A.B. Rutledge's Blog, page 2
April 16, 2017
maggie-stiefvater:
Teachers asked me for a more easily...
Teachers asked me for a more easily poster-able version of my writer’s block flowchart. So here: https://society6.com/product/writers-block-flowchart_print#s6-6893010p4a1v45
Vivian got her name from characters in Henry Darger’s...
Vivian got her name from characters in Henry Darger’s artwork and writings.
April 15, 2017
Vintage Paper Moon Portraits
Vintage Paper Moon Portraits
March 13, 2017
March 12, 2017
From the Other Side of the Signing Table
“I don’t know what to say to you,” the girl said. “Um, thanks, I guess.”
“Thanks is good,” I replied.
Silence stretched, punctuated only by the scuffle of a Sharpie on a page.
We were in the same boat, the girl and I — both at a book festival, both at the end of a long day full of people, both in a signing line that had been going on for an hour already. There was only one big difference between us: she was on one side of the table, and I was on the other. Sometimes that difference seems to matter more than others.
Before I was published, I read a lot of accounts of what it was like to have your work out there, but I never read anything about what it was like to have yourself out there. I suppose I never really thought about it, to tell you the truth. I thought you wrote a book and hopefully people liked it and if I thought about book tours at all, I figured they involved standing on a stage for a bit before disappearing into a rental car. The truth, however, is that now — ten years and fifteen novels in to my career — most of my hours in front of people are spent in a signing line. Forty minutes on a stage or behind a table for a panel, and then two or three hours meeting a few hundred strangers. I had no idea what it would be like.
This is what it’s like.
The boots and I packed up on Friday and headed to SE-YA for my...
The boots and I packed up on Friday and headed to SE-YA for my first ever book fest (if you don’t count the time I rushed around to see Meredith Russo at Southern Festival of Books). It was a nice, laid back road trip with my buddy Aleshia and her adorable son Fox. I got to meet a couple of my favorite authors and have them sign my books. Mostly I went because it’s entirely possible that I’ll be on the other side of the table in the next year or two and I wanted to see what it was like. I went in thinking that I’d be too nervous and I could never do it, but seeing this awesome all-girl panel having such a great time, I thought maybe it’s not as scary as it seems. I found myself nodding along and feeling kind of jealous I wasn’t the one getting to answer all those complicated, thoughtful questions. I can do this…I think.
March 7, 2017
TFW you find the most perfect photo representation of your...
TFW you find the most perfect photo representation of your characters on Pinterest. *snatches and runs off into the night*
From the art journal
From the art journal
Last night I had a horrible anxiety dream that I opened my email...
Last night I had a horrible anxiety dream that I opened my email to find the design team at HMH had made me THE WORST book cover ever. I told fellow ‘18 debut Rachel Lynn Solomon about it and she was kind of enough to bring my nightmare to life with this lovely mockup. I can’t stop laughing about it. Surely the design team will come up with something a little nicer for me than green burlap!
