Halloween photos

Brendan as an alien cyborg and the first pumpkin he's carved all by himself.

Milestone met

Okay, by now, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about the dummy book. Well, it's done. YEAH! At least in it's first form that was submitted to the publisher along with the manuscript for Umi and Xandar. (See the sow that eats the tender pumpkin plants to the right.) Now I have four different pieces of writing out there waiting to be considered. Two are in magazine contests, which seem to capture my imagination most and play to my need for a deadline. One should announce the winner this month. The other is in January, I think.

So, I took a little break to enjoy Halloween. Brendan went with his buddies in a totally different neighborhood to trick-or-treat. He dressed as an alien cyborg. His friends went as a Krispy Kreme donut and a policeman! I love the homemade costumes. There were lots of them this year.

I wanted so badly to be a fly on his costume, but we left him alone. He had my phone in case he needed us. I'll add photos as soon as I get them from my in-laws. I forgot my camera.

I love this time of year. Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Head

The past few weeks, I've had pumpkins on the brain. With our Texas version of autumn, cooler weather and imported pumpkin patches, I've had renewed inspiration to get my Pumpkin Named Jack dummy book done. I've spent time in the church's pumpkin patch several times and managed to sketch a few while I was there. I also presented it to an audience for the first time at Saturday's meeting of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators group. (Say that fast three times!) They had some good suggestions, which I plan incorporating into the story and illustrations. It became very clear that this is still very much a work in progress, and anyone who sees it will have an impact on it.

Mostly, I was surprised that they still had suggestions about the story, which I thought was pretty well set. After all, it was a finalist in last year's picture book competition. First was to cut it by 300 words, and let the pictures do the talking. Good point. But then, it was also suggested that Jack being the hero needed to find a way to save himself, instead of external forces doing it for him, which completely changes the tone of the book. See if you agree. Click the link for the ABC Picture Book Competition. Go to Year 3 finalists and read the story. I'm really interested in what you have to say. It could change the whole thing.