WRITE ON! Neil Gaiman

Time to add the newest cartoon to my WRITE ON! team. I think this one speaks to all writers who face moments of terror in the creative process!

WRITE ON folks!

RIP SPIKEY

When Zach was 6 or 7 we got him his first pet, a uromastyx lizard who he named Spikey. Uromastyx lizards come from the driest, hottest and most barren parts of the world. They thrive under extreme conditions unsuitable for a lot of other lizard species.

Given our household is pretty extreme it was no surprise that Spikey thrived - even after the kitchen accident that cost him half his tail and the use of his back legs. Dude was a fighter.

Zeus and Spikey had a real love affair and Zeus would often go nose-to-nose with Spikey when we put them both out on the grass. Spikey wasn't exactly a soft and cuddly pet and I admit I wasn't head over heels for him the way I love Zeus. But he was a part of our family and had been with us a long time. He'd heard our laughter and felt our tears and now I say goodbye to him with the memory of the way he chased the crickets we'd feed him and how he'd stare into Zeus's eyes on a warm summer day.

AND SO IT GOES

Having lots of fun making these little animations that celebrate the creative process with quotes from writers on writing.

After reading this quote from Kurt Vonnegut and immediately knew it would make a great WRITE ON!

In case you missed it - here's the link to the first WRITE ON!

THE FUN OF CLEANING UP!

I hate to clean. I am a slob. There. I've said it. I am one of those people who functions quite well in clutter and my office and my computer reflect my taste for chaos. Maybe it's all an excuse. Maybe I'm just really lazy. All I know is I've been staring at dust bunnies in my office so long I've named them.

I was going through some disorganized files on my mac this morning and came across an old MILO cartoon I did for my website. I knew it was old - because the Milo in the last panel was the original design of the character before I worked with Aladdin art director extraordinaire, Karin Paproki, to make Milo a bit more accessible.

So here's my updated version of the cartoon - new Milo in place of the old. It's fun to see this again!

And now....back to playing with those cute dust bunnies!

WRITE ON - Mark Twain

To celebrate the kick-off of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where zillions of writers around the world give up sleep and sunlight in the hopes of completing a novel in any genre - I'm creating a new series of Book-Toons that will hopefully give a kick in the pants to writers everywhere.

Inspiring words for writers - from writers.

Sometimes it helps knowing you aren't alone in the impossible task!

MY BOOKS - tease

Spent the morning playing around as I gear up to revamp my website. With THE AWESOME ALMOST 100% TRUE ADVENTURES of MATT and CRAZ getting closer to pub date (April 2013!) I think it is time to think about changing the look of my website.

I created this little teaser that puts all of my books into one small package. Not sure where to put it - so for now, this is as good a spot as any!

WRITE ON! With or Without Outlines

Thanks to a wonderful group of writers and illustrators I had an inspiring weekend as one of the presenters at the SCBWI Canada East conference this past weekend in Ottawa. I was excited to give the opening keynote which I titled, "Hansel & Gretel Never Had Deadlines: My Writer's Process Getting Lost In The Woods". Using some cartoons of mine and many examples from my own publishing journey I gave a 50 minute talk (phew!) on the benefits of writing without always knowing where it is you are headed.

Here's a little animation I created when I got home from the conference that uses my closing lines as inspiration.

HERO WORSHIP

"Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world."

- Joseph Campbell

FINAL EDITS

Taking a break from the fun of writing my *new* book, which is top secret stuff that I'm having way too much fun doing because I just got a batch of notes on THE AWESOME ALMOST 100% TRUE ADVENTURES OF MATT & CRAZ from my fantastic art director at Simon & Schuster (Karin Paproki you know who you are!)

Now I have a couple of weeks to move from my comfy chair ( dog on legs included)...

To the desk chair.... where the drawing MAGIC happens! Note: magic is subjective and may cause drowsiness.

The task is to clean up some of the cartoons I've already done for the book. But even better -  I've been asked to add a bunch of new cartoons, which is a blast because I get to go back in the heads of my main characters, Matt and Craz.

I'll keep you updated on the progress but for now want to share a new cartoon that I drew yesterday.

FYI: Matt and Craz are a cartoonist duo who try unsuccessfully to get their comics into the school newspaper. Here's one of their cartoons about super-smart babies who do movie reviews.

MILO PAPERBACK TRAILER

Haven't ever shared this little book trailer I made for MILO.

Watching it reminds me how much fun I have playing with Flash. Now all I need is a clone so I can write and make animations!

HERE I AM

Yikes! Has it really been a year of "No Posts"? In case you're wondering - I haven't been in a caffeine induced coma, but caffeine consumption has definitely been in play!

I left the SCWBI conference last August with a permanent grin plastered on my face (and yes, the Sid Fleischman Humor Award traveled with me in-style back home where it wryly watches over me every day.)

Upon getting home I immediately sank into the post-conference funk but promised myself I would dive back into my updates. After all, I'd made a zillion new friends and this would be the perfect time to extend that friendship via my blog. But then...life happened.

I think the reason I dropped off the blog map is I immediately dove into completing my next book and being the kind of writer who takes on big tasks with gusto - all my writing energy was consumed by...(wait for it)...

The Awesome 

Almost 100% True Adventures 

of Matt & Craz 

(try saying that 3 times fast!!!)

That's a picture of the full cover which I think Simon & Schuster should get a standing ovation for. The cover and the ARCs arrived in May and I've been doing the Snoopy dance ever since.

Like MILO, the new book is loaded with my cartoons and though it doesn't come out until next spring I thought it was high time to show everyone what I've been up to since going into the Blogger relocation program.

I hope to fill in some of the year's ups and downs and keep the blog ball rolling. Who knows? I may even post again before Christmas!