2014 Picture Book Dummy Challenge Steps 1-3

I'm excited to be participating in the Picture Book Dummy Challenge. I finally wrote my first picture book with the help of the Children's Book Academy's online class The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books.
If you need help with starting to write, I highly recommend this course! There's a new one starting February 10th. 

So, I'm in the process of developing my main character (a dog) – right now I'm just sketching from real-life photos of dogs, (and my real-life little Westie) to get the hang of what really makes a dog a dog. Then my next step is to stylize the character and give her personality!

How is everyone else doing?

I've posted the schedule here to help me keep track.

The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books Highly Interactive e-Course Will be Starting
February 10th 2014 - See more at: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html#sthash.fjzNKdul.dpuf

The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books Highly Interactive e-Course Will be Starting
February 10th 2014 - See more at: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html#sthash.fjzNKdul.dpuf

The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books Highly Interactive e-Course Will be Starting
February 10th 2014 - See more at: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html#sthash.fjzNKdul.dpuf

The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books Highly Interactive e-Course Will be Starting
February 10th 2014 - See more at: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html#sthash.fjzNKdul.dpuf

STEP 1: Pick your project (1 week) Jan 12-18

STEP 2: Draft the story (4 weeks) Jan 19-Feb 15

STEP 3: Develop the characters (2 weeks) Feb 16-Mar 1

STEP 4: Storyboard text and art (2 weeks) Mar 2-Mar 15

STEP 5: Render tight, full-size sketches (8 weeks) Mar 16-May 10

STEP 6: Produce final art of two spreads (4 weeks) May 11 - June 7

STEP 7: Assemble the dummy (2 weeks ) Jun 8-Jun 21

STEP 8: Research submissions; prepare dummy package(1 week) Jun 22-Jun 28

STEP 9: Submit (1 week) Jul 6- Jul 12 (Because of the July 4th holiday)

STEP 10: Celebrate! July 17 #kidlitart chat Wrap Party

My Entry for the 2013 SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award

This year’s Tomie dePaola Award task was to Illustrate this poem in full color for a book of poems that will be “pitched” to parents to read to their babies, toddlers, etc.
Sneeze
A sneeze
Is a breeze
In
Your
Nose.

I'm really excited to see everyone's entry on the gallery Diandra Mae set up 3 years ago. My favorite part of entering this is to see all the many interpretations on the same theme. Before Diandra set up the gallery, we could only see the winners on the SCBWI site - thanks Diandra! But we have to wait for the winner announcement in January before it goes live.

New Work for the NCCS (National Children's Cancer Society)

I just finished up working on these pieces for an activity book for the NCCS. They plan on distributing the books to kids that are in the hospital getting treated with cancer. I'm very proud to have been chosen to be the illustrator for this project!

The final product is a fun, colorful, book with lots of activities

I'm a Picture Book Academy Graduate!

Today was the last day of an amazing online course called "The Craft and Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books," taught by the marvelous Mira Reisberg of The Picture Book Academy.

I actually wrote my first picture book manuscript! I've had the idea incubating in my noggin for years, and this class pushed me to actually write it! This will be my 3rd year to participate in PiBoIdMo, but I've never had the confidence to flush any of my ideas into an actual story until now.

If you're into kidlit in any way, I highly recommend her classes. She is an artist, writer, picture book scholar (she even has a PhD!) and has recently started her own literary agency where she works as an agent. She teaches all that stuff. . she knows a lot! And she is loads of fun. I'm going to miss the class, but I have met a great group of writers with which I plan to stay in touch.

Thank you Mira for this wonderful experience! In the words of Bruno Mars: "You're amazing..."