I think I have food poisoning and I think I may have gotten it drinking weird forest tea I made from stuff in my garden and fir tree tips. I’m in bed. Ask me anythinggggg.
Well, I've spent a lot of time reading about conifers on my phone to make sure the stuff I put in my tea was actually doug fir and not yew, which is poisonous. They look a lot alike but I'm happy to report I am not poisoned. Other than that I haven't been doing much. Currently I'm reading Germinal by Emile Zola but I left it in Astoria last weekend so I have to find something new for the time being. And I'm watching season 4 of Stranger Things with my teenager.
I’m watching that with my teens too! They’ve also “discovered” Kate Bush now...even though I’ve been playing it for them for years😂😂. Same with you guys?!?!
I bought one of your prints from Gallery 16 and it's my birthday tomorrow, do you think you'll have time to sign it or something for me? :) I can't make it to SanFranFrisco this time :(
Sorry you feel bad, It's lovely out today! (in Wodburn)
Do you know Julie Beeler? Local NW girl. I met her dying with mushrooms, she just published a book and now is leading workshops around the country. She took foraging for mushrooms to a full-time passion. Just to show where a little passion and focus can get you. This isn't her first career, but came on the heels of having an information architecture firm, I believe.
Sorry you're ill! This may not be pertinent since you were already so established as an artist when your first childrens' book came out, but, in your experience, should a book be *done* when you pitch it? How do you know what the dimensions should be and why am I letting this fear of messing up completely hold me back from even starting? ... You don't have to answer the last part 🙃
If my agent was here, I think he'd say, the more fleshed out your book is, the better. The standard thing to do with a picture book idea, especially if you're querying agents with it, is to include a manuscript, a sketch dummy, and a handful of finished pieces to give a sense of what the final art will look like and what you're capable of. In theory, the more work you do up front, the more fully formed your idea is, the less it will be tinkered with and molded into something you don't like.
Trim size isn't super important at this stage. My advice is to figure out what basic orientation your book will be (horizontal, vertical, or square), measure an existing picture book with dimensions you like, and use them.
What stage are you at in the process? How much do you know about how to get started? Do you need practical publishing biz advice?
This is incredibly and overwhelmingly generous. Thank you for taking the time to reply!
To answer your questions:
• I'm very early stages: I have a manuscript (do you try to pace this to fit into traditional 8-page signatures for print, taking front pages/end papers into account?) and a character, and am working on my first of a few intended-finished pages.
• I have taken a course or two that should help me with how much to get started, but I find it has paralyzed me a bit about doing things "wrong" rather than inspire me to just DO it. (I also feel like they were geared only toward illustrators, not author/illustrators which is what I fancy myself).
•So yes, some practical publishing biz advice from someone whose career I fervently admire would be gratefully received if you're offering it - if I missed the window, thanks anyway! 🖤
You seem like you’re on the right track. I’m prone to overthinking things too but I try to connect with the artist I was when I was kid, drawing and making up stories with abandon and no stakes - at least in the writing and sketching stage. That’s ultimately the book you probably want to make. The fate of your project is totally unguaranteed so you might as well do what you want to do and see where it gets you.
Yes, you should paginate your manuscript and make a sketch dummy. That means roughing out the entire book and turning it into a pdf. Most picture books are 32 pages and it’s probably a little easier to sell a book that is 32 pages but yours can be longer if it makes sense. If you’re at 48 pages or more it’s a good idea to ask yourself why. Is it important that your book break the 32 pp mold or is it too long? Yes, the page count should be a multiple of 8 and includes endpapers if they are printed, not if they are separate (different paper stock that is a solid color). Counting pages can be confusing so make sure to do some research if in doubt.
You probably know this, but getting a book deal with a major publisher almost invariably requires a literary agent. If this is the goal, query agents with your book. If you have no luck, you can try smaller presses that will consider unagented manuscripts or you can self-publish.
Yes, deeply helpful in clarifying and prioritizing some bits of things I suspected or was told. If this isn't a direct road-map to start querying agents I'm a hopeless case, ha ha.
Thank you again for your generosity of time and knowledge. Hope you're on the mend today!
(PS. I got to accidentally know your MIL a bit when we were neighbors and got to chatting at our neighborhood cemetery. It feels weird to know her and not mention it for some reason?!)
