The Backstory Project

So if you follow me on instagram (@julieolsonbooks), you'll know I keep pretty busy with various things in my life...kids, exercise and art being the main 3. And maybe that's why I blog less and less. But in the day to day, I don't often stop to think of how I got to where I am in my life. Do you?

I had the chance last week to reflect on how I got to be where I am in my illustration career when I was interviewed by Matt Pierce for The Backstory Project. If you are a fan of This American Life, I bet you will love these little interviews too. And if you want to know a bit of my own backstory, concerning my career, go check out the podcast HERE.

Summer Adventure and Deadlines (Oregon Coast Itinerary)

This summer was almost as busy as last summer as far as illustration work goes. Therefore you see my MAJOR lack of posting. I've been working on illustrating four 32 page books in a series for Zondervan (imprint of HarperCollins Publishing). I began them last fall and turned in the last of the artwork on the 14th. (my deadline was the 15th
My challenge every summer is balancing work with spending time with my 4 kids who are all out of school for the summer months and wanting to play. And honestly, I have the same mindset as my kids when it comes to summer...I want to play too. To please myself AND my kids I vowed to take at least one day a week and spend it with my kids having fun...waterpark, movies, parks, etc. But I had one big deadline mid-July and another at the end of the summer, mid-August. So they also had summer camps, swimming lessons, summer play practice, and music lessons to keep them busy having structured fun while I got some work in.
I met my July deadline and then began to work furiously to stay on top of my illustration work for the September deadline. I was going a little crazy, honestly, because in there was mixed in a huge family reunion and extended family staying with us on and off.  The only thing that kept me going was the promise of the trip we'd planned to the Oregon Coast the first part of August. I couldn't wait to leave the hectic summer behind and just CHILL!
I recommend everyone take some time now and then to refill the well however your well is best filled. For me, I like to leave the household chores behind and go where there is no set schedule, see new places, and enjoy nature.
I posted a lot of pictures of our trip to Instagram as we went along and people began asking for our itinerary...they wanted to get away too...and see this beautiful state. So in answer to their requests, I've posted all the details:

OUR TRIP TO THE OREGON COAST - August 2015

Day 1 Wednesday: Utah to Shilo Inn, Klamath Falls, OR.  (Make Reservations for Shilo Inn - cost us $185 with taxes for all 6 of us). Long driving day. drove north on I-15, turned west on I-80 at Salt Lake City.

• STOP 1 - Bonneville Salt Flats.  Took Pictures. Touched the salt. Realized we lost our rear license plate. YIKES! Oh well, what are you gonna do? We drove on, heading west on I-80, eating a packed lunch in the car along the way.

  

  we brought along our Fuji Instax camera for fun

• STOP 2- Pizza Hut for Dinner in Winnemucca, Nevada. I called ahead when we were 20 minutes away and ordered. Thank goodness for google. I got a gluten free pizza for myself and ordered for the rest of the fam as well. Quickly picked it up and turned north onto hwy 95, eating our pizza in the car, then turned west onto hwy 140. YOU HAVE TO EAT IN WINNEMUCCA and GET GAS, because after there, good luck...things are pretty barren until Klamath Falls, Oregon.
• STOP 3- Somewhere in the mountains of  Oregon. Our daughter got carsick. YUCK! and then again for road construction a little later (one way traffic).
• STOP 4- Shiloh Inn of Klamath Falls, OR. We booked through travelocity last minute because we weren't able to stay with the friend we had planned to stay with (sick kids). This is a great hotel. Booked it online. Large rooms, fridge and microwave. Indoor pool. And the best thing for us was the washers and dryers. We had a bag full of carsick clothes and blankets to wash. YUCK!

Day 2 Thursday: Klamath Falls, OR to Jedediah Smith State Park, CA, then RedwoodsRV park (make reservations for Redwoods RV Park - cost us $30.42 total for a tent site)  - only 3 hours of driving

• Since the drive was short this day, we let the kids swim in the indoor pool after the hotel provided breakfast for us. That's always a treat for our kids and it kind of erased the yucky parts of the day before from the trip vibe.
• Left about 11am for the Jedediah Smith State Park in Northern, Cali (near Crescent City, CA). We wanted to try to get in some California Redwoods on our trip. We ate lunch along the way and got there mid-afternoon and found out there were no available campsites. Just an FYI, the campsites at Jedediah Smith are all tent campsites and are first come first serve walk up. I don't know what time they start taking walk-ins, but I wouldn't count on camping here. You can google it and drive to the campground first and check if they have spots, but I'd camp where we did (see future bullet point) to make sure you have a spot and just drive straight to Stout Grove in the Park. DIRECTIONS HERE
• Toured/hiked/walked the Jedediah Smith State park. While you are here, don't miss Stout Grove...it's where the scenes for the Star Wars Ewok battle on Endor were filmed. We had a lot of fun checking it all out. Although, I advise getting there and getting done before 5:30...that's when the mosquitos attack. (or wear repellant etc.) It's an easy walking trail around the grove. I did it in flip flops.
  

