Fairytale advice and other stories from the LA 2013 SCBWI Conference...

Sitting here...

In the lobby of  the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel, right next door to Beverly Hills, for my coach to turn back into a pumpkin,( I will be taking the night train from LA Union Station to Gallup, New Mexico and then up through the "rez" to Colorado), I've been pondering the last four days of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators conference, other wise known as SCBWI held yearly. This being my sixth year, I thought I would impart some advise to others by telling a wee bit of a children's fairytale, so here goes...

Though you are always hoping to find your...

 

Fairy Godmother at this conference, someone in the know, with power, who will instantly see your great talent and potential and wave their magic wand over your head, making all your dreams come true, that probably will not happen. In your journey you might bump into a few...

Wicked Witches, who will try to  thwart your dreams,or at least it will feel like that, just remember their evilness is either fueled by insecurity or over self importance and could be both at the same time!
On the...

 "Yellow Brick Road" to publication, you will have some fellow travelers sharing your journey, just as nervous as you are...

be sure to pick their brains, you will learn something...

and be inspired by their hearts...

You might meet a few "White Rabbits" along the way...

 

who will gladly talk to you, unless someone more important comes along, like an editor, art director, agent or big time author/illustrator and then they will wave their hand in your face and announce they are "late, late, for a very important date," and then run away from you without another word.
Watch out if you are the one to be already talking to such an important person, because you will be invisible and they will wedge themselves in front of your to try on...

the "glass slipper" and be "the one"!

Do keep in mind that you will have to decide which bits of advice to take, since some will be given by...

 

and other bits...

 

truly helping you find your way home.

 

Many will follow the crowd, of what is popular right now, no matter how ridiculous...

 

 But be brave and follow your own heart...

 

 

and keep telling yourself...

 

 

"I think I can, I think I can!" as you trudge up the next hill in your journey.

 

Be sure to bask in the glory of reaching the summits...

 

 

Have a blast sledding down the other side...

 

 

 

But remember reaching a summit only last for a moment and it is the journey in-between that truly matters and instead of waiting around for your handsome prince....

 

 

 to come show you the way, why not climb down out of the tower yourself, and be on your way...

 

 

Just remember to bring a pair of scissors!

 



What a prepositional phrase can do...

Funny- in the UK, from the official birth announcement set out in front of Buckingham Palace- Apparently, mothers, at least royal ones "are safely delivered of (their child)".....

I'm sorry, but that just sounds like the baby does all the work,

as they free themselves from the womb.

Not!

Here in the US we say "So and So delivered a baby, etc." or more commonly " Gave birth to..."

The mother is a bit more actively involved and gets some of the credit!

 

I have no idea if this is a British thing or just a Royal thing..."the mother was safely delivered".

It is true that through history, men have downplayed women's roles in well- about everything including being the one to carry and give birth to a new person, even the next one chosen by God to sit on a throne.
Often you hear "She's carrying my child," or "gave birth to my son." singular, instead of plural.
It is one of those male/female things that can either sound really sweet or kind of feel depressing, if you think about it too much.


 



 

 

Summer Lovin', in the Burbs...

It is amazing what you see when you drive to Starbucks at 6:00 o'clock in the morning through an old Loveland Colorado, neighborhood...

Love over- think they were offended when I brought out the big camera- which I just happened to have in the car!!

IF: Travel

Always have to find some good coffee when "travel"-ing.  This is The Silver Bean in Cortez, Colorado. I illustrated it for the 2010 National Public Radio calendar.

An Uncommon Fabric Store...

Off one side of the Taos Plaza, is Bent Street, named for the Territorial Governor, who according to Wikipedia  "was shot, scalped alive and assassinated by Pueblo attackers on January 19, 1847", in his home, but now the street is a lovely place to walk and enjoy the bursting colors...

get a bite to eat and pop in to the many shops, including a wonderful bookstore, antique map and print shop- might want to blind fold the children there are some risqué pin and inks in there, and my favorite- Common Threads- a wonderful shop with glorious fabrics from all over the world...

 

My goodies on this trip included...

I used such fabrics from Common Thread heavily making Up With The Sun.

An early bounty in Taos...

Way ahead of SW Colorado in the growing season, it was a thrill to get up early Saturday morning and after finding a "kitchy" coffee shop, headed to the Taos Farmer's Market...

Where we kept eating, the tents full of showy displays of root vegetables...

 

 

 

and some distinctly New Mexican additions...

 

like the honey we brought home from Grampa's Gourmet Honey, after tasting all they had...

Not just clover, but from bee hives in oak brush and near Tamarisk trees along the Rio Grande River. A dark molasses, woodsy honey. A sunny start to a full day in Taos!

Guess where I was this weekend?

I think you could spin me around in the world and drop me off in Taos, New Mexico and I could tell where I was by the flat sage brush plateau, distance mountains and well, the "old hippies".
We gleefully drove there in rain, past Pagosa Springs, the smoke of three wildfires in the distance around Wolf Creek Pass, praying the rain was reaching them, through Chama, New Mexico and continued east where arroyos were starting to flood until we reached their destination, the spectacular Rio Grande Gorge...

where we could have ducked into this blue bus coffee shop above, but instead braved the rain to go walk out over the gorge...

 

Getting back in the car wet, we headed towards the misty Taos Mountains and getting checked in to the hotel, waited in the rain again at Orlando's Mexican Café for a table...

but it was well worth it...

Still light and happily satisfied on chips and fresh salsa, blue corn tacos, burritos and posole- a lime soaked  dried corn soup with chilies and oregano unique to Northern New Mexico, we drove through Taos towards the mountain to Rancho De Taos, to photograph the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church...

Made famous by the likes of Ansel Adams and George O'Keeffe photographing it and painting it from the backside. Here it is from the front...

First built in 1772, a plaza surrounds it, once for defense and commerce, now some parts well tended...

and some in disrepair...

and some crumbling...

Everything in New Mexico has a story to tell, much of it long before the US was even a nation!

Happy Independence Day!