What it's like to solve problems when you're a writer AND an illustrator

My primary background is in graphics. Which is odd because I have this degree that says I can build things that people can live and work in. But the thing I walked away having learned and evaluated the most of, was simply graphics. The visual way of convincing someone I'm right. If I can fool you with what you're looking at, then I've done a good job. And I need to do it in the most professional way possible.

So when I moved into the world of illustration for Project Beta for ParaEducate, it was sort of a no brainer. Part of the beauty of "Bard in Stick Figures" is that it literally looks slapped together. this accomplishes two things.  The first is reminding my primary target audience, that some of our work needs to be "slapped together" at the last minute. The second is addressing the fear most people have about drawing. If I had a penny for every time someone said, "I'm not very good at drawing"; I'd be insanely rich at this point.

But even though I had finally gotten the text together for the new book, I had been dragging my feet on the illustrations. And I would have really loved to have the book out already. But such is the life of the author/illustrator/publisher. And I couldn't figure out why. I even started flipping through the original text which I was using to work from to help generate ideas. I thought I might have been too true to the original text [wholly possible as I spent many years in theatrical sets], I thought I didn't understand the text [wholly possible as it is Shakespeare], and I thought maybe this just wasn't as cool as I thought it could be.

One of the signs that bothered me was the book was only 80 pages long (40 pages published). Ambitious yes, but not impossible. But when it comes to publishing, this means that it's going to be really tiny. I thought about adding another section to the book, but then I realized, that I couldn't handle the pages where there were actual conversations. And this made me not want to finish the book. Unlike the first second where conversations weren't really a major element of the story, the other plays I had chosen to illustrate were all wrapped in conversations between characters. And then I realized, conversations happen over multiple pages through the illustrations--like a comic book.. Poof. My book is now extraordinarily viable at around 150 pages with illustrations (which means around 75 pages published).

Of course, I'm not sure how this will translate to publication as there are file restriction limits. But I don't care the book is working out finally. Yes that does mean the illustration count has moved proportionally so of 150 pages, 140 pages are original illustrations. But that's okay. I figured out how to solve the issues for the remaining two of three sections.

To give you an idea of how excited I am that this is possible and I'm making progress: I just finished 5 illustrations since 7 AM. While Facebooking, blogging, and spending 30 minutes walking to the Post Office and back (and not illustrating). Yeah. That means that this is the solution.

And now, for a little fiction

I don't remember when I wrote this. But I apparently did so.

My first love has never been non-fiction, it has always been fiction. Characters, emotion, descriptions. I love writing for that simple reason. Those elements don't exist anywhere else in life, but through imagination I can perceive a variety of different worlds, all vastly different from my own.

But this, I'm not sure why I had started, I am cross posting this from my personal blog today because it speaks to the way I start--typically with one character's voice.

So, I give you about 50 words of my mind from I can't remember when..

---

He asked, "How would I know if you loved me?" With saucer eyes and a muddy shirt.

I thought for a minute and put him on my knee.

He kept going while I stalled for my answer. "Mommy loves me with the kisses and the way she makes my lunch. and Daddy loves me with the way he shows me how to do things to help him. But how do you love me?"

I was silent I had never thought of this answer before.

"I love you because I laugh at your jokes, even the ones you don't know that I know. I love you by the way I turn a blind eye to letting you get away with mischief."

"I love you in the way that I answer the problems and you know my work is as important as you are in my life."

"I love your smile when things are just perfect in the world as you see it."

"I love your curiosity."

"But most of all I love you because you remind me of the potential of the future that I still want to work at."

There was silence for a few minutes. I worried that I hadn't said enough. Finally, "I would like it if you loved me with less words."

What have we learned?

So, I am excited to announce that I have selected "Approve" from the publisher. And they must have been thrilled too because within 5 hours the amazon page was up. I know. They had all then information for weeks, wouldn't take them long.

And I'm exhausted. Not as exhausted as I was at the release of "Finding It In the World", but enough that I know what I will be looking for in the next book.

The primary, early complaint, was simply "Just the Words:Science" was set up as busy work. So the challenge as I approach the History series (which is 6 volumes by the way!) is to find a way to take it out of busy work, reach for the stars, and connect it to relevant CCSS. 

But before all of that can happen, first, a week off, then straight to the library, we have a lot of research to sort through.