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Post have been scant because I was getting ready to go to SCBWI-Hawaii.
But now that I’ve returned, a few things have been brewing, so I’ll get back on track.
When I was in Chicago last fall, I visited the Art Institute, which is one of my absolute most favorite museums ever. They always have a wonderful children’s art exhibit, usually from picture books, a great photography exhibit, other fantastic special exhibits, and of course, their amazing permanent collection. (I always visit the Caillebotte painting Paris Street in Rainy Weather.)
During one of the most recent visits, one of the special exhibits was one of drawings from the Renaissance. I love exhibits of drawings. Love.
It feels like seeing behind the scenes of a painting. Drawings are often so fluid and of-the-moment; you see how the artist’s mind came up with the composition, the idea of the drawing. You see mistakes, or re-visionings. It’s as close as we can get, perhaps, to seeing the creative process as it proceeds.
I realized, too, that this chance to glimpse the process, the inner workings (as much as any person who’s not the artist can) is the same reason I always loved watching play rehearsals in college. And why I love editing and seeing drafts of manuscripts. Watching something beautiful come together is as compelling to me as the finished project. It’s mysterious and magical and inexplicable and completely fascinating.
I debated about posting this. Do I want other people to be able to cash in on my secret theory? But I like to share. I guess as an oldest child, I had it drilled into me for too long to stop now.
Here’s the thing about cute shoes: they are ice-breakers. I’m an essentially shy person, but doing things like presenting at writers’ conferences or attending various meetings, or events, or cocktail parties means that shyness has to be left behind. And seeing as children’s publishing is fairly woman-centric, chances are, if you wear cute shoes, someone will notice. Voila! Conversation begun! I always make it a point to wear cute shoes when I’m going to be meeting new people or speaking at an SCBWI conference, so this method is tried and true.
It is also a good excuse to buy cute shoes. Like, maybe, these…
I’m off to North Carolina to speak at an SCBWI conference, but here are two articles that have had my gears turning this week.
A sort of alarmist and gloom-and-doomy article about The End of publishing from New York Magazine.
And another look toward the future of media, but this time in roundtable fashion.
When I was at the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conferences last week, there was a mixer one night with local authors. For whatever reason right now, the Provo area has an amazing amount of gifted writers who are also fantastically nice. Shannon Hale is one of them, but she couldn’t make it to the mixer, which made the other editor, Stacy Whitman of Mirrorstone, and me sad. So what did we do? We emailed her a picture of our sad faces. And it worked! She dropped by the next day!