  

  You can't really appreciate the size of these giants in pics

• After stout grove, we drove to the RedwoodsRV park 25 minutes away. BUT BE SURE TO TAKE THE SENIC ROUTE THROUGH THE PARK! Take Howland Hill road back to Hwy 199 and STAY on 199 (to the left) when it splits all the way to the 101 and then head north on the 101.
  

  

  route option 1 but see map below for another option

  

  driving Howland Hill Road was beautiful and amazing

  You will LOVE driving through the giant Redwoods here. Even though the road turns to dirt for a while, don't freak out, it's awesome. The RV park campground was wonderful. We had a tent campsite (the last one they had left). It had showers, a playground and the best part was we were still camping IN the redwoods. It was the best RV park for atmosphere that I've been to.
• NOTE: we took a DETOUR. Instead of turning right on the 101, we turned left and headed over to Crescent City, CA for our first look at the Pacific Ocean. We spent a little while roaming the beach and snapping a few photos. Then drove north on the 101 to the RV resort.
  
  

  

  the actual route we took (in blue)

  

  
  

  

  Crescent City Beach

Day 3 Friday: Northern Cali to Brookings Oregon, Harris Beach State Park  Yurts cost $43-$53 per night plus a reservation fee of  $8 per night. (book a Yurt at ReserveAmerica.com but do so far in advance. They also have rv and tent sites) - We booked YurtC26 and loved the location. Any of the Yurts next to it would be fine as well. BOOK EARLY - reservations start 9 months in advance. Fill fast.

• We checked out of the RV park at 11 am after sleeping in a bit and a nice breakfast, packing up the tent and all. Check-in time at Harris Beach wasn't until 4pm so we had some exploring to do of the area.
• We found the perfect picnic spot at the Alfred A. Loeb State park up the Chetco River in Brookings, OR. Google the State park and then follow the signs as you get near to the campground/day use area. Day use is FREE, unlike Utah's parks. We found a picnic table and parking spot above the Chetco River and made PB&J for lunch. Then we took a beautiful hike. Here's a link to the 2.5 mile trail. http://alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/redwood-nature-trail  But please note this...Park at the campground/river access area, near a picnic table or not. Then walk the River trail which will eventually cross a little bit of a busy road over to the Redwood trail. Don't miss the Redwood trail. This is the northern most grove of Redwoods in the US.

  

  Of course you HAVE to stop and check out
  the nature guide pamphlet along the way

• When we got done hiking, we were hot, so we all changed into our swimsuits at the car, then drove it down to the gravel banks of the Chetco river, set up camp chairs and waded and swam. There's even a rope swing and an ice cream truck drives down the banks mid-late afternoon. It was a wonderful afternoon.

  

  an afternoon of play in the Chetco River

• 4 pm Headed back in to Brookings, OR and stopped at the Fred Meyer for Gas and Grocery shopping.
• Drove up the road 5 minutes and Checked in to Harris Beach State Park, YurtC26 named Sixes (after a river in Oregon). We didn't want to miss the sunset at the beach, so after we unpacked the car, we all walked down the short trail to the beach and basked in its beauty. It was absolutely gorgeous.  Then we went back to the campsite for hotdogs and smores.

  

  our first Yurt for the trip

Harris Beach at Sunset 

Day 4 Saturday: Harris Beach State Park and Gold Beach

• We spent the morning at Harris beach, playing and exploring. Ate lunch at the Yurt.
• We spent the afternoon a few miles up the road at Lone Ranch Beach which we also loved. Highly recommend both beaches. 
• The sunset and the evening were spent back at our beach and campsite. 

Day 5 Sunday: Harris Beach State Park to Umpqua Lighthouse State Park  Our Yurt here cost us $50 plus the $8 reservation fee. (book a Yurt at ReserveAmerica.com but do so far in advance, up to 9 months in advance to be precise. book early.) We stayed in Yurt53, C and this was IDEAL. The location was gorgeous and the Yurt was updated and clean. Best yurt site there.

