Wax and Wealth

"Wealty Women and sometimes men wore cones of wax containing perfume atop their heads. As the wax slowly melted in the heat, the face, head, and shoulders became pleasantly scented." (p. 79 of Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure. by Lila Perl. Clarion Books 1976)

And after death was when they did their cosmetic surgery, using sawdust to amp up cheek bones, and shoulders. None were manipulated at the breast. Haven't we come a long way? ; )

Today's Publisher Highlight: Giddy-Up Publishing. Author: David Giddings shown below surfing. He has written books on skateboarding and other sports for children's books entitled under: Harry The Bear. Giddy-Up can be contacted at Giddyup.com their number is (734)302-4444.

What Inspires You?

In the Children's Guide I am reading an author,Justina Chen Head (Nothing But the Truth and a few White Lies, suggests identifying or expressing in words your the Character's Heart Desire.

Ask: What does my character want most? Why doesn't he/she have it? What would be the character's pure moment of joy? What scares the character to death?

Given the her most heartfelt desire, deepest fear, what does she NEED?

When you answer these questions creat a collage, a motto by your writing spot... whatever to help you remember the answers and inspiration behind these questions.

It took me a couple minutes to answer them, but immediately I zoned in on what needed to happen with my charachter and how I could make all that I wrote, contributed to the beginning and end. She finally had a true heart that I could work from, she became real to me. Not just a character. Try it!

And here is a start to my collage.. My adopted motto:


"The little airplanes of the heart
with their brave little propellers
What can they do
against the winds of darkness
even as butterflies are beaten back
by hurricanes yet do not die"

-- Lawrence Ferlinghetti

When Butter Hits the Cupboard

Do you ever have one of these days? This is an old picture, and despite looking staged, is totally a natural occurrance. Opened the cupboard one day for a dish and.... butter is not where it was put. Hmmm. I needed a laugh. Enjoy...

It melts my heart

How to Draw Mo. Willem's Pigeon

I love Mo's art. You, or the little luvvies, can learn to draw his famous pigeon at his web site. Or google it. Jaden is convinced he can become an artist.. his renditions of me are now similiar to the pigeon.

BIC HOK TAM! and Eduardo

This is mumbo jumbo from the book: CHILDREN'S wRITER'S & iLLUSTRATOR'S MARKET 20th edition. And the man above is the inspiring, okay, good looking star from Bella. They have nothing to do with each other, except that I find both interesting. And Jaden has a classmate with the same name and initially referred to him as ED Wordo.
He actually has a good story of turning around his life- check it out.

On p. 28 of the book is a great bit of advice from editor Alice Pope. The above silly phrase has to do with writing a book in a week. i.e. sitting in chair with hands on keyboard and typing away madly! Another way put is by author, Jane Yolen, at a conference; she said: "Write the damn book!"

Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? She continues: "It's a way for undisciplined writer's (me) get over themselves, their search for their muse, and their writer's block." Taking the internal editor out of us.

Compares it to mining the rock= which is writing a lot of crap. shuting down the "infernal internal editor" were her exact words I tried to paraphrase above.

"Sit your bum on the chair (muse),.. the muse is myth.. stacked pages next to computer is a reality"

"Think of writer's block as an urban legend. It is usu. fear, resistance or lack of discipline."

Feel Like Crying

Do you ever feel like crying? For no particular reason? Maybe it is because my baby is sick and there isn't anything I can do about it.

A tooth is on the verge of falling out and on top of it his little lip has a blister on it, it was huge when he came home and is finally is going back down. Add a cough on top of it and stomache pains and wall-a. heartache.

It didn't help that the day was spent researching editors and publishing houses. One of J's favorite books from the library has been: The Horned Toad Prince. A fractured fairy tale that I am loving lately, too. So I checked out the author's web site. Jackie Mims Hopkins inspired my future author blog with her personal bio. And the illustrator, Michael Austin makes me want to find books drawn by him, too.

The publisher, Peach Tree, out of GA, takes UN's. (unsolicited) ms (manuscripts).
So I tried to research the editor, Helen Harris. And there are gobs of them. Which one is it? Good qustion. Personalized the query, checked the ms and then went back to my reading of The Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Guide.

And now I NEED to blog about it. sigh. I can't even watch a movie with out working! And to top it off, my hopes of meeting Eduardo Verastegui are waning. did I not mention him? sigh.. life is so tough.

Maybe if I learn to rope like Reba Jo in The Horned Toad Prince, I might increase my chances. That, or I could kiss a toad. Read this book!

And if you need to find Eduardo, he has a film company called Metanoia films along with starring in a movie called Bella!