Thursdays are my day to write in the Blue Rose Blog. I have my own blog that keeps me very blog-occupied, but it is as scattered and variable as my life, which is very scattered and variable, and there's been no mention of children's books there in a long time.
I've been having a lot of adventures lately that seem distinctly non-illustration-oriented, but in fact, the thing about illustration, is nothing is non-illustration oriented. To be an illustrator you have to be someone who is interested in everything in the world, because at any moment you could be assigned a story about a bunny, or a Russian folk tale, or a true account of modern day mountain climbers in Tibet. There is always a lot of research to be done, but the best sources are always your own memories and experiences.
Right now I happen to be working on the true account of modern day mountain climbers in Tibet. There's a challenge there in that I've never been to Tibet, or climbed a mountain. I've immersed myself in a small fortune of pictorial reference books to get a feel for the landscape, and studied the men and the equipment used on the actual journey. But the spirit of the book will come from my own monumental journeys, such as a 3 week ride on horseback from Massachusetts to Canada when I was young, and times I came upon awesome landscapes that took my breath away-- the Utah Salt Lake, Mount Katahdin, the Grand Canyon, Italy.
This blog, being specifically about children's books, and not mine alone, will make me find the links between my eccentric out-of-the-studio activities and what's on my desk. But I'm especially looking forward to reading the thoughts of my fellow Blue Rose Girls, who are all personal heroes of mine. I'll blog about how incredible they are next Thursday. :)
Todays studio music: The Fiery Furnaces.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
One painting done... a LOT left to go!
We all have days when we are supposed to post. This is not my day. On my day I will probably have nothing to say. This is typical.
Anyway, here's a finish (the title pg) for my book called Strong Man. It should be coming out next summer... I guess... if I get the thing done. It's a biography (my first!). I'll talk more about that some other day.
I usually listen to NPR or an audio book while I paint. I used to listen to music but that would make me antsy and then I wouldn't get anything done. Two great audio books I've listened to lately (not kids's books!) are-- ENEMY WOMEN (historical nonfiction)--a very different perspective on the civil war and THE MEMORY OF RUNNING--a great book that takes place in RI, my home state!--it's a sad but hopeful book and kind of funny.
If any of you have any good audio book recommendations, please pass them my way!
meghan aka gloria who you won't hear from again until sat!
when do writers and illustrators get time off?
I never really get time off. Even when I've taken a day to relax I can't because I know that I have a deadline looming and my "relaxation" will make my book a day later.
Today, for example, I have a bad cough and a sore throat. I happen to be one of the unlucky individuals who gets sick even in the summer. I want nothing more than to lie down in front of the A/C and maybe watch a little TV. But it can't happen.
My question to all of you freelancers out there is this. How do you find the time to relax? When you take a vacation, do you REALLY leave the work behind?
meghan m (aka gloria--I was in an odd mood!)
Today, for example, I have a bad cough and a sore throat. I happen to be one of the unlucky individuals who gets sick even in the summer. I want nothing more than to lie down in front of the A/C and maybe watch a little TV. But it can't happen.
My question to all of you freelancers out there is this. How do you find the time to relax? When you take a vacation, do you REALLY leave the work behind?
meghan m (aka gloria--I was in an odd mood!)
“You’ll just Have to Get Through This Phase” (How Some Writers Do It)
I love reading about how authors I admire write and deal with being writers, and this passage from Agatha Christie – whom I admire as a person and as a plotter -- is one of my favorites. I find it reassuring.
“…there is always, of course, that terrible three weeks, or a month, which you have to get through when you are trying to get started on a book. There is no agony like it. You sit in a room, biting pencils, looking at a typewriter, waling about, or casting yourself down upon the sofa, feeling you want to cry your head off. Then you interrupt someone who is busy, Max [her second husband] usually, because he is so good-natured, and you say:
“It’s awful, Max, do you know I have quite forgotten how to write – I simply can’t do it anymore! I shall never write another book.”
“Oh yes you will,” Max would say consolingly. He used to say it with some anxiety at first, but now his eyes stray back to his own work while he talks soothingly.
“But I know I won’t. I can’t think of an idea. I had an idea, but now it seems no good.”
“You’ll just have to get through this phase. You’ve had all this before. You said it last year. You said it the year before.”
“It’s different this time,” I say with positive assurance.