• We woke up,  showered and got dressed in our Sunday clothes and drove in to attend church in Brookings from 9-10:15am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Then we drove back to the campsite, changed, ate lunch and were out of there by 1pm. I always like going to church in different areas I'm visiting...makes the area much more personal to me.
• While the fam found a place to throw a frisbee while I did some laundry for an hour and a half at a little laundry mat at 1026 Chetco Ave. (same as hwy 101), Brookings, OR 97415 .



Our beautiful campsite at Umpqua

• Then we drove north on the 101 two and a half hours to Umpqua lighthouse State Park.  We only stayed here 1 night but the campsite was worth staying 2. The lighthouse museum is free but the lighthouse itself costs money to tour, just FYI. Used to be free. Not anymore. We toured the museum late Sunday afternoon and looked out at the viewpoints. There is also a lake by the campground that has a nice mile long trail around it for walking (we made the kids go while we cooked dinner).

  

  Our nice Yurt at Umpqua

Day 6 Monday: Umpqua Lighthouse State park, to the Dunes Recreational Area, to Silver Falls State Park The cabin we stayed in at Silver Falls was $40 per night plus and $8 per night reservation fee. (make your reservation at reserveamerica.com and book early.) We stayed in Cabin02 and it was great. Cabins 1-10 are the best in the park but cabins 01 and 02 are the most secluded and the least foot traffic goes by. 

• After breakfast we drove over to the Dunes National Recreation area. It costs $5 to park and enter because it's a national park not an Oregon State park. You can rent dune vehicles at various places but that isn't our scene. So we parked in the parking lot and crossed the grasses to the east instead of heading west to the atv area. We played on the dunes by the ocean and it was picturesque and so fun. Driftwood, dunes, Dune grass, ocean.
  
• We drove back to the campground to pack up and drove north a few miles on the 101 to Reedsport, Oregon for Lunch at the Harbor Light Restaurant where the kids tried a Wild Boar Burger, some Oregon Butter Beer, and Clam Chowder. It was a nice leisurely meal and not entirely cheap, but it was fun to eat at a local place and fun for me not to cook.
• We continued North 32 miles on the 101 and stopped at the parking area just past the Sea Lion Caves Building. They take guided tours from that building down to the Sea Lion Caves for a fee. However, we were able to see many sea lions from our perch along the cliff of the parking pullout about 100 yds further up the road. We also saw a whale and watched it for quite a while.
  
• Then we drove on for 11 miles to the Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve area to see Devils Churn and Thor's Well.  You can park at the visitors center and there is a trail down.
  
  The tide was low so the Well wasn't as impressive as pictures online, but it allowed for a lot more walking around the tide pools and areas. We spent a good 45 minutes here.

  

  Thor's Well

• Then we north to Newport and inland on hwy 20 to Silver Falls State Park via Salem Oregon (where we stopped for groceries) and our little rustic cabin. The bathroom situation could have been better (2 toilets, 2 showers for 10 cabins) but there was only once where we had to wait for the use.

  

  cabin 02

Day 7 Tuesday: SilverFalls State Park

• We hiked to North Falls, and Upper North Falls and then drove over to the Lodge Parking and hiked South Falls and Lower South Falls. This was a good way to break it up for smaller kids. If you hike all 10 falls in one day it's a 9 mile trail.
  

  

  Lower South Falls

Day 8 Wednesday: SilverFalls State Park

• We drove over to the small parking spot by Winter Falls. Get there earlier in the day because it gets full later. We hiked to the remaining 6 falls in this order... Winter Falls, middle north falls, Drake Falls, Double Falls, Lower North Falls and Twin Falls on the way back (a little side shoot off). This only took about 2-2.5 hours total
  
• On Tuesday we called the Frank Lloyd Wright Gordon House in Silverton, OR and made an appointment for Wednesday afternoon to take a tour. If you are in to art, architecture, modern art or houses, it's a must. My two highschool boys and I went. Students are free and adults are $15. They take credit cards at the door. The house sits in the Oregon Gardens in Silverton, Oregon about 30 minutes away from SilverFalls Park. If you go as a whole family, I would stay for a meal in the cute town of Silverton down on Main street in one of the restaurants along the river. I loved the main street and wish I could've spent more time actually walking it and trying out a restaurant.  But my hubby was back at the campground entertaining the littler kids, so we had to get back.
• We went to the Ranger Talk at the main campground that evening. It was very entertaining and interesting. Check one out while you are there, especially if it's the Tribes of the Valley program. My 5 year old sat still through the whole thing.

