No Excuses...But I'm back: Hosting Erin and Philip Stead and more

Hello all. I'm so sorry I was absent all summer and for half of Fall. I won't make any excuses only say that family, work and life passes by quickly and sometimes the blog gets left behind.

But on to the now...

The book idea I blogged about last, the one that has to do with collecting (and something SOOOOO much deeper), is all dummied out and in the hands of a very dear copy editor friend, who loves it, and is passing it on to her very dear editor friend. There are no assurances, but a friend on your side in the business is always a lovely thing.

In July I was privileged to host Erin and Philip Stead at the summer BYU Symposium for young readers. It was a wonderful experience. Erin is kind, a bit shy, and very humble about her own art. She attributes all her success back to her husband, Phil, nudging her into children's books. They make a great team all around. Phil is also kind, the more outgoing of the two and very excited about creating new art. They had great tips and fun stories to share. Here's an image from my notes.


I'm currently finishing up with a patriotic book due out June 2014. As soon as the publisher's catalog is out with the cover art I just turned in, I'll post a link. I am REALLY loving this book. The text is actually lyrics in the public domain and has been illustrated before. However, I hope with my spin on the book, it'll take it to an expanded sphere. I know speaking in generals and not giving any specifics is annoying, but unfortunately, that is sometimes the biz.

And just a little more of a sneak peak of that one...probably as much as I can show right now (but look at earlier posts and you'll see another):


On that note (of having to be hush hush), I'm also working with a VERY big client...NOT on a picture book at all, and I can't say a word about it until probably February (that's so annoying, I know). But just be happy for me and know that if my house doesn't get decorated much for the holidays, it's all because I'm feverishly trying to make deadlines.

WISH ME LUCK!
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Collecting

I'm working on another picture book manuscript and illustrations (a personal project that I hope to present for publication someday)...and I'm collecting. I'm collecting memories.

Last summer my dear Grandma passed away. She was such a sweet and lovely person, always trying to serve and love others. I can't deny that she was my favorite Grandparent. So I began collecting my memories of her, like...

  • Her white patent leather purse on a gold chain strap
  • The black licorice she kept in plentiful supply
  • Her blue hair 
  • rolls and jam
  • peaches and cream
  • beautiful, handmade, quilts
  • the petite genes she passed on to me (she shrunk to about 4'11" through the years)
  • her little black heels
  • pearls
  • her smile
The list goes on and on. So I wrote a book. Based on truth. Beautified through the music of art and words. As I mentioned last week in my notes of Poet Lance Larsen...MUSIC TRUMPS TRUTH. Hopefully the music of this book will bring out the truth of the truth. I hope to share it with you someday. But for now,  here is a simple photo...me and my Grandma...



What are your memories of your Grandparents?

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12 tips on writing from Utah State Poet Laureate Lance Larsen

Here are my notes from Lance Larsen's Speech today

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Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers- How to write

illustration by Julie Olson

Here are a few tips from Sharlee Glenn about writing picture books...

1. Choose a suitable shape for your story. Is it circular (start and then end at about the same place)? Is it linear? Is it an arc? Think visually.

2. Use ACTIVE not PASSIVE voice. 

3. Use Concrete Language. Circle all your adjectives and adverbs and decide if they are really needed or if the sentence could be written any differently? Make each word count.

4. Omit Unnecessary Words. Take out take out take out...anything that is absolutely not pushing the story or plot forward.

5. Voice. Distinctive voice from author and from character.

What to write?

  • write memories from childhood honestly & truthfully
  • write down how you felt, thought, and acted as a child
  • write things that you would never tell anyone
  • write the story that is in YOU
HOW?
  • read a lot
  • pay attention
  • write a lot
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Creating Cute, Charismatic Characters

Yesterday I taught a workshop on creating picture book characters. I thought I would share a couple things here. When you are creating (writing or illustrating) a picture book character, think about these things...


Make sure your character is able to be "Indentified WITH."  RELATABLE. You need to think about your audience, what they would indentify with, and put some part of that in your character...whether it be age, a common problem for that audience, or a common interest that audience has.

The character needs to be "INVOLVED." They need to be part of the action of the story, the verbal part AND visually part of the action. Do not make them a passive bystander watching the action in any way. They must be IN it. INVOLVED.

And finally the character needs to be "INTERESTING." Something about them should be unpredictable. Instead of a cat for a little girl's pet, give her a bearded dragon. (see below)
In addition, ask yourself these three questions... WHO? WHAT? WHY?
Often the answers to those questions will provide you with a picture book story ready to go. For example...

WHO? Archer Aardvark, boy, Aardvark animal, age 5
WHAT? favorite color Orange, wears a baseball cap, loves baseball, needs his blankie
WHY? REALLY wants to play on the baseball team

So the story is... Archer Aardvark wants to play on the baseball team, but he can't give up his blankie. He tries all sorts of ways to play baseball WITH his blankie and finally figures out his problem in a fun way.

Then we talked about capturing the essence of an animal or person and then adding interesting things to visually create the character. I can't put the whole presentation here, but that's the gist.

Now, go create your own character and picture book.


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Signed a Contract for a new Picture Book!!! YAY!

So a while back (last September...almost a year ago) I posted this.... http://jujubeeillustrations.blogspot.com/2012/09/submitted-dummy-waiting-game.html, talking about the WAIT after submitting a picture book and what I do while I wait. Well, yesterday I posted a review of what I did during the last month of waiting. :-) But I have great news!!!

I signed a contract for that picture book! I have to have it all finished by December 1, 2013 and it'll be out one year from now in June 2014. It's a patriotic book with a fun twist. I am VERY excited about it and can't wait to share it with you. I'll have to ask my new publisher how much I can share. :-)

possible interior illustration from upcoming book "From Sea to Shining Sea" copyright 2012 Julie Olson 

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I'm a freelance illustrator working in the children's book industry. I love kids and raising my own 4 children. They are the inspiration and the passion behind all I do in art and in life. See my website at JulieOlsonbooks.com

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