My pleasure. It's awesome that you met my MIL and unsurprising that you met her in the cemetery. That's her stomping ground. She should be the mayor of that place. :)
I want to butt in and ask if you (Jess) are at all interested in forming a critique group/partnership as author/illustrators? I have been looking for someone to bounce ideas off of who is maybe also a hesitant slowpoke (ha) like me. I am also at the very beginning of trying to write and illustrate children's books.
Yes, I would love that. I'm new to this platform and not sure of the best way to connect directly - let me know how you prefer to get in touch and we should chat!
I was recently in one too. Sometimes I'm in a creative slump because I'm bored of the thing I'm supposed to be working on. In that case, in theory, I take a break, get some space and perspective, and figure out a way back into the project that makes it interesting to me. A hike or a couple of days in the garden can be helpful. Though, I confess, a lot of the time I don't do positive stuff like that - I just kind of spin my wheels and procrastinate until eventually I'm up against an impossible deadline and I just have to sit down and do the work, regardless of how inspired I am. Other times I'm in a creative slump because I'm depressed (Hopefully that's not TMI. I think we're all friends here) and I just feel tired and tapped out. In that case, I cut myself a lot of slack when it comes to inspiration. I've dealt with depression - mostly mild, thankfully - periodically since I was a kid and I kind of treat it like the flu. It lays me out and it hurts but eventually it goes away and I get back to work. What kind of slump are you in? Is it related to a specific project? Or just art in general? Would it help to try something totally new? Teach yourself some other medium or craft that you have no baggage around just to make something?
Do you ever get “writer’s block” or get into an art making funk? I feel like I’ve been in one for years despite feeling like making things makes me happy…
I always have writer's block. Writing is so hard for me. I watch writers in my life sit down and just, like, brainstorm story ideas and I'm totally mystified by that. My approach to writing, at least where picture books are concerned, is to wait for an idea to come to me out of nowhere and hit me over the head, which seems to happen every few years. It's not often enough to make a career of it, frankly. But my solution to creative blocks is to move around between different practices. To paint and draw, sew, embroider, teach, garden, make stuff with wood, even write poetry. Only a fraction of the stuff I do is cool and sees the light of day and a smaller fraction of it makes me money. I do always have to come back to my bread and butter, which is illustration, especially of books. But I try hard to make time and space to follow whatever creative impulse I'm currently on so that I stay happy. Are you stuck in one particular area of art-making? Can you shift that energy to somewhere else?
I love calendula: easy to grow, cheerful, useful, and long-blooming. Also: lavender, hollyhock, foxglove, echinacea, black-eyed susan, zinnia, allium, peony, yarrow, oriental poppy. I like the British cottage garden vibe.
Here's a tip: be careful what you put in your tea! I might be a little too cavalier about identifying plants before I eat or drink them and about washing them.
Farm-wise, I'm reluctant to give advice as so much of it is new to me too. We moved here about 9 years ago and, while I've always been a plant and animal person, I've never been an aspiring farmer. I really love wild places and farms are kind of the opposite of that. They require a lot of tending and it can be hard to live in harmony with the natural world on a farm. That might seem counterintuitive but growing things and keeping livestock requires constant battle with other animals - predators, bugs, and rodents - and with the elements. Between animals and weather, destruction is wrought here on the daily.
Despite it all, I love living here. There are a lot of ups and downs but it's mostly a pretty serene life and I'm happiest communing with the natural world, so it works for me. I have to clarify though that this is not at all a working farm and I can't speak to the farming experience. It's a historic farmstead on 5 acres with some farm animals, fruit trees, and gardens. I'm not a farmer and if ground squirrels destroy my entire vegetable garden (which they do, oh they do) I'm not out of any critical income.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in medieval Europe. And that's probably the answer I would've given as a kid too. I've spent a lot of time reading both Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall books and Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter books. They're set in 16th c. England and 14th c. Norway respectively - both meticulously researched epic trilogies by woman authors. I love those books and I feel like I know those times and places. I don't want to live in them but I want to see them.
When I was a kid I really loved crickets. We had those giant black ones in New York where I grew up and I was always searching for them. These days I'm excited if I see a praying mantis. And I love ladybugs.