Day 9 Thursday: Silver Falls to home...the longest day ever

• We got up fairly early and packed up and drove into Portland to try out the famed, Voodoo Donuts. It was in quite an interesting part of town and parking was difficult, but it showed the kids some real flavor of life. But all in all it added to the experience. 
• Then we drove interstate 84 along the hood river and stopped at Multnomah Falls. I would suggest skipping Voodoo Donuts and go straight to Multnomah Falls because it gets PACKED! Map this address from Portland: "Multnomah Falls Lodge, 50000 Historic Columbia River Hwy, Bridal Veil, OR 97010" so you take the Historic Columbia River Hwy instead of 84 the whole way. If you do, you'll get to better parking and get to stop at Wahkeenah Falls and do the hike up to the bridge at least and then back down.

  

  Multnomah Falls

• We had planned to camp at a KOA near Boise, Idaho on the way home to break up the drive. But after getting back in the car after the falls, we thought, "hey, let's sleep in our own beds tonight...we can drive straight through. It'll just be 11 pm Utah time when we get home." Famous last words. After a stop for fuel in Boardman, Oregon we drove on to Baker, City where we came upon a wildfire that closed down the whole interstate ( I-84). We were told to fuel up and take the scenic hwys, 7 to 245 to 26 to get back to I-84 further down the road. That was a 2.5 hour detour. By the time we stopped to grab a quick bite on the border in Ontario, OR we headed to Boise, ID. We thought about ditching our plan and staying at our reserved campsite. But one look at the temperature and the time and the weather... 9:30pm, 103 degrees, wild fires by the road, smokey skies and the biggest lightening storm you've seen...we decided there was no way we'd pitch a tent and then sleep in all that.
  
  So we pushed forward. We made it home at 3 am. Tired. But happy to sleep in our own beds. 

Someone else asked me what we did for food. We ate out rarely (once on the road there, once in Reedsport, and once on the road home). Everything else was out of a food box and cooler and we were all fine with that. I had a box for dry goods, a cooler for the rest of the food, and a rubbermaid full of paper plates, utensils, paper cups, paper towels etc., and a flat rubbermaid bin with spices, oil sprays, knives, cooking utensils, clothespins, foil, baggies, tablecloth, etc. It was basically my cooking pantry.

• Breakfasts (8)- hotel once, cereal, pancakes or oatmeal
• lunches (9)- sandwiches, always sandwiches (chips and fruit)
• Dinners (6)- hot dogs over fire and fruit and veggies and chips, tin foil dinner in the fire and bought rolls, spaghetti and salad and rolls, twice chicken or beef curry (bought sauce in pouches at the store and added veggies and meat over rice), tacos
• smores....always smores... and a baked apple night and stuffed banana (marshmallows and choc chips stuffed into a banana and foil wrapped...baked in fire)

And here's a rough list of supplies we packed

• one large tent and tarp (only used one night instead of the planned 2) so you could do a hotel near Jedediah Smith State park and skip brining a tent all together 
• sleeping bags, sleeping pads, pillows, hammocks (2)
• camp chairs
• beach mat  and beach towels and toys (limited)
• card games, dice games, and frisbee
• bath supplies (flip flops are a must for the showers)
• Camp stove, roasting sticks, cooking pots and pans, extra fuel
• headlamps, lantern

So regardless of our drive TO Oregon and our drive HOME from Oregon, the trip was absolutely wonderful. The kids said they put it right up there with our trip to Grand Cayman Island over spring break. But let me tell you, this trip was a lot cheaper. So save yourself some money, take a trip to the Oregon Coast.

And if you're looking for some other great hikes while you're there, check out this post on AlltheRooms.com's blog.

Oppose the new US Copyright Act

The Illustrators Partnership has brought to my attention the efforts of lobbyists and big business (especially internet businesses) to change the US Copyright Act. The proposed changes would essentially allow anyone to use any art that has already been published without paying to use it.

So they are proposing a law to make stealing art legal. Sounds dumb, right? Well I guess when enough people throw enough money behind something, they think they can make something legal (and therefore right in their minds). But stealing is stealing...no matter if they make some of it legal or not. I pray they don't. I pray they realize what they are proposing, what they are doing, and what it will do to the livelihood of so many.

