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I am ridiculously far behind in picking winners. So without further ado, here they are!

WINNER of CRASHING EDEN by Michael Sussman:

MIKE ALLEGRA! (heylookawriterfellow)

WINNER of THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN by Tiffany Strelitz Haber:

LESLIE G!

Congratulations, guys! I’ll be emailing you shortly.

I’m sorry if you didn’t win, but everyone’s leaving with a consolation prize. No, not a lifetime supply of Turtle Wax. (Do they even make Turtle Wax anymore? If you ever won a lifetime supply on Let’s Make a Deal you’d be ripped off.) Instead, it’s a piece of picture book writing advice:

Think BIG and carry a SMALL manuscript.

Kirstie Edmunds is a children’s book illustrator from London, UK and is represented by the Prospect Agency in Brooklyn, NY. She moved to illustration following a career in graphic design and art direction, and has debuted this year with, ‘So You Want To Be A Rock Star,’ written by Audrey Vernick, for Walker/Bloomsbury, and, The Monster Who Lost His Mean’ by Tiffany Strelitz-Haber, and Henry Holt/Macmillan. Both Audrey and Tiffany are located in New Jersey - That is how I found her and her artwork. Like I have said before to picture book writers, get you illustrator to contact me and get featured.  It is a great way to encourage sales.

Kirstie started an illustration blog called Pencil Pocket in 2009, and soon after met her agent, Teresa Kietlinski at Prospect Agency.

Kirstie is currently working on an extended edition for Dial Books for Young Readers, written by Patricia Lakin, entitled ‘Playground Adventures’, for release in Spring 2014.

This was the first sample I did for the book.

The first sketch for the page, as it looked in my sketchbook.

Final sketch for the page, re-composed. I’d usually take this and do a block-out, or some tonal studies, before taking it into final colour.

The final piece.

Further sketch-to-final examples of the Monster houses and ‘Onster’ treehouse.

CRAVING – Work-in-Process

How did you get interested in art?

I’ve always been intere

Lots of you will remember Kami Kinard from the workshops she conducted at the June conference.  She has a middle-grade novel, “The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister)”, that was published by Scholastic in January 2012, and it’s a funny, fun read with some important, appropriately understated messages.

Susan Brody over on her blog at The Art of Not Getting Published has a very good interview of Kami and her book, which I have been told by people who have read it, is very good.  Besides that, Susan is giving away a copy of the book for the person who leaves the most interesting comment (Darn, I just left a comment, but it was very exciting). You only have until midnight, July 20th, Eastern Standard Time to go for a win. Come on! You know you want this book! http://theartofnotgettingpublished.blogspot.com/ 

Another writer you probably remember from speaking the June Conference is Tiffany Strelitz Haber. Her Debut book THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN hits the bookstores this coming week.

Tffany is having her Book Launch Party at Bellies and Booties in West Windsor, NJ (near Princeton) on July 27th between 3 pm and 7 pm. Everyone is welcome!

Everyone knows that the M in “monster” stands for MEAN. But what happens when a monster can’t be mean any more? Is he still a monster at all?

One young monster’s attempts to live up to his name go hilariously awry as he discovers—with a little help from new friends—that it’s not what you’re called but who you are that counts.

Looking at Tiffany’s book made me curious about the book’s illustrator, Kristi Edmonds. I contacted her and she will be featured on Illustrator Saturday soon.

This should turn as light on for a smart published picture book author. Getting your book’s illustrator featured on Illustrator Saturday is a great way to drum up more publicity for your book.

You can visit Tiffany at: http://www.itsrhymetime.com/Books.html

Master watercolor illustrator is forming a Watercolor Class for Illustrators at her 150-year-old gristmill home on the banks of the Musconetcong River near Hampton, NJ (12 minutes north of Clinton).

The class is for published and unpublished illustrators. We will meet on Monday mornings, 10 – noon, starting July 30th. This is an on-going class. $25 per session. I will give demos, offer technical help on illustration projects, and serve coffee. The group as a whole can offer feedback on individuals’ work.

Illustrators (and Writers and Parents) are VERY busy people with many demands on their time. I understand that artists can’t commit to coming every week. With that in mind I would like to have a roster of at least 8 people.

This is a wonderful opportunity to study under a extremely talented illustrator. Doris was featured on Illustrator Saturday back in July 2010. http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/illustrator-saturday-doris-ettlinger/  You can even see a picture of her gristmill house using this link. Her is Doris’

OK, so you know that I love monsters. Can’t get enough of them. Well, my friend Tiffany Strelitz Haber is here today with a monster of a story—her debut picture book, THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN!

Some of you may know Tiffany as one of the two rhyming geniuses behind The Meter Maids (with Corey Rosen Schwartz). If you don’t, you have to check out her site, which is all about writing in rhyme. Don’t make me slap you with a citation!

Before we get riffing with Tiffing (yeah I can call her that, it rhymes), you MUST take a look at the extraordinary trailer for her new book. The music, the animation—it’s all so monstrous and so much fun!

TL: THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN is about a monster who loses his ‘M’. You know I host Picture Book Idea Month every November so I’m obsessed with the origin of ideas. Where did this idea come from?

TSH: I have always been a very visual person when it comes to words. Even as a kid, I loved the concept of homonyms, acrostics, acronyms, spelling words backwards, and even looking at them upside down. One day I started thinking about the letters in the word MONSTER, and what they might actually stand for if the word MONSTER was an acronym. From there the concept just grew and evolved, and “The Onster” was born!

TL: We’re also all about characters names on this blog. Did “The Onster” have a name before he lost his M?

TSH: Ya know…that’s a great question. I like to think that he only really found any identity at all after he lost his M. Before that he was just…well… generic, nameless, and not nearly as cool—Monster. Bleh.

TL: The Onster cooks brunch at one point in the book. I’m a foodie like you, so what’s your favorite brunch food?

TSH: Hmm…for me, picking a favorite food is kind of like bending a spoon into a perfect figure eight using just my toes (almost impossible). But in the interest of quasi-decisiveness…I’ll go with a tie. EITHER: Perfectly toasted onion bagels slathered in whipped cream cheese, lox and just a few rounds of raw, red onion…OR…a dim sum extravaganza.

So…What’s YOUR favorite brunch food? Tell us and be entered to win a signed ARC of THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN!

You get one entry for commenting and then one entry for every place you share—blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Just let us know where you ONSTER’ed!

Tiffany Strelitz Haber is the author of two rhyming picture books:  THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, July 17, 2012) and OLLIE AND CLAIRE (Philomel/Penguin, 2013).  She will eat any food she is served, be it fried witchetty grubs on a stick or calf’s brain ravioli, and loves to be high in the air or deep in the sea.  T