How to use this Page

Sometimes I ask myself why I pay high rents and fight crowded subways to live in New York City. But then I end up on a cruise ship in Red Hook, and I remember exactly why I'm here.

Yesterday I took a surreal trip to the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship parked outside the Brooklyn docks--all to hear novelist Francine Prose and a motley crew of writers celebrate the upcoming PEN World Voices Festival. 

Running from April 29 until May 4th in New York, it will feature a heck of a list, everybody from Charles Baxter to Mia Farrow to A.M. Homes to Salman Rushdie. If you are anywhere near New York, you should check it out--you can learn a lot. 

As you can tell, I've got music and vacation on the brain. If you want to talk about music, 52 Projects is looking for your advice--asking "What's the best music to write to?"

©Kathleen Rietz

So fun to meet up with the friends you've missed over the summer!

Back to school means one thing in my neighborhood - - furniture trucks, a predominance of college upstarts shuffling around in sweatpants and flip-flops and, of course, the late night parties across the street. (I live across the street from a freshman dorm building at Harvard University.) (We get the same big fun come June, with summer school in session, but without the furniture trucks.) Some years are rowdier than others; thus far, we've been in the clear. I love autumn though, it is my favorite season, and nothing can put a damper on that feeling. In fact, I appreciate the energy and the hustle and bustle that the college kids bring to the neighborhood. Yay for Fall!!!

If you are interested in writing Picture Books, Anastasia Suen's writing workshops are incredibly helpful. And if you are an aspiring author/illustrator, I think her teaching format is ideal.

In Anastasia's class, you are required to turn in your manuscripts with page breaks and a description of how that page would be illustrated.
This is the perfect exercise for an author/illustrator since we have to submit illustrated dummy books to a publisher.

I would recommend that you take the intensive picture book workshop FIRST. This one is perfect for introducing you to the nuts and bolts of PB writing and will also familiarize you with Anastasia's teaching method.

Illustrated for SOS Children's Villages Norway
Anette Heiberg
www.anetteheiberg.com

It's that time of year again... Read the rest of this post

Good Morning:

I am going to try with all my heart to make this post a positive one!! I don't like the idea of letting my depression and sadness leak into other people's lives. So...here it goes:

It appears to be a lovely day, although it is going to be hot. I intend on enjoying the last few weeks of summer and I am heading to the beach on Thursday. Unfortunately, I have yet to do any collaging, BUT...I have lots of ideas boiling in my head. As you all know, I am not at full function in the winter and I am always dreadful of the on coming end of summer, but I love the Fall. I love all things Jack-O-Lantern and I still have a severe crush on Jack Skellington! I am getting anxious to start some articulated Halloween paper dolls and I love doing spooky collages. And...speaking of spooky, check out this picture my daughter took of my cat Bonzo ~



Bonzo is a very moody cat and enjoys sitting at the end of the hall seemingly staring at things that we can't see! Sometimes, he'll simply be lying around, and all of a sudden, he'll jump up and start bouncing off the walls. He often meows upward as though he's talking to something above him, but no one is there. Cats are just plain ol' creepy, fascinating but creepy.

*******************************************************

Time for my usual blatant marketing: I'm having a FREE SHIPPING sale in the U.S. on every single item in My Etsy Shop. Simply convo me before paying and I'll send you a revised invoice. If anyone is interested that doesn't have an Etsy account, the same deal applies. Just go to my blog profile and send me an email and you'll receive the same free shipping in the U.S. on every item in my shop.

*******************************************************

Also, there are some good sales going on at our MALL. Check out the All Around The Mall BLOG for back to school sales and other interesting stuff!!

Thanks for stopping by~
Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

School has started here in our area of Virginia now. What a mix of emotions and energy in our home. Scurrying to schools to sign up and get schedules, calling friends to see what group and classes they are in, running from store to store to find specific required items for classes, and clothes shopping. Seeing old friends and faces, all a bit more grown up and taller.

Time to dig in to fall and hit children's book/magazine market and the drawing board with renewed strength. Send out those postcards marketing your art, write more, draw more, create new images just for yourself and for promotion, continue to work on the projects you've got going, keep your chin up, take heart, there's a place in this field for you if you love it, and give yourself to it with the passion it deserves.

The 2008 CWIM is out now. (a MUST-HAVE for anyone serious about children's writing and publishing). Alice Pope's CWIM blog tells more about it, and is also a fount of info about the field.

In homes all around our school community, parents are asking students, "How was your first day of school? Do you like your teacher?"

In fewer homes scattered throughout the school community and beyond, spouses are asking the teachers, "How was your first day of school? Did you get a good class this year?"

It's good to be back. It's good to quit trying to pretend I can really be ready for a group of strangers and just go for it. Just jump in the water, no matter how shocking the temperature or the current, and start stroking hard and sure for the island in the middle.

Cannot help being excited to return to the PW Bestseller list with our back-to-school favorite, First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love.

Thanks to all the teachers from Maui to Malaysia who read First Day Jitters on the first day of school. It's not too late to join them if your first day is yet to come.

Next year: #1!

About.com has a nice listing here of Children's Book Blogs (most very familiar). Today I braved the stores for the yearly Back-to-school Shopping. It wasn't too bad. I actually enjoy looking through aisles of pencils, pens, backpacks, binders, paper, erasers, scissors, notebooks, folders, glue-sticks and other essentials. It can be a bit addicting for an artist...there's always some new pen or funky folder, but I restrained myself and kept it to the kid's stuff. We've only just begun...still have to get that exPENsive calculator, (WHY do they think a middle schooler needs a fancy $100.00+ caculcator???) flash-drives, clothes, sneakers, gym uniforms...yikes......I am already weepy about school beginning soon..... Read the rest of this post