I call all artists, photographers and friends of artists to read the information HERE http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ and write a letter immediately to oppose this insane proposal. #thenextgreatcopyrightact

Deadline: July 23, 2015
You can submit letters online to the Copyright Office here.

Read the Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry.
Read the 2015 Orphan Works and Mass Digitization Report.

Here is the text of my letter I just submitted. Feel free to read it and then PLEASE go write one and send it off today.

July 2, 2015

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Julie Olson and I have been a freelance illustrator for seventeen years creating art for everything from board games, to magazines, to websites, to books.  I paid for my own college education and graduated with a BFA in Illustration in 1998. I am registered as a limited liability company and run my business just like any small business owner. My art is my source of income and I rely on that income to help support my family of four children.

It has come to my attention that there is an effort launched to change the copyright law to allow for Mass Digitization of artists’ intellectual property, extend collective licensing to replace our voluntary business agreements with clients, and overall strip the rights we have over our art after it has been published. This has already been happening illegally and it seems the people doing it have finally joined together and thrown enough money at the law makers to try and say what they are doing is legal. Saying stealing is legal certainly doesn’t make it right.

If the copyright law is changed to allow for the proposed alterations, thousands of small business owners, artists, and the like, will no longer be able to earn a living. The copyright law is not some abstract legal issue, but the basis on which my business (and the thousands of others like it) rests.

The copyrights of my work ARE the products I license. Therefore, infringing on artists’ work is like stealing our money. It is important to our businesses that we remain able to voluntarily determine how and by whom our work is used. My work does NOT lose its value upon publication. I sell the rights for someone to use my art in certain publications for a certain period of time. Once that contract is up, I still own the product (the art) and can then allow others to use that art for their purposes upon agreement. When companies or people use art they did not create themselves or contract the use of, they are stealing another person’s intellectual creation. Everything I create becomes part of my business’s inventory and then I sell the use of that inventory to others. That is the livelihood of my business. And now, in this digital era, inventory is more valuable to artists than ever before.

Imagine a costume rental company created some beautiful, original costumes and then rented out a costume to a customer. Then that customer wore the rented costume, came back to the company and said, “Ok, now that I’ve worn this and used it, I’m just going to give it away to someone else to use. You already got your money out of it by me renting it. It’s no more use to you.” And that costumer walks away with the costume. The renter at the rental company calls the police and says, “A customer of this description just stole one of my costumes.” That customer would then be charged with stealing property.

The same is true with using art. A customer should not be allowed to pay for the use of art only one time and then allow the world to use it for free in perpetuity.  Please do not allow this proposed copyright law alteration to take place. It is stealing and will ruin the livelihood of many people.

Sincerely,

Julie Olson, Professional Illustrator

Indianapolis Temple Coloring Page

Out in my home state, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is building a new temple. This is amazing to me as the closest temple to my hometown (while I was growing up) was out of state, a 6-8 hour drive away. And now there will be access to a beautiful temple for so many more people within a short distance.  I'm so excited for my Hoosiers who now get a temple of their own.

The open house is scheduled for Friday, July 17th through Saturday, August 8th. At the open house, anyone of any faith, any age, any circumstance may go through a tour of the temple before it is dedicated. If you've always wondered about the temples, here's your chance to see inside. Once reservations officially open for tours, free tickets will be available HERE.

To commemorate this event, I created a coloring page that can be downloaded, printed and used for personal, non-commercial use. Feel free to share with your friends.  Click on the link below the picture.

Click here to download a printable file

Payson Temple Downloadable Clip Art

I just want to share something too beautiful not to share... (not the picture of it, but the place)

Payson Temple, Photo Credit: Julie Olson

Look at this temple the #paysontemple. It is gorgeous inside and out. Until the end of May 2015, any person of any religion or walk of life of any age can go see this beautiful piece of architecture and art in Payson, Utah. It isn't far from my home (only about an hour south of Salt Lake City, UT) and I am so excited for that. Yes, it is a temple built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and yes, I am a member of this church. I was able to visit it the other day and take a tour and the stained glass and original artwork astounded me. I hope you get a chance to see it for yourself. You can reserve tickets HERE to make sure you get into a tour in a timely manner. But if you don't have tickets, they won't turn anyone away either. So go ahead come!

