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I had a FANTASTIC time during my WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? Book Tour earlier this month. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Children's for making the book tour possible for me, and to all the schools, libraries and bookstores who participated.

For those interested, I've posted links to my photos and recap at DebbieOhi.com/2015booktour, including what I learned along the way.

Thanks to Andrea Skyberg for featuring my Office Cave in her Tuesday Studio Tours today.

Find out why my office looks NOTHING like the rest of the house, how my hero husband Jeff helped enhance my office, my envy of those who have appealing-sounding creative rituals, music I'm listening to (including Ookla the Mok) and a sampling of my new OfficeCrazyDanceBreak playlist, the most useful tool in my studio, and advice for those who want to make a personal space where they can be creative. Plus LOTS of photos!

Thank you, Andrea!

The 2014 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market is now on book shelves, and includes AN INTERVIEW WITH ME!! I'm pretty thrilled. 

I've been buying this annual guide for many years, not just for the great info about children's book publishers and other markets, but also because of the excellent interviews and advice for pros in the industry….so actually being mentioned IN this guide is kind of exciting for me.

I'm also SO flattered to be included in the blurb description about the book, especially considering the other names mentioned. An excerpt:

"Interviews with some of today's hottest authors and illustrators, including author R.L. Stine (the Goosebumps series), author Marie Lu (Legend), author Beth Revis (Across the Universe), and illustrator Debbie Ridpath (I'm Bored, written by Michael Ian Black)."

How cool is that?!?

Wish I could send that paragraph back to my younger self to help take the edge off all those rejection letters.

Anyway, thanks so much to Ricki Schultz for interviewing me and to Chuck Sambuchino for editorial guidance.

More info about the book on the Writer's Digest website.

I enjoyed working on I'M BORED so much that I was secretly hoping that I'd get to illustrate another of Michael's stories...and my wish was granted! Entertainment Weekly posted the news this morning.

I am so very, very pleased to announce that my next picture book illustration project is going to be NAKED, written by Michael Ian Black, published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. I LOVE the story and am already having a ton of fun doing sketches for the book.

Plus I get to work with Justin Chanda (editor) and Laurent Linn (art director) again!

NAKED launches in the Summer 2014.

Posted today over on London Time: Lorna London interviews me about the process of illustrating a children's book, advice for aspiring picture book writers, and I'M BORED.

For more press, please see my Press, Interviews & Other Coolstuff page.

I have been dying to share this ever since I first received the offer but now that the contracts are all negotiated and signed, it's OFFICIAL:

I am (so very very) pleased to announce that I just signed TWO (!) book contracts with Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

One contract is to illustrate a picture book.

The other contract is to WRITE and illustrate a picture book.

To say I am excited would be a vast understatement.

Even now, I am fighting the urge to insert exclamation marks at the end of every sentence.

The good people at S&S are looking for a picture book story for me to illustrate right now (yes, RIGHT NOW).  Michael Ian Black's I'M BORED was such a perfect fit for me, and I had SO much fun working on it - I can't wait to see what my next illustration project will be.

As for the picture book that I write AND illustrate: I'm very much looking forward to working again with Justin Chanda, my editor on this project. I've already sent him some ideas, and he'll be helping me choose and work on the story that ends up getting published. MY VERY FIRST OWN PICTURE BOOK!!!! Oops, accidentally let some extra exclamation marks escape there. Sorry, can't help it.

THANK YOU, JUSTIN AND GINGER!

Ginger Knowlton is my goddess of an agent.

Justin Chanda is the publisher of three flagship imprints at Simon & Schuster: Atheneum, Margaret K. McElderry Books and Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. He is crazy-enthusiastic about children's and YA books.

He was also one of the illustration portfolio showcase panel judges at the SCBWI Summer Conference in 2010 (thank you thank you, SCBWI!), where he offered me a book contract to illustrate Michael Ian Black's I'M BORED (I later asked Justin about why he picked me, and here's what he said).

I've already learned so much from Justin about the craft and business of creating children's books, and I look forward to learning more.

So much more I want to say, but it'll have to wait.

But for now, just this:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY! My contributor's copies of TOMO arrived today!! TOMO (which means "friend" in Japanese) features 36 stories for teens by authors and artists around the world. One of these stories is by me: it's my very first graphic short story, which is sort of a fantasy/romance/horror. Here's the first page:

Looking forward to reading other stories!

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit teens affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Please do consider buying a copy, and tell your friends! You can point them to this online postcard about TOMO.

Find out more about the anthology here: tomoanthology.blogspot.com/ (includes an interview with me)

From Kirkus Reviews:

A broadly appealing mix of the tragic and droll, comforting, disturbing, exotic and universal, with nary a clinker in the bunch.

Buy on Indiebound

Buy on Amazon (On sale for $9.95 right now)

Be sure to visit the Tomo website to learn about our events this March at Boston Children's Museum and the New York Public Library in Manhattan.

Holly Thompson just posted the cover of Tomo on her book blog:

http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com/2011/10/announcing-tomo-cover.html

The illustrated figures were created by illustrator John Shelley. I took the cover and created the promo graphic above. As I mentioned a while ago, I'm tickled that my illustrated short story "Kodama" was chosen to be included in this anthology for teens.

Edited by Holly Thompson, Tomo will be published by Stone Bridge Press in March 2012.

You can find a list of the other contributors as well as more information about the book at:

http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com/

Holly Thompson just posted the cover of Tomo on her book blog:

http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com/2011/10/announcing-tomo-cover.html

The illustrated figures were created by illustrator John Shelley. I took the cover and created the promo graphic above...feel free to repost it anywhere you'd like to help promote this anthology; please do link the graphic to http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com. (and thanks!)

As I mentioned a while ago, I'm tickled that my illustrated short story "Kodama" was chosen to be included in this anthology for teens. Proceeds will benefit young people affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Edited by Holly Thompson, Tomo will be published by Stone Bridge Press in March 2012.

You can find a list of the other contributors as well as more information about the book at:

http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com/

A children's book publisher I admire a great deal recently invited me to send them a picture book story. Well, I did...and THEY LIKE IT! They've asked for a few sketches, so that's what I'm working on right now. So if I'm a bit scarce in Inkygirl for a little bit, that's why.

Meanwhile, I've just sent a proposal for a nonfiction book to my agent for her comments, and will be sending that off soon.

Sooooooooooo excited! Please keep your fingers crossed for me, thanks. :-)

I am pleased to announce that I will be illustrating a picture book written by author/actor/comedian Michael Ian Black for Simon & Schuster. Tentative publication date: Spring 2012.

More (MUCH more) later.