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by Timothy Young

First, congratulations on completing PiBoIdMo, getting all 30 of your great ideas down on paper. Or, congratulations on attempting PiBoIdMo, but only finding the time to get about 20 picture book ideas down on paper. Or, good try, you only found the time to get 5 or so picture book ideas down on paper because you’re really busy this time of year (heck, don’t kid yourself, you’re busy all year-round) but you feel like you’ve got 2 or 3 really good ideas you want to pursue. I, as usual, fall into the last group. It’s not that I lack good ideas, I just can’t get organized to write them all down on a schedule. Plus I have the added excuse of spending this November finishing my next book.

So now it’s December 3rd, now it’s time to take those 2 or 3 good ideas and start turning them into books. So let’s sit down and start writing, as soon as you go pick out a tree and decorate the house for the holidays. OK, that’s out of the way, let’s start writing, as soon a you finish that job you started in mid-November and the deadline is fast approaching. OK, that’s done, now it’s getting close to Christmas and you’ve got so many functions and last minute shopping and then it’s New Year’s Eve and I promise I’ll get around to writing as soon as the new year starts. Well, right after I do my taxes, that is. What do you mean Happy Valentines Day?! Where is the time going!

So here’s the issue, I don’t know about you, but I’m really busy. I work for myself as a graphic designer and freelance illustrator. I have a number of clients who are very demanding (especially that one who always calls at 4:30 with some emergency that requires another 4 hours of work). Add to that family stuff and general household needs, who has time to write?

So here are some secrets to finding all the time you need to write:

• Inherit loads of money so you don’t have to have a job. This also works if you win the lottery.

• Marry someone who is really wealthy so that you can have servants to take care of all the small stuff like raising the kids. This frees up a lot time.

• Become really famous for something else, like acting in movies or singing great songs, then publishers will pay you lots of money to write a book. Even becoming infamous can get you a book deal.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound hopeless, it’s not. We write because we have to, because we are passionate about it. Don’t ask me how I found the time to get 5 picture books out in 6 years, 4 of which are with a publisher so small they don’t pay an advance*, and I’m the illustrator as well, so I really have to work some late nights. Basically I’ve found that you just have to make the time. Find an hour here and an hour there. Get up a few hours early on the weekends and leave the dishes in the sink until later. If you are sitting in the car on a long trip, write in your head or speak it into your iPhone.

You found the time to do PiBoIdMo, you’ll find the time to write your books. You will, because you want to, you need to…because you have to do it, for you.

*Don’t get me wrong, I love Schiffer Publishing, they’re an independent, family-run publisher that has been around since the early seventies, they pay good royalties and they do an excellent job producing my books and distributing them.

Timothy Young has had a lot of fun jobs; he’s been an animator, puppet maker, toy designer, sculptor, art director, illustrator and graphic designer. Tim has designed for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, the Muppets, Disney, the Simpsons and Universal Studios. Now he is the author/illustrator of 5 published picture books including I Hate Picture Books! and his latest, The Angry Little Puffin. He lives with his family on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Visit Tim’s website at creaturesandcharacters.com. Friend him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @TimSYoung.

Tim is giving away two books–a signed copy of THE ANGRY LITTLE PUFFIN and a signed copy of I HATE PICTURE BOOKS!

These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:

1. You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
2. You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
3. You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

While I was vacationing in Hilton Head when the votes were tallied and the winners announced. I have highlighted the winners. Congratulations!

__________________________________________________________

Atlantic

(Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland)

FLAME IN THE MIST by Kit Grindstaff

City Cat by Lauren Castillo

I Hate Picture Books! Written and Illustrated by Timothy Young

Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman, Illustratrated by Keith Campbell

The Monstore by Tara Lazar, Illustrated by James Burks

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Margaret Medina

California, Hawaii

THE KITE THAT BRIDGED TWO NATIONS by Alexis O’Neil, Illustrated by Terry Widener

The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. by Greg Pincus

Destiny, Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Lara’s Gift by Annemarie O’Brien

West

(Washington, Northern Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota)

ONCE UPON A MEMORY by Nina Laden, Illustrated by Renata Liwska

A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury

Bedtime In The Meadow by Stephanie Shaw

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy by Martha Brockenbrough, Illustrated by Israel Sanchez

Southwest

(Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Southern Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico)

TEA REX by Molly Idle

All Through My Town by Jean Reidy

Backwards by Todd Mitchell

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

A Summer of Sundays by Lindsay Eland

Midwest

(Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio)

SOPHIE’S SQUASH by Pat Zietlow Miller

45 Pounds (More or Less) by Kelly Barson

Boom! Boom! Boom! by Jamie A. Swenson, Illustrated by David Walker

Carnivores by Aaron Reynolds, Illustrated by Dan Santat

Doggone Feet! Written and Illustrated by Leslie Helakoski

Penguin Cha-Cha Written and Illustrated by Kristi Valiant

New England

(Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)

The Story of Fish & Snail Written and Illustrated by Deborah Freedman

All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

Call Me Amy by Marcia Strykowski

Dear Life, You Suck by Scott Blagden

Living With Jackie Chan by Jo Knowles

Monster Needs a Costume by Paul Czajak, Illustrated by Wendy Grieb

When Rivers Burned by Linda Brennan, Illustrated by Lisa Greenleaf

New York

Crankenstein! by Samantha Berger, Illustrated by Dan Santat

Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde

Texas, Oklahoma

Army Camels: Texas Ships of the Desert by Doris Fisher

Ball Written and Illustrated by Mary Sullivan

Happy Birthday, Bunny! by Liz Scanlon

Nugget & Fang Illustrated by Tammi Sauer

The Dark Between by Sonia Gensler

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

Mid-South

(Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana)