Sorry you’re unwell, and hope you feel better soon! I’m starting my career over at the grand old age of 45, and have just completed an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. You did a talk for us last summer - it was ace, thank you! Now I am out in the big old scary world with competitions, trying to get book deals etc… Do you have any tips for how to deal with set backs, rejections and generally any big picture life-as-an-illustrator advice? Thanks Carson! Feel better soon. Xx
Congrats! I don't know if I have advice for getting work. But my advice for working illustrators is to do whatever you need to do to stay in touch with the joy of making art. Everybody gets into illustration because they love to draw and paint, but if you do find yourself in a situation where you have a lot of work, it's often a grind. There's no way around it. Deadlines are always looming, day and night. Being creative on demand is hard. I LOVE being an illustrator, but I am always complaining about it, stepping away from it, and attempting to reconnect with what I love about it. I try hard not to phone it in. Instead, I think about things I want to explore creatively and use whatever I'm working on as a vehicle for that.
Thank you so much Carson - always a great reminder to keep doing it for the joy! It has been a mantra of mine to keep following my creative nose. Whenever I fall off track and start getting all worky and businessy about the bizniz of being an illustrator it goes all wrong, so above all else, I try to keep doing what inspires me, and your words, right now, have reminded me of that again, and reassured me that is the right path. So - thank you!! I hope you feel better by now! Xx
I don’t know if you still check this post, but I neeeeeeed one of those “Melt The Guns” T-shirts with your design on it. I saw a familiar face onstage sporting one. I know of the buttons, and totes--but a T-shirt!!!
Have you spoken to a medical specialist?
Nyet!
Хоть бы натуропат?
What are you watching or reading while you convalesce?
Well, I've spent a lot of time reading about conifers on my phone to make sure the stuff I put in my tea was actually doug fir and not yew, which is poisonous. They look a lot alike but I'm happy to report I am not poisoned. Other than that I haven't been doing much. Currently I'm reading Germinal by Emile Zola but I left it in Astoria last weekend so I have to find something new for the time being. And I'm watching season 4 of Stranger Things with my teenager.
I’m watching that with my teens too! They’ve also “discovered” Kate Bush now...even though I’ve been playing it for them for years😂😂. Same with you guys?!?!
Ha ha! Yes. Colin has been immersing my kids in Kate Bush since they were in utero.
How Kate Bush is used in the show - love it. Makes me think of another fun question to ask …
Sorry you’re feeling sick! What is your current favorite color combination?
Pale pink and green? Rusty orange and electric blue? Lilac and orangey-red?
I bought one of your prints from Gallery 16 and it's my birthday tomorrow, do you think you'll have time to sign it or something for me? :) I can't make it to SanFranFrisco this time :(
Sorry you feel bad, It's lovely out today! (in Wodburn)
Definitely! I'll draw you a little something. Happy birthday. :)
You're the best!
What skills do you think you'd have developed in alternate universe versions of yourself?
I am a forest person at heart and I think I could have spent another version of my life become an expert forager. It could still happen, I guess.
Do you know Julie Beeler? Local NW girl. I met her dying with mushrooms, she just published a book and now is leading workshops around the country. She took foraging for mushrooms to a full-time passion. Just to show where a little passion and focus can get you. This isn't her first career, but came on the heels of having an information architecture firm, I believe.
Sorry you're ill! This may not be pertinent since you were already so established as an artist when your first childrens' book came out, but, in your experience, should a book be *done* when you pitch it? How do you know what the dimensions should be and why am I letting this fear of messing up completely hold me back from even starting? ... You don't have to answer the last part 🙃
If my agent was here, I think he'd say, the more fleshed out your book is, the better. The standard thing to do with a picture book idea, especially if you're querying agents with it, is to include a manuscript, a sketch dummy, and a handful of finished pieces to give a sense of what the final art will look like and what you're capable of. In theory, the more work you do up front, the more fully formed your idea is, the less it will be tinkered with and molded into something you don't like.
Trim size isn't super important at this stage. My advice is to figure out what basic orientation your book will be (horizontal, vertical, or square), measure an existing picture book with dimensions you like, and use them.
What stage are you at in the process? How much do you know about how to get started? Do you need practical publishing biz advice?
This is incredibly and overwhelmingly generous. Thank you for taking the time to reply!
To answer your questions:
• I'm very early stages: I have a manuscript (do you try to pace this to fit into traditional 8-page signatures for print, taking front pages/end papers into account?) and a character, and am working on my first of a few intended-finished pages.
