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It has already been a year since I feverishly put my portfolio together for the 2013 SCBWI L.A. Summer Conference and this was the art I used for my promo postcard. And here we are, the 2014 starts next week! Where does the dang time go?

I won’t be making the conference this year, but I am really jealous happy for all y ‘all that are attending this year! Yessss, so, so very happy (clenches jaw.)

But seriously! I’m thrilled for you, especially the folks who haven’t ever attended before. You’re going to love it and get so much out of it!

I’ll be waiting with baited breath for photos and to hear all about it!

The Illustration Friday word for the week is “burning”. Ok, this is a bit of a stretch, but it sort of works, eh?

I’m heading to the SCBWI L.A. Illustrator’s Day tomorrow and this is what I entered for the illustration contest they are having. We were asked to illustrate something for the following sentence:

“It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was…”

So I thought … a flood. A flooded zoo to be exact. I know, always with the stretching I am.

Anyway, wish me luck!

This paper draws upon research on women's employment in the UK book publishing industry. Contrary to public opinion that publishing offers exceptional opportunities for women, the survey revealed that although women make up 60 per cent of the workforce, men were more than twice as likely to become managers and more than 5 times as likely to become directors. Processes contributing to gendered occupational segregation and the operation of dual labour markets are analysed in terms of “pressures” and “preferences”; mediated by a traditionally informal approach to personnel practices. Structural change is creating polarisation into large conglomerates and small specialised... Read the rest of this post

Bridget Jones Syndrome - Snap out of it! Ever fancied yourself as a bit of a Bridget Jones? Well the movie certainly put women in publishing on the map... portraying us as ditsy young females, unlucky in love and losing the battle with the bulge!!! Don’t get me wrong I thoroughly enjoyed the movies... I mean why wouldn’t we enjoy watching a plump Rene Zellwegger portraying us all as feeble, granny pant wearing, bad decision making females who are basically a danger to ourselves if we so much as walk out the front door! And hello what’s with the messed up sequel... enough of that! Agreed we’ve all found ourselves working monster hours, drinking too much and fooling ourselves that this diet will indeed work... well it would if we didn’t suddenly find ourselves comfort eating krispy kremes after a hard day in the office meeting impossible deadlines and trying to manage unmotivated co-workers.

Overworked and underpaid – where’s the glamour in that? You’re out having drinks after work one night and a friend introduces you to Aaron the accountant – well, why not. Most post-work drinking establishments are crawling with Aarons, Marks or Grahams all behaving boisterously and flashing their cash! Anyway, after listening to 10 minutes of self-praise Aaron asks you what you do for a living, you reply ‘I work in publishing!’ Aaron smugly replies ‘Aha... very glamorous... all those publishers lunches eh! Lucky you’ So you find yourself mustering a fake smile and suddenly wishing the little guy would flutter away somewhere, but alas, he stays and decides to interrogate you with ‘So, fancy yourself as a bit of a Bridget Jones, eh?’

I think I can honestly say I have had my fair share of nightmare interviews while working in this industry. With the publishing business hosting a range of ‘interesting’ people from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures, you can always guarantee a rotten apple in your portfolio of interviews from hell! Not to mention any names because, well let’s face it, if I do this piece will not get published, despite the gallant efforts from all those concerned at publishthis! But top of my list of interviews from hell saw me travelling into Central London to an office where it seemed that if I so much as sneezed too loudly I would receive a deadly blow to the solar plexus from a manager who I can only describe as reminding me of something from the planet Tatooine. The only thing that I hate more than being interviewed by more than one person? A panel of three people who act like they have just been allowed out on day release from the Maudsley hospital on Denmark Hill.