#NESCBWI14

Usually, the moment I get back from a conference, I set to writing about it, trying to encapsulate the experience, how amazing it was, gushing. But not this year. I have waited a whole 48 hours because I’ve been busy.

Busy? I was busy before the conference, making the final tweaks on my portfolio, working with my critique partner, getting reprinting done when the first batch was a disaster, running errands, as well as my usual hectic work and life stuff. I was busy for a long time in preparation, and yesterday was my first full day off in about 4 months. So perhaps “busy” is not the right word. Since I got back, I have been flowing.

I am deep in creative flow, in fact. My mind has not stopped firing. I have not stopped working, researching, learning to use Scrivener, brainstorming, planning, writing, and I have progressed both in knowledge and inspiration. I feel as if I have been catapulted forward: by what I learned in workshops, by a nice little bit of success...

Runner-up R.Michelson Galleries Award 2014

 ...but, without any doubt, above all by the energy and warmth I experienced this weekend.

The evening before I left for the conference, I sat waiting for pick-up pizza and writing in my journal. I was so excited to be going. I was SO excited to be in that environment again, and to take the step of presenting my portfolio for the first time (gulp!), and to see all of my friends, most of all. And I wrote, “Tomorrow, I am going home.” And then I did.

And now I have to wait another year to do it again. I don’t really have the words right now—it’s a quiet, happy, very replete feeling I have—so I’ll direct you to the blog of my kid-lit buddy, Ross Cox. He’s already said what I feel most of all, and he's said it far better than I feel capable of right now…

And besides, I’m itching to go back to my manuscript. 

It's about time I said something...

It's March 12th! And I haven't posted since the very start of the year. Where did that time go? And why did it go so swiftly? 

Well, I have been editing up a storm (and we're all storm weary, right?), working with both previous and new clients on projects as diverse as non-fiction for adults, historical biography, fantasy (adult), chick-lit, and my usual fare of YA, middle grade, chapter books, and picture books. I'm also working on interior illustrations for a chapter book due to be published shortly. 

I'm also deep into preparation for the New England SCBWI 2014 conference, working on a few new portfolio pieces, which I'm excited to share with you soon. 

Copyright  ©  Marlo Garnsworthy 2104

Character sketch for one of my new pieces.

Plus, I'm back at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD CE), teaching "Writing for Children's Books" for the spring semester. (And I have absolutely awesome students.)

So I suppose I can be forgiven for not being a very Wordy Birdie here on the blog. 

BUT, I have been blogging over on Editing-Writing-Proofreading, and you can read my latest post on Narrative Structure--The Parts of the Narrative HERE and What's Wrong With My Picture Book? HERE. 

And SCBWI members, I hope you'll read author and editor Chris Eboch's article in the March/April edition of The Bulletin, in which she talks about the design process for the cover of her latest book The Genie's Gift. You can read more about my process for illustrating the cover HERE. 

And spring is coming! Cause for celebration. 

Website and Interview

It's a happy day!

I have been interviewed over on author Joanna Marple's Miss Marple's Musings blog, which I was quite thrilled to do. Joanna regularly blogs about illustrators, her traveling adventures, and kidlit in general, and I suspect she might love kayaking almost as much as me. It's worth following, so check it out. 

If that weren't cause enough for thankfulness, I've also just launched my new website, which you can view by clicking on the Wordy Bird Studio tab above, or by clicking here. It is still a work in progress, and I look forward to completing its evolution with a page just for kids, and the Wordy Bird Studio store, where you'll be able to purchase giclee prints of my work and other items. 

AND... I also have a new Wordy Bird Studio Facebook page, where I'll be posting links about writing, publishing, illustrating, and all sorts of kidlit goodies. You can find and follow it here. 

Thanks for dropping by the birdhouse. 

NESCBWIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My submission for the poster contest.
Poem "Infirm Pachyderm" by Jane Yolen.

                           NESCBWIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

If you’ve been, you know why I’m squealing with delight. If you haven’t, then what I say here can’t possibly fully convey how wonderful it is to spend three days with kid-lit folk, see old friends, meet new ones, and soak up wisdom, energy, and knowledge from so many esteemed writers, illustrators, editors, and agents. I return feeling warmed to my core and full to the brim: with knowledge, with inspiration, and with love for these folk and what we’ve all dedicated our lives to. Full and gushy and overflowing.

I’m also shocked and delighted to be able to say that I won 1^st prize in the “published” category of the NESCBWI poster illustration contest. I’m still shaking my head in wonder.