But it wasn’t different, of course, it was just the same. You forget every time what you felt before when it comes again; such misery and despair, such inability to do anything that will be the least creative. And yet it seems that this particular phase of misery has got to be lived through. It is rather like putting the ferrets in to bring out what you want at the end of the rabbit burrow. Until there has been a lot of subterranean disturbance, until you have spent long hours of utter boredom, you can never feel normal. You can’t think what you want to write, and if you pick up a book you find you are not reading it properly…you are possessed by a feeling of paralyzed hopelessness.
Then, for some unknown reason, an inner starter gets you off at the post. You begin to function, you know that “it” is coming, the mist is clearing up. You know suddenly, with absolute certitude, just what A is going to say to B. You can walk out of the house, down the road, talking to yourself violently, repeating the conversation….you come home bursting with pleasure; you haven’t done anything at all yet, but you are -- triumphantly -- there.”
--Agatha Christie, An Autobiography
My favorite parts are her wailing “But this time it’s true!” I love that discounting of the past and even common sense, that total immersion in how she felt at that moment. But what helps me is the metaphor about the “subterranean disturbance” and her young husband’s (he was 14 years younger than she was and a brilliant archeologist) advice:
“You’ll just have to get through this phase.”
I really get into trouble as a writer when I try to skip that phase – when it feels SO uncomfortable to have nothing to say and feel like I never WILL have anything to say that I force the ideas, rush into writing before the scenes and scraps of conversation have appeared….before those “inner starters” Agatha Christie talks about pop into my mind, before I have that “inner certitude.” I hate that feeling – the feeling that my ideas are no good, that I have nothing to say --- so much that I used to just start typing (putting down words that may have sounded good but had no real inspiration or feeling behind them)—and then spend months and months rewriting to clean up the mess! Now, I wait. Or try to.
(To be continued: Next time I'll write about how I can and sometimes do encourage those "inner starters" and what I should do once they arrive....how do YOU get started on a big project?)
“…there is always, of course, that terrible three weeks, or a month, which you have to get through when you are trying to get started on a book. There is no agony like it. You sit in a room, biting pencils, looking at a typewriter, waling about, or casting yourself down upon the sofa, feeling you want to cry your head off. Then you interrupt someone who is busy, Max [her second husband] usually, because he is so good-natured, and you say:
“It’s awful, Max, do you know I have quite forgotten how to write – I simply can’t do it anymore! I shall never write another book.”
“Oh yes you will,” Max would say consolingly. He used to say it with some anxiety at first, but now his eyes stray back to his own work while he talks soothingly.
“But I know I won’t. I can’t think of an idea. I had an idea, but now it seems no good.”
“You’ll just have to get through this phase. You’ve had all this before. You said it last year. You said it the year before.”
“It’s different this time,” I say with positive assurance.
But it wasn’t different, of course, it was just the same. You forget every time what you felt before when it comes again; such misery and despair, such inability to do anything that will be the least creative. And yet it seems that this particular phase of misery has got to be lived through. It is rather like putting the ferrets in to bring out what you want at the end of the rabbit burrow. Until there has been a lot of subterranean disturbance, until you have spent long hours of utter boredom, you can never feel normal. You can’t think what you want to write, and if you pick up a book you find you are not reading it properly…you are possessed by a feeling of paralyzed hopelessness.
Then, for some unknown reason, an inner starter gets you off at the post. You begin to function, you know that “it” is coming, the mist is clearing up. You know suddenly, with absolute certitude, just what A is going to say to B. You can walk out of the house, down the road, talking to yourself violently, repeating the conversation….you come home bursting with pleasure; you haven’t done anything at all yet, but you are -- triumphantly -- there.”
--Agatha Christie, An Autobiography
My favorite parts are her wailing “But this time it’s true!” I love that discounting of the past and even common sense, that total immersion in how she felt at that moment. But what helps me is the metaphor about the “subterranean disturbance” and her young husband’s (he was 14 years younger than she was and a brilliant archeologist) advice:
“You’ll just have to get through this phase.”
