Polar Bear Commercial Brings Tears

It is rare that I watch an entire game of football, and even more rare that I don't mute or fast forward through commercials. I saw one commercial today that I was glad to see, in fact it brought tears to my eyes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WxC1PtIvsY 


The commercial is promoting an electric car, and it includes a grateful hug from a polar bear. I have blogged in the past about how emotional I get when I think about the melting Arctic. I'm especially moved by the struggle of the polar bears, so this commercial is quite touching.


The image is of the polar bear painting from my book, "Through Endangered Eyes."

5 Things I've Been Surprised by Writing my Novel

I'm one of those people that loves numbers in titles. "Eight Ways to Reduce Stress," "Three Things You Should Know About...," "Twenty-Five Ways to Blow Your Nose," you get the picture. I've decided to give it a try and see if anyone else has five things that has shocked them about writing their novel.


Over this past year I have learned a lot about writing a young adult novel.
1) It isn't as easy as Stephanie Meyer (author of "Twilight," in case you've been asleep) said it was for her.

2) Re-writing is not an option - it's mandatory.

3) Most of my family and friends are not as excited about the details of my characters as I am, and talking about my protagonist as if she is alive can get really annoying to them.

4) A critique group is a necessary ingredient in my process. The people in my critique group can relate to having their heart ripped out, stepped on, and put back in their chest only to ask for someone to do it again.

5) I miss my characters if I haven't visited my pages after a couple of days.


Next year I'd like to write about the Five Things I Learned About Getting my Novel Sold. Wouldn't that be great?

Holiday Opposites

The holidays are so much fun! They are so stressful! I love spending money I don't have! My emotions scatter across the board. Truly, I do love the holidays, especially with kids who make it so magical. I finished my shopping today and I am one of those strange people that love to wrap presents. 

I was in my daughter's classroom today where the children shared traditions and recipes. Of course this discussion raised the questions of my own traditions during the holidays and what I'm passing on to my kids. It also makes we wonder what new traditions we should start. There are the regular traditions - making cookies (hundreds and hundreds of them,) watching holiday shows, being glad we don't have snow. 


Okay, I've just bored myself with my own writing. The one thing I haven't been doing in all this madness is write and paint. We'll see if having time to do those things, which is one of my Christmas wishes, actually happens.
My wish is for health and happiness:)

NAEA National Convention

I was selected to be a presenter at the 2011 NAEA (National Art Educators Association) National Convention in March. I am doing a hands on demonstration on Acrylic Dot Painting – A Unique Technique Used to Illustrate Children’s Books. 

This is a really big deal for me since they accepted a little more than half of thousands of applicants. I love speaking in front of people especially when it's a topic I know well. I get to talk about how I paint and how I teach the technique to kids - how cool is that? And, I get to go to Seattle to do this and see my good friend and brother. And, I get to meet my publisher at the convention. And...do I sound like a kid sitting on Santa's lap? And, I want a pony, and a Barbie...

Tee Hee.

In Loving Memory of a Dear Friend

This is my beautiful Kiwi, she has been sick for several months.

Today, I gave her a gift and let her go. She has been a wonderful friend for almost 16 years. I wish I could explain how much she meant to me, but it's hard to put it into words.

Kiwi was always there to warm my feet. She knew when I was sad and she'd hover around me to let me know she was there if I needed love. She greeted me every morning with a chirp, and asked me everyday to slow down for just a little bit, so she could curl up in my lap. She gave me comfort and joy. I hope I gave her half as much as she gave me. I gave a piece of my heart to her and hope she is waiting for me in a greater place when it's my turn. 

The Lion Within one-liner

Once again, I'm working on my pitch for my YA novel. I have entered a couple of contests, not following the rules lately, needless to say nothing will probably come of any of it. After my last conference critique I'm changing my plot --again. The pitch seems to be easier to write after I mapped out my revisions. It is still rough because heaven forbid I get it right on the eighty-th try.

Worse than being attacked by a super-natural lion and becoming part-feline, 15 year old Renna must attend high school in Wisonconsin, still unable control her inner beast, she must lie and kill to finally tame her lion within.


On a different note, I'm starting to work hard on my illustrations for my next picture book. I received great feedback from my publisher and his designer and I'm excited to move forward with more purpose.

Contests Motivate Me

Contests have a way of motivating me to clean up my one-line pitch, query, and first page of my novel. Here is a contest from the Guide to Literary Agent blog:

The first 150-200 words of your unpublished, book-length work of young adult fiction. You must include a contact e-mail address with your entry and use your real name. Also, submit the title of the work and a logline (one-sentence description of the work) with your entry.

One of my writing partners just signed with an agent due to this kind of contest. Read an interview with a very talented, very deserving, Nancy Herman. 

Good Luck on the GLA contest!