Hey Hey Summer is here...

and with it camping, buggies and rain : ) We love it all.
Work is picking up - finally, and I feel ready to take it all on.
It is funny, I worked on my garden book through the winter, and will be working on my winter book through the summer. Have to get in the mood.

The garden is is full bloom, we are eating peas, onions, lettuce in all colours, strawberries, raspberries and almost have a full grown pepper. The zucchini and tomatoes are coming along nicely and our wall of sunflowers is getting nice and tall. And the corn, the corn is just cool. I wish we had planted more.

It is very cool seeing mo do all the things from the book, but now I feel like there is so much more I could have put in. Oh well... still exciting!

Thank Goodness for Daddies!

I love my dad.
I love my son's dad.
I really like my friends kids dads.
In fact, I am surrounded by so many great dads that it floors me.
These dads are involved with their kids, change diapers, sing lullabies, cuddle and snuggle.
Many of these guys did NOT have shining examples to live up to, they are carving their own paths as dads and they may stumble and not think they are doing a good job - but they are.
These are the days of awesome poppas.
Hooray for you guys.

It is so nice to hear from a client when a job is done. I recently did a job with Red Robin Books, a UK publisher (who I LOVE working with BTW) and I got a message from the Author today saying how happy he was with the book. I have yet to see it - hopefully in the next month or so. This one has a Pop-Up at the end, so I am so excited to see how that turned out in the end! Watch for my posting of There's a Spider In the Bath! my second book with them, also finished my third - Shaun the Shy Shark - Coming soon. Thanks Neil!

So glad it is the weekend. I finally feel like drawing again. I think I was in a lull (not for lack of work - but lack of will). My last book really took a lot out of me but in the end is worth it. Just finalized all edits and soon it will be completely out of my hands and I have to say I am glad of it and looking forward to moving on to the next one in the series.

Have also planted most of our garden now... there is a lot of stuff in there. We also managed to dodge the frost that was promised, though we took some extra measures involving tar paper, cardboard boxes etc. Which resulted in a cemetery look when we woke up, but our peppers and tomatoes survived!

Barcode

I am starting to get really nervous and excited. Because I also have the luxury of designing my picture book (my publisher was actually happy that I could do that as well, and no, I an NOT self-publishing) and don't worry - I am qualified! I just got my bar code and flap copy all laid out... fun fun. Scary. Real. Very cool. Now the sad part is I have to WAIT until Spring 2009 to see it in the stores. I am not very good at waiting, though I suppose I should have picked an alternate career if that was truly the case. Though I was really hoping I could show it off at some fall conferences.

Well, on to the next book!

We are so lucky.

Ok, this is one of the times when you realize just how lucky you are.

What is happening in Burma is an inconceivable disaster of epic proportions.
From this day on I temper my complaints about my government, my job, my messy house, my old car and live for the things I so take for granted.

You may have heard how hard it is to get aid into Burma, but there is a way to get something in there... the monks are working on the ground floor of this, offering shelter and relief for those affected - please visit www.avaaz.org to donate if you can, if you can't just go look to see what can be done.

Our world is small, I look at the town I grew up in and the number of dead is equal to four of them - every single person. That is a very sobering thought.

HOORAY

My work for 'In The Garden' has officially landed in Hong Kong. This book is becoming a reality - I can't believe it. So hard sending all of that stuff over. Usually either I scan the stuff, or the publisher sends it. Not sure why this worried me so much - maybe cause I wrote the book too - and there seems to be so much more at stake! Anyway, it is there, being scanned... looking forward to seeing those and doing the final layout of the book... guess I have to work on my about the author section... I dislike that part immensely : )

I am finally updated!

So, this is a new foray into the www. I was having a heck of time trying to keep my website updated, so this should work much much better. I don't have time anyway to deal with designing and updating a website all the time. I am MUCH to busy working on important projects.

Well, just got back from the SCBWI Spring Thing In Barrie last weekend. I had a blast, met lots of great people and hob-nobbed with the first art director I have ever met in person. Funny in this age - all the art directors I have ever worked with have been online!