I'm also thrilled and excited to say that my wonderful, extremely talented crit partners and dear friends, Dave Bird and Mary Davison, took out 1st and 3rd in in the "unpublished" category, including Dave winning the major prize of the R.Michelson Galleries Award. Congrats, guys, I'm so, so proud of you. 

Thank you, thank you to the incredibly hard-working and dedicated organizers, faculty, and volunteers who make these conferences possible. You are full to the brim with AWESOME. 

Beyond the Wall of Terror

I’m not posting much these days. I started this blog to cure a wretched case of writer’s block, which wasn’t just affecting my writing. It was my visual art, too. It was my visual art especially, in fact, though I wasn’t getting any books finished, either. I’m in a very good creative place these days, and so my spare moments are easily filled with non-blogging creative activity.

But a little over two years ago, being back in this good creative place was all but impossible to imagine. Writing was—at best—difficult, and the mere thought of drawing or painting made me nauseous. I had grown frustrated and desperate creatively, and almost everything I tried to draw or paint (if I even dared try) seemed only to bolster those feelings. I was sitting slumped against the Wall of Terror that causes so much creative paralysis, trying to scramble over it, or using my head as a battering ram. Something had to give, and it was not going to be my desire to make things; it would have to be the Wall.

And then, quite suddenly, just when I really needed it, things began to shift.     

          

So much of my creative time since then has been about reaching out, opening up, and simply walking through the Wall. I’m finding it’s not that hard if you set a small goal and a firm deadline, and only focus on those. Having strong, like-minded allies is vital, too.

From illustration for NESCBWI poster contest 2013.

Sure, taking a chance, creating your soul out, and exposing your work can be as emotionally treacherous as they are joyful, but on this side of the wall is only stagnation, disappointment, and then bitterness. After all, if life’s end is your only deadline, you can have no concerns about making it.

I am off to the New England SCBWI regional conference on Friday, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve submitted a piece for the poster illustration competition. Huzzah! That fact alone speaks volumes. So if and when I reach it again, I must remember the Wall of Terror is like a membrane—stretchy, transparent, and porous; just look a little beyond it and push gently. 

Silver-Spangled Thank You

Well of course there were no Sunday Hikes in the wilds of Rhode Island this week, as I was carving up the dance-floor in a pair of silver boots. Yes, that was me! Why did Wordy Bird make this dubious fashion choice* (apart from the fact that it made me feel like a superhero)? Because I was at NESCBWI’s Silver Anniversary regional conference!

And what a conference it was. Where else could it be confirmed that Jane Yolen is, indeed, a goddess (did we ever doubt it?), that Harold Underdown has a three-way split personality (each of them as insightful and witty as the next), and that Tomie dePaola has an unusual thing for black velvet? Thoughtful, heart-ful, soulful keynotes by Steve Mooser and Lin Oliver who created SCBWI forty years ago? What else can I say but “WOW!”

Edward J. Delaney and Steven Withrow’s Library of the Early Mind, which screened on Saturday night, is a must-see—not just for creators of kids’ books but for anyone who cares about children. Steven, when will we be able to purchase a DVD???

I was thrilled to see several of my writing students at RISD receive awards: Caroline Gray, Lin Norman-Lyman, and special congrats to Jeannette Bradley for winning the R. Michelson Galleries’ award. So proud of you all. And super-congrats to my friend Besty Devany for winning the 2011 Ruth Glass Scholarship (not to mention another award earlier last week)!

And of course, I attended great workshops and learned so much. I have to give a particular shout out to Janet Fox whose two sessions I attended: “Plot Don’t Plod, Pace Don’t Race” and “Elision.” Janet, not sure if you’re on the listserv or if you’ll ever read this, but I can only partially express the impact of your two talks on me. After being so devastatingly blocked for so long with the novel that tugs my heart and soul more than anything I’ve ever written, I feel as if I experienced a sudden turning on of my lights in both of your sessions. It feels as if the rest of my novel is now waiting to burst forth from me. Can’t wait to read your books. If any of you ever have the chance to hear Janet speak, I encourage you to jump at the opportunity.  

To Greg Fishbone, Kathryn Gargolinksi, Marilyn Salerno, Sally Riley, keynote speakers, critique-ers, faculty, and all the volunteers and helpers who worked so hard to make it all possible for use to attend - thank you.

To all my RISD students who weren’t there this year… hie thee hence to NESCBWI 2012! 

*Now safely ensconced in daughter's dress-up box.