for an opinion. Her response was eye opening but warm. I was told to "Embrace it. Grow into the title. We are giving names at birth that become part of us, I should feel the same way with 'author'."

This made me smile. I am learning to feel comfortable with "author/illustrator" being attached to my name.

Now I am writing more, learning the craft, experimenting with words like I would with a paint and brush. Embracing the new title.

It is still a bit surreal.

"When you're writing a book, with people in it as opposed to animals, it is no good having people who are ordinary, because they are not going to interest your readers at all. Every writer in the world has to use the characters that have something interesting about them, and this is even more true in children's books." ~ Roald Dahl

"I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done." ~ Steven Wright


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