To commemorate its completion, I have drawn up a coloring page and created some vector art to share free of charge with the world. You are free to use it for personal/non-commercial use. Please give credit to me or my website when using if you would be so kind. Click on the links below the pictures and Enjoy!

Print your copy from HERE

Click to download the vector art HERE (photoshop or adobe illustrator required)

Writing For Charity

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (yes, this is a little late but hey, it's still March) This image was actually done completely digitally in ArtRage on my Yinova Tablet Monitor.

I've been really busy trying to finish up 2 books worth of final sketches all due at the beginning of April. One of the book's sketches are done, and the other is 1/2 done. Lots and lots of sketching going on. But it's pretty awesome that I've been able to use my new YINOVA tablet monitor and the ARTRAGE program to sketch these books. I won't be painting digitally but this sketching digitally is saving me a lot of time and paper. Love it. Highly recommend it.

Today I am presenting along with a bunch of amazing authors and illustrators at a yearly even we all donate our time and some books to. It's called the Writing For Charity conference. You can keep up on the event for next year and what it's all about on their site writingforcharity.blogspot.com . But essentially it's an awesome day full of professional authors and illustrators sharing their knowledge and all the proceeds go to charities to get books into the hands of children in need.

These are the baskets I'm donating this year for the silent auction. Patriotic themed baskets with a signed book, signed fine art print from the book, and other trinkets and candy. Hopefully someone will bid and enjoy them so other kids can enjoy books.

Don't miss it next year!

2015 Valentines Printables

Hello my friends! If you are like me, you are once again trying to get your kids' valentines boxes made and all those valentines signed and ready to go. But why go to the store...here are some free valentine printables. This year the card can be made double sided.

 download and print the images below,  double sided, then cut in 4ths
(For personal use only, not for resale, copyright Julie Olson 2015)

DOWNLOAD FRONT

DOWNLOAD BACK

Groundhog Day 2015 and Caldecott Announcement

In honor of Groundhog Day 2015, Amazon has placed my "Tickle, Tickle! Itch, Twitch!" book on sale for today. Don't miss out on your hardback copy for only $7.79 and have some tickle tickle fun with your little one.

In this book, Gus the groundhog gets an annoying little itch on his back that he just can't scratch. Through a series of seemingly unfortunate events, Gus finally gets that itch scratched and makes some new and unexpected friends. A great read-aloud, this book will have you and your little one giggling and tickling the whole way through.

Here's the book trailer for the little book...

Also, #Caldecott awards for 2015 were announced this morning.  I think they made quite the variety of choices for awards this year. And I was very pleased to see the wonderful artwork of Dan Santat win the Caldecott Medal. Check out the rest of the awards HERE.

Deadlines & Presentations & Fun

I decided to do a little exploring and sketching in ArtRage this morning. I really love the character that came out of it. What do you think?

This month has been very busy. You always think that after the holidays life won't be so chaotic. But everything you put on hold for Christmas celebrations comes back to hit you in the face in January. At least the weather here in Utah has been pleasant and not the usual bitter cold. So this month I've been doing the following...

MEETING DEADLINES: The project I'm working on for Zondervan publishing (subsidiary of Harper Collins) has been keeping me working a lot this month. I had sketches due and then full color finals due. I lost some editing I had done in photoshop the day the color finals were due and I thought I was up a creek. But I was able to redo them faster the second time and get everything turned in. I will have deadlines for these 4 books every month or so until September when they should all be completed.

In the meantime...

My agent has been submitting two picture book dummies of mine and so far no offers for acquisition. But all the rejections have been positive rejections so they aren't completely disheartening. It's a good thing I'm working on other jobs because it distracts me from the waiting and the blow of the rejections.

And then...

PRESENTATIONS: I really enjoyed going to Sara Larson's launch for IGNITE, the second book in her Defy series. She did a great job and I always have fun catching up with friends. Then last night I gave a hour and a half lecture at BYU to Rick Walton's Publishing Industry class. I lost my VGA adapter only hours before so I had to run and buy one, but everything worked out.

Finally...

FUN: My daughters 11th birthday was this month and she wanted to make a movie during her party and hand out oscar awards. I love decorating cakes so I made her a film reel cake and film negative cupcakes and everyone had a great time.

I also took the kids to an indoor swimming rec center on MLK day to pretend it really wasn't winter. I forgot how much swimming can tire you out. LOL!

If you want to stay more up to date on my day to day life as a mom and illustrator, follow me on Instagram @julieolsonbooks