Yesterday, I touched on the fact that I had the post-holiday weekend “blues” (well, it was more of just a slight malaise and was probably due to not writing or drawing for three whole days… the first time that’s happened in months).
But after I posted that, I picked up the very first manuscript I started in the summer (and one that I had put to bed for a while) and I did, indeed, edit away. And I also decided on the idea for the third picture book… because, like my new Twitter friend (and about-to-be-published by Simon & Schuster and Random House) Tara Lazar recently posted, good things come in three’s.
So after some good progress on my edits yesterday, I decided that today I’d start the third book. But I was stuck. So what did I do? I did what I seem to be doing lately when I feel, uh, “disconnected”– I drew.
This is a super-quick sketch I did earlier… my goal was to take the same red-headed kid I’ve been drawing lately and put him in another position where I’d have to show some depth and perspective. I decided a good floor giggle might show that effectively.
I’m not entirely happy with this sketch, but you get where I’m going with the process. The end result was that I was able to start writing– I mean REALLY start– this new book, which is completely different from the other two.
Like I said earlier, the other two use rhyming text. This one’s pure prose, but I’m really happy with the beginning already. I have a good feeling about it.
What’s weird is I’m really not aiming to write for different age groups. (Book 1 is really a concept book targeting babies/toddlers… well, that is, parents of babies/toddlers– it’s a read-aloud book. Book 2 is really for the preschool set. And now… Book 3 seems to yearn to be for the 4-8 y.o. group. I’m not intentionally hitting all age demographics because I’m a former marketer, I assure you! It’s just the way it’s working out. Like I said… WEIRD.
Kid Lit Dish 
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