• I have taken a course or two that should help me with how much to get started, but I find it has paralyzed me a bit about doing things "wrong" rather than inspire me to just DO it. (I also feel like they were geared only toward illustrators, not author/illustrators which is what I fancy myself).
•So yes, some practical publishing biz advice from someone whose career I fervently admire would be gratefully received if you're offering it - if I missed the window, thanks anyway! 🖤
Not too late, no. I’m off to sleep but I’ll return to this tomorrow.
You seem like you’re on the right track. I’m prone to overthinking things too but I try to connect with the artist I was when I was kid, drawing and making up stories with abandon and no stakes - at least in the writing and sketching stage. That’s ultimately the book you probably want to make. The fate of your project is totally unguaranteed so you might as well do what you want to do and see where it gets you.
Yes, you should paginate your manuscript and make a sketch dummy. That means roughing out the entire book and turning it into a pdf. Most picture books are 32 pages and it’s probably a little easier to sell a book that is 32 pages but yours can be longer if it makes sense. If you’re at 48 pages or more it’s a good idea to ask yourself why. Is it important that your book break the 32 pp mold or is it too long? Yes, the page count should be a multiple of 8 and includes endpapers if they are printed, not if they are separate (different paper stock that is a solid color). Counting pages can be confusing so make sure to do some research if in doubt.
You probably know this, but getting a book deal with a major publisher almost invariably requires a literary agent. If this is the goal, query agents with your book. If you have no luck, you can try smaller presses that will consider unagented manuscripts or you can self-publish.
Is that helpful?
Yes, deeply helpful in clarifying and prioritizing some bits of things I suspected or was told. If this isn't a direct road-map to start querying agents I'm a hopeless case, ha ha.
Thank you again for your generosity of time and knowledge. Hope you're on the mend today!
(PS. I got to accidentally know your MIL a bit when we were neighbors and got to chatting at our neighborhood cemetery. It feels weird to know her and not mention it for some reason?!)
My pleasure. It's awesome that you met my MIL and unsurprising that you met her in the cemetery. That's her stomping ground. She should be the mayor of that place. :)
I want to butt in and ask if you (Jess) are at all interested in forming a critique group/partnership as author/illustrators? I have been looking for someone to bounce ideas off of who is maybe also a hesitant slowpoke (ha) like me. I am also at the very beginning of trying to write and illustrate children's books.
Yes, I would love that. I'm new to this platform and not sure of the best way to connect directly - let me know how you prefer to get in touch and we should chat!
In a creative slump, what are your tips for building a new routine?
I was recently in one too. Sometimes I'm in a creative slump because I'm bored of the thing I'm supposed to be working on. In that case, in theory, I take a break, get some space and perspective, and figure out a way back into the project that makes it interesting to me. A hike or a couple of days in the garden can be helpful. Though, I confess, a lot of the time I don't do positive stuff like that - I just kind of spin my wheels and procrastinate until eventually I'm up against an impossible deadline and I just have to sit down and do the work, regardless of how inspired I am. Other times I'm in a creative slump because I'm depressed (Hopefully that's not TMI. I think we're all friends here) and I just feel tired and tapped out. In that case, I cut myself a lot of slack when it comes to inspiration. I've dealt with depression - mostly mild, thankfully - periodically since I was a kid and I kind of treat it like the flu. It lays me out and it hurts but eventually it goes away and I get back to work. What kind of slump are you in? Is it related to a specific project? Or just art in general? Would it help to try something totally new? Teach yourself some other medium or craft that you have no baggage around just to make something?
Do you ever get “writer’s block” or get into an art making funk? I feel like I’ve been in one for years despite feeling like making things makes me happy…
Also, hope you feel better soon!!
I always have writer's block. Writing is so hard for me. I watch writers in my life sit down and just, like, brainstorm story ideas and I'm totally mystified by that. My approach to writing, at least where picture books are concerned, is to wait for an idea to come to me out of nowhere and hit me over the head, which seems to happen every few years. It's not often enough to make a career of it, frankly. But my solution to creative blocks is to move around between different practices. To paint and draw, sew, embroider, teach, garden, make stuff with wood, even write poetry. Only a fraction of the stuff I do is cool and sees the light of day and a smaller fraction of it makes me money. I do always have to come back to my bread and butter, which is illustration, especially of books. But I try hard to make time and space to follow whatever creative impulse I'm currently on so that I stay happy. Are you stuck in one particular area of art-making? Can you shift that energy to somewhere else?