THE 13TH SIGN by Kristin Tubb

Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes

Ice Cream Soup by Ann Ingalls

Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos

My Blue Is Happy by Jessica Young

Swing Low, Sweet Harriet by Rhonda Hicks Rucker

Southeast

(Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama)

THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL by Shannon Hitchcock

Anubis Speaks! by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Olivia Twisted by Vivi Barnes

Wild Discoveries: Wacky New Animals by Heather Montgomery

UK, Ireland

SHINE by Candy Gourlay

Fractured by Teri Terry

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Middle East, India, Asia

BONKERS! by Natasha Sharma

Jet Black and the Ninja Wind by Leza Lowitz

The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

The Seven-Legged Spider by Poh Peng Lee

Tibby the Tiger Bunny by Emily Lim, Illustrated by Jade Fang

Canada

It’s a tie!

I DARE YOU NOT TO YAWN by Helene Boudreau

SKINK ON THE BRINK by Lisa Dalrymple, Illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Brothers at War by Don Cummer

Hoogie in the Middle by Stephanie McLellan, Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

Stained by Cheryl Rainfield

Australia, New Zealand

Zac and Mia by AJ Betts

Ali Berber and the Forty Grains of Salt by Sheryl Gwyther

Big Red Kangaroo by Claire Saxby

Granny Grommet and Me by Dianne Wolfer, Illustrated by Karen Blair

The Boy on the Page Written and Illustrated by Peter Carnavas

The Wishbird Written and Illustrated by Gabrielle Wang

Welcome Home Written and Illustrated by Christina Booth

Other International

CHICK-O-SAURUS REX by Lenore Appelhans, Illustrated by Daniel Jennewein

Blossoms of Scarlet Illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden

Dragon Fire by Dina von Lowenkraft

The Lost (And Found) Balloon Illustrated by Maria Bogade

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Before you click the back button, thinking you’ve arrived at the wrong blog, let me assure you…I DO NOT hate picture books.

And neither does Timothy Young, author-illustrator of the new picture book I HATE PICTURE BOOKS! It’s his main character with the picture book problemo.

I will let him explain…

In November I was a guest blogger for PiBoIdMo and I told a brief version of how I had the idea for I HATE PICTURE BOOKS!. I was at the NJSCBWI 2011 summer conference where I was on the faculty. I taught a seminar about creating pop-up books and sat on a panel with some of the other authors in the KidLit Authors Club. I attended a couple of the other seminars while there, including “Finding The Funny Stuff” with Audrey Vernick and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich. They were talking about parody (I love good parody) in children’s books and Olugbemisola made a very funny comment about Paddington Bear’s immigration status.

That’s where things got rolling. I’ve always loved good parody but I hadn’t really thought of doing a parody book. There have been some really good ones lately like Michael Rex’s THE RUNAWAY MUMMY and GOODNIGHT GOON. So sitting there I started thinking, if I were going to do a parody what would it be? Images of classic books started running through my head and I thought, there are too many to choose from. Could I do something that used a bunch of books instead of just one? Somewhere in my thoughts appeared this kid, this boy who misinterpreted what he was reading. He was angry about it and he yelled “I hate picture books!”.

I have to say I really liked that title. It had a great hook and I thought “there’s a title readers will notice”. It has to be a good story with a title like that. I thought of all of the books this boy would be angry at. I thought of the kind of trouble he would get into based on what he read. I was really enjoying the process.

I had the beginning of the book really fleshed out, I was even designing spreads in my head. Having the boy (he was eventually named Max) appear in the books he was talking about, and illustrating him in the style of classic illustrators really excited me.

I then came up with the idea of having lots and lots of books lying on the floor and I couldn’t wait to get home and start drawing some of the scenes I was working out in my head.

So this story pushed it’s way out of my head. Once I got home from the conference I began furiously drawing. I designed my boy and started drawing him onto the scenes I was developing. I went to my local library and checked out dozens of books. (I’ve dedicated this book to my mom and to Rosemary Morris, the children’s librarian at the Talbot County Library). I’ve had an ability to mimic other peoples styles which I’ve developed working in the toy industry with licensed product from Disney, Henson and other famous character brands. I knew I had to go the New York in August for 2 weeks so I gave myself a deadline to have a rough dummy ready for then.

I made my deadline and set up some meetings. I got a very good reaction from a number of people who’s opinion I really respect. I HATE PICTURE BOOKS! was sent out to a number of publishers by my then agent, and was turned down (nicely) by all of them. In November I was introduced to the good people at Schiffer Publishing. I submitted it along with SHADOWS ON MY WALL, THEY’RE COMING! and another book. They came back to me quickly saying they wanted all four. Since SHADOWS ON MY WALL and THEY’RE COMING! were almost ready to go they were put into the schedule right away. I then had 6 months to finish all of the illustrations for I HATE PICTURE BOOKS! and here it is coming out in a couple of weeks!

I’m having a book launch event at Books of Wonder in NYC on March 2nd (Dr. Seuss’ Birthday!) from 1 – 3 pm. If you can’t make it and want to get a signed copy, you can order one from my Kickstarter campaign until Sunday, February 17th when the campaign ends. You can see a video there of me reading the first few pages of the book.

I’m also having a contest on my website, www.ihatepicturebooks.com. If you can recognize and name 40 books from the over 250 classic and modern picture books referenced in it you can enter to win over a dozen signed books that appear in my book. They are by authors and illustrators you’ve actually heard of.

Thanks, Timothy!

I definitely cannot wait to get my hands on this one.

How about you?