How to use this Page

This year (and every year) I challenge myself to take on work that scares me a bit. To write and illustrate stories that I want to tell, but that I’m not sure how, exactly, to go about telling… That feeling of not knowing is a bit scary. But pushing myself to create work that is outside of my comfort zone helps me grow as an artist. 

—Molly Idle

I'd like to not only push myself to create the best books I'm capable of, but to create books with meaning and purpose.   I think this process makes me think and feel far more deeply about what I'm putting out into the world. 

—Dan Yaccarino

       
In 2016, I am hoping to push my craft by experimenting with different mediums. I will hopefully be able to incorporate this into my published work to keep things fresh. I find it useful to experiment. How else are we to make brilliant discoveries?

—Mike Curato

In 2016, I’ve resolved to make “No” my best friend. Or at least become more friendly with the word. There's more to being a children’s book creator than creating books. It's also about visiting and presenting at schools, signing/promoting your books at conferences and festivals, guest blogging, podcasting, interviews, mentoring others, so on and so on.  All of these things are important and necessary and, heck, a whole lot of fun too! But every second I spend away from home are seconds (and minutes and days and weeks) away from creating my next book. This year, I’ve resolved to, as Jane Yolen would say, keep my “butt in chair.”  

—Don Tate

My goal for 2016 is this: Take time to daydream, experience nature, nap, let my mind disengage, and generally recharge–not only for my mental health, but to ensure that I discover the wonder in every project. 

—Patricia Newman

My resolution is to lose just enough weight so that my man boobs don't jiggle when I drive over railroad tracks. Also, more writing. 

—Drew Daywalt

When I’m working, I want to be unreachable by phone, email, text, doorbell, etc –– and here’s the kicker –– not to feel guilty about it. I haven’t succeeded yet.

—Marla Frazee

I find if I don’t set creative goals, I tend to cruise on autopilot until I find myself in a rut. (I’m sure this never happens to anyone else.) Last year, I focused on writing more projects that I could illustrate. This year? Because I find it easier to bring the funny than to write about feelings, in 2016 I’ve set my sights on bringing greater emotional depth into my writing. 

—Bruce Hale

Due to happy circumstances, I’m back to doing multiple books per year—again.  I can feel the creative juices filling my studio once more.  And my “painting studio” is filled with prepared canvases just waiting for the first brush strokes.  But it’s already February, so I’d better get busy.  On top of this, everyone will be happy to know that I am planning to cut back on my Ethel Merman imitations!  

—Tomie de Paola

I struggle a lot with self doubt and second-guessing. The problem happens not when I doubt the work, but my own ability to solve the problem and elevate the story. So I will be paying close attention to these signals and strive to find innovative solutions. Do I need more research? A different approach to the scene? Something utterly unexpected? This way, the hardest part of writing—the fear—becomes an invitation to potential thrills. 

—Martha Brockenbrough

My first resolution for 2016 is to make no resolutions. So I've already failed. Which is wonderfully freeing. My next thought is to spend more time playing around. Seriously just playing.

—Jon Scieszka

If you had told me a few years ago that I’d be making a resolution to read more, I’d have called you crazy. I used to read all the time! But busy-ness and health issues have intruded on my reading time and I’ve fallen out of the habit, so I’ve resolved to read at least one hour every day, uninterrupted, in a real (i.e., paper) book. Only by filling the well can I draw water from it.

—Tracy Barrett

My family has a tradition where we tape a big piece of poster paper to the living room wall on New Year's Eve with "In 2016, I want to…" written at the top. Throughout the night and the next day, everyone adds hopes, goals, & dreams with a marker. This year, one of my creativity-related goals was to start writing earlier in the morning, since that tends to be my most productive time. I'm setting an alarm to cut off my email & social media time by 7:30am so that I can meet that goal more often. I also wrote down that I want to climb ten more Adirondack High Peaks, which is tangentially related to writing because I tend to solve plot problems when I hike!  

—Kate Messner

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions.  And I feel so much of what happens in the creation of children's books is out of one's hands.  So my intention for this year is to write each day as though no one will ever read what I'm writing — to take risks and to write with emotional truth, even the funny stuff.  Especially the funny stuff.  And when I'm presenting, my intention is to think of what the audience may need and be wholly present during each and every experience of this wild, wonder-filled ride.

—Donna Gephart

My goals are to be BOLD, BRAVE, and to SHINE in 2016, and I encourage others to do the same! 

—Salina Yoon

My main goals are to make reading for pleasure more of a priority, create more visual art this year than last, and to complete my last novel under contract by summer in order to tackle my memoir.  My original goal was to slow down, but one week into the new year, I was already moving too fast to remember the day of the week, so I suppose that goal didn't take! 

—Nikki Grimes

Sleep coaches give the advice that we should try to fall asleep in the same position that we wake up in.  The idea is that we insomniacs often hinder our ability to fall asleep by choosing positions which are unnatural—they are positions we think are right for us, but our bodies, knowing better than we do, naturally find their most comfortable position during the night.  My goal for 2016 is to apply this technique to the totality of my waking life. 

—Theo Baker

Since I work on a dozen different things in any one year, I make lists and lists of what needs to be done when.  I always try to beat those deadlines by days, weeks, even months. But I am also very aware that Life happens, even to writers and illustrators: babies are born, parents die, divorces intrude, flu arrives on your doorstep and runs through the family not once but twice. And so teaching yourself humility and forgiveness are a part of any creative year. Humility when your talent, taste, and timing don't match up to your idea or your ideal. And forgiving yourself when the sentence wobbles, the plot doesn't jell, or the characters run amok and do—well—uncharacteristic things. Surpisingly, that can often be when the actual magic happens. 

—Jane Yolen

 I’ve decided to approach 2016 as if it’s a party I’m getting ready to throw. All of you are invited! My goal is to relax and remember to enjoy the process—to approach my computer each day not as if I am going through labor, pushing my new baby out into the world through a process of excruciatingly hard labor. But, instead, to think of it as the act of conception. Which, as we all know, is way more fun. 

—Sonya Sones

A mentor of mine once told me that “a goal is a dream with a deadline.”  In other words, goals are steps you accomplish on the way to your dream.  I love that.  It helps me focus more on the process and less on the final accomplishment.  So how about you?  What will you attempt in 2016 that will propel you on the path to your dreams?  As for me, I want to get that critical voice out of my ear, rip out her tongue and banish her to Mongolia, so I can spend more writing time in the Zone and less answering to that bitch.  Oh yeah, and I’m also going to lose ten pounds and walk 10,000 steps a day.