Favorite flower? And do you have any tips for having a little house farm like yours? <3
I love calendula: easy to grow, cheerful, useful, and long-blooming. Also: lavender, hollyhock, foxglove, echinacea, black-eyed susan, zinnia, allium, peony, yarrow, oriental poppy. I like the British cottage garden vibe.
Here's a tip: be careful what you put in your tea! I might be a little too cavalier about identifying plants before I eat or drink them and about washing them.
Farm-wise, I'm reluctant to give advice as so much of it is new to me too. We moved here about 9 years ago and, while I've always been a plant and animal person, I've never been an aspiring farmer. I really love wild places and farms are kind of the opposite of that. They require a lot of tending and it can be hard to live in harmony with the natural world on a farm. That might seem counterintuitive but growing things and keeping livestock requires constant battle with other animals - predators, bugs, and rodents - and with the elements. Between animals and weather, destruction is wrought here on the daily.
Despite it all, I love living here. There are a lot of ups and downs but it's mostly a pretty serene life and I'm happiest communing with the natural world, so it works for me. I have to clarify though that this is not at all a working farm and I can't speak to the farming experience. It's a historic farmstead on 5 acres with some farm animals, fruit trees, and gardens. I'm not a farmer and if ground squirrels destroy my entire vegetable garden (which they do, oh they do) I'm not out of any critical income.
What’s your favorite sound and relatedly what are your favorite songs at the moment (if any!)?
I think I will go with "wind through trees" and Open Up (Eternal Lips) by Michael Hurley.
I’m imagining how nice it would be to combine the two!
i hope you feel better incredibly soon!
If you could time travel to any time, to when and where would you go?
I would love to be a fly on the wall in medieval Europe. And that's probably the answer I would've given as a kid too. I've spent a lot of time reading both Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall books and Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter books. They're set in 16th c. England and 14th c. Norway respectively - both meticulously researched epic trilogies by woman authors. I love those books and I feel like I know those times and places. I don't want to live in them but I want to see them.
I thought I had food poisoning, but it may have been a weird mosquito virus. Do you have mosquitos where you are?
A few. We don't have tons of them here but I have noticed a few at my house lately.
Now that you’ve finished your pandemic quilt, are you going to make another? Hope you feel better soon!
Yes! For sure. I'm trying to get my 9 year old to design one for me to make. I'll keep you posted.
If you had to pick a favorite bug what would it be? :)
When I was a kid I really loved crickets. We had those giant black ones in New York where I grew up and I was always searching for them. These days I'm excited if I see a praying mantis. And I love ladybugs.
Sorry you’re unwell, and hope you feel better soon! I’m starting my career over at the grand old age of 45, and have just completed an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. You did a talk for us last summer - it was ace, thank you! Now I am out in the big old scary world with competitions, trying to get book deals etc… Do you have any tips for how to deal with set backs, rejections and generally any big picture life-as-an-illustrator advice? Thanks Carson! Feel better soon. Xx
Congrats! I don't know if I have advice for getting work. But my advice for working illustrators is to do whatever you need to do to stay in touch with the joy of making art. Everybody gets into illustration because they love to draw and paint, but if you do find yourself in a situation where you have a lot of work, it's often a grind. There's no way around it. Deadlines are always looming, day and night. Being creative on demand is hard. I LOVE being an illustrator, but I am always complaining about it, stepping away from it, and attempting to reconnect with what I love about it. I try hard not to phone it in. Instead, I think about things I want to explore creatively and use whatever I'm working on as a vehicle for that.
Thank you so much Carson - always a great reminder to keep doing it for the joy! It has been a mantra of mine to keep following my creative nose. Whenever I fall off track and start getting all worky and businessy about the bizniz of being an illustrator it goes all wrong, so above all else, I try to keep doing what inspires me, and your words, right now, have reminded me of that again, and reassured me that is the right path. So - thank you!! I hope you feel better by now! Xx
Any updates on the Laika Project? They're super fun to work with. I was so happy for you, hope it is still happening.
I don’t know if you still check this post, but I neeeeeeed one of those “Melt The Guns” T-shirts with your design on it. I saw a familiar face onstage sporting one. I know of the buttons, and totes--but a T-shirt!!!