I really get into trouble as a writer when I try to skip that phase – when it feels SO uncomfortable to have nothing to say and feel like I never WILL have anything to say that I force the ideas, rush into writing before the scenes and scraps of conversation have appeared….before those “inner starters” Agatha Christie talks about pop into my mind, before I have that “inner certitude.” I hate that feeling – the feeling that my ideas are no good, that I have nothing to say --- so much that I used to just start typing (putting down words that may have sounded good but had no real inspiration or feeling behind them)—and then spend months and months rewriting to clean up the mess! Now, I wait. Or try to.
(To be continued: Next time I'll write about how I can and sometimes do encourage those "inner starters" and what I should do once they arrive....how do YOU get started on a big project?)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Off to children's book land...
As the one contributor to this blog who is neither an author nor an illustrator, I feel honored to be included as a Blue Rose Girl. We hope that this blog will be a safe and inspiring community for children's book professionals as well as aspiring authors and artists, and we hope that we can have some lively discussions here in the future. Some of the things we're planning:
1) to post at least five times a week, if not more
2) a monthly discussion forum, such as "The View" (we'll need our own name, suggestions welcome!) where we all weigh in on a topic, and also welcome visitors to comment.
3) an every-other-month children's book club discussion
4) a question of the week answered by one or more of us
But we're still testing the waters, so bear with us, and let us know if you have any suggestions. If you have any questions for any of us that you'd like to see answered on this blog (see number 4), please don't hesistate to ask via the comment option, and feel free to direct the question to a specific person.
I'm leaving for LA in a few hours to spend a few days at my parents' house in good ol' Diamond Bar before the SCBWI Annual Summer conference. If you're attending, I hope you'll find me and say hi! In the meantime, thank you for visiting the Blue Rose Girls blog, and I hope you'll come back often.
1) to post at least five times a week, if not more
2) a monthly discussion forum, such as "The View" (we'll need our own name, suggestions welcome!) where we all weigh in on a topic, and also welcome visitors to comment.
3) an every-other-month children's book club discussion
4) a question of the week answered by one or more of us
But we're still testing the waters, so bear with us, and let us know if you have any suggestions. If you have any questions for any of us that you'd like to see answered on this blog (see number 4), please don't hesistate to ask via the comment option, and feel free to direct the question to a specific person.
I'm leaving for LA in a few hours to spend a few days at my parents' house in good ol' Diamond Bar before the SCBWI Annual Summer conference. If you're attending, I hope you'll find me and say hi! In the meantime, thank you for visiting the Blue Rose Girls blog, and I hope you'll come back often.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Brunch til 5 pm
This weekend was our most recent BRG's "meeting"- Libby, Alvina, me and Grace (clockwise from upper left in pic) along with some other assorted artist friends got together for a "book brunch": that is we ate crepes and fritata and sat around in my living room sipping mimosas, chatting about Little Women, potential plots for novels, and travelling to Hong Kong for school visits (lucky Grace)... but don't be fooled- this ain't no stuffy literary discussion! One of the best things about getting together with my ladies is that we can lie around chatting about almost anything from censorship in teen novels...
...to the problem with having children (sometimes they pass out from eating too many cupcakes), to when Grace's husband was in high school and made his roommate eat a cigarette! Ew! Anything is fair game, though the conversaton always comes back to books somehow...
This meeting was not our most bookish, as we did allow our boyfriends/huspands etc to come along. Next time, we decided, we will send them off hunting squirrels or something so they don't distract us. Ahem.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Why Blue Rose Girls?
The Original Rose GirlsIn the early 20th century, three women illustrators: Jessie Willcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, and Violet Oakley lived and flourished together in a shared space above the Red Rose Inn. As their careers blossomed, they were called “The Red Rose Girls”. At a time where society and the illustration profession was male dominated, the Red Rose Girls painted their own path and succeeded—an example which we dare to follow.
In 1996 three women illustrators: Grace Lin, Anna Alter and Linda Wingerter forged a bond via the internet. Relying on eachother, the seeds of their children's book careers began to take root; and they named themselves "The Blue Rose Girls," as an homage to the friendship of Red Rose Girls before them. As their work bloomed, they sent out runners and authors Libby Koponen, Meghan McCarthy, editor Alvina Ling, and former librarian/poet Elaine Magliaro soon found themselves planted.
While we don’t all live together in a shared studio space, we do, like the Red Rose Girls, depend and feed off each other for inspiration and support. Welcome to the Blue Rose Garden, we hope it is as captivating for you as it is for us.
"But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.”-Oliver Wendell Holmes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)