Most people probably know that Dan Santat won the Caldecott for his picture book Beekle. Below is a brief video about its genesis which is a shorter excerpt of a much longer podcast also worth listening to:
I know I haven't been around much, but great things are in the works. More about that at a later date. Have a great week.
The holiday season is charging in and time is limited, so the videos today are like fruitcake: best in small pieces, chock-full of sweet nuggets, and dense with hearty ingredients. But these videos will actually be pleasant to consume.
The video above is a short reading of part of Kathryn Otoshi's book One. If you've read it, or her other incredible books, Zero and Two, skip to the video below, which includes a brief interview of Kathryn talking about the marketing of One and how she had to stretch out of her usual style to make it work.
And finally, a 90 second video of Georgia Hughes encouraging authors to surprise their editors rather than strive for the latest, greatest trend. She also suggests taking an age-old issue and making it new.
I had the fortune of meeting some writers through PiBoIdMo, run by Tara Lazar, who lived in the same area as me, so we started a Facebook group to keep each other informed of writer's events in our area. Word of our group spread, and we grew from a handful of members to over 30. As I added the people requesting to join the group, I realized how many of them had amazing credentials. It made so much sense to pool that local knowledge, so we decided to have our own mini-workshop.
We had the first one, of many I hope, a week ago. About 13 of us, and the presenters, met in a library (the rooms of which you can usually reserve for free) and listened to award-winning author, Dianna Hutts Aston, talk about her inspiration, where her stories came from and how she got her start (She even talks about money in the full presentation for those who are curious about that aspect of publishing.).
We were then treated to a tour-de-force presentation, by Marcie Flinchum Atkins, on using mentor texts to guide your writing. I've heard Marcie speak on this subject before, but I still learned so much.
I put their full, well mostly full, presentations on YouTube (included at the bottom), but above are two very brief videos that showcase just a bit of what they talked about.
Besides learning how to improve my writing from these talented women, I also learned that a gathering of writers can empower an individual. We learned from each other as we exchanged ideas and knowledge, and offered suggestions and insights to those seeking ways to overcome a specific writing hurdle. I'd highly recommend forming smaller groups within your communities that you learn with and from. It's a more personal way to strengthen you in your writer's journey.
Have a great weekend and please see below for the full presentations.
Peter Brown has written or illustrated some of my favorite pictures books, including Children Make Terrible Pets and Creepy Carrots(written by Aaron Reynolds). The following videos all feature Peter Brown talking about the techniques, inspirations and tools he uses in writing or illustrating a picture book. They are ranged from shortest to longest, but certainly not by most valuable. If you have the time, each video is worth watching:
