Debbie Ridpath Ohi's Blog, page 122
January 11, 2012
Picture Book Creation Process: I'M BORED Sneak Peek
Just posted a step-by-step photo essay on Pixel Shavings about how I created the "little girl as rampaging monster" image for I'M BORED, a new picture book by Michael Ian Black (coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers this September).
January 9, 2012
I'm Bored sample page spreads online AND a comment from the Very Famous Michael Ian Black
My friend Mary Ellen Wessels let me know on the weekend that there are some sample spreads available on the Simon & Schuster website page for I'M BORED (new picture book by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by yours truly, coming out this September). I asked her how she knew, and she told me that she had signed up for my Author Alert newsletter. So I've gone ahead and signed up for my own Author Alert newsletter even though it makes me feel way egotistical.
But hey, I want to know what I'm up to!
Anyway, I posted about it on my Facebook Page and was tickled to get a comment from the Very Famous MIB himself:
Yay!
Annual Kidlitart Picture Book Dummy Challenge starts today!
Today's the first day of the 2nd Annual Kidlitart #PBDummy Challenge! I am so in.
The goal of this 25-week-lon online group challenge: to create and submit a picture book dummy. Actually, I'm planning to create and submit several picture book dummies during this time.
To find out more, see Everything You Need To Know About The 2nd Annual Kidlitart #PBDummy Challenge and other posts on the blog.
THE SCHEDULE
STEP 1: Pick your project (1 week) Jan. 9-Jan. 15
STEP 2: Draft the story (4 weeks) Jan. 16-Feb. 12
STEP 3: Develop the characters (2 weeks) Feb. 13-Feb. 26
STEP 4: Storyboard text and art (2 weeks) Feb. 27-Mar. 11
STEP 5: Render tight, full-size sketches (8 weeks) Mar. 12-May 6
STEP 6: Produce final art of two spreads (4 weeks) Mar. 12-May 6
STEP 7: Assemble the dummy (2 weeks ) Jun. 4-Jun. 17
STEP 8: Research submissions; prepare dummy package (1 week) Jun. 18-Jun. 24
STEP 9: Submit (1 week) Jun. 25-Jul. 1
January 7, 2012
January 5, 2012
Jan/2012 Torkidlit Meetup at the Bedford Academy
Had fun with the Toronto Middle Grade And YA Authors group at the Bedford Academy last night. I continue to be grateful to Claudia Osmond for founding the group. I always come away so inspired and motivated!
I asked the attendees of last night's get together what they were working on, if they had any news to share, or just brief bio info and here's what they told me:
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Helaine Becker
http://www.helainebecker.com/ - Twitter: @helainebecker
Trouble in the Hills YA launched this past fall; non fic called The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Ocean will be out from Kids Can Press this winter, and then a second YA contemp called How to Survive Absolutely Anything will be out from Fitzhenry and Whiteside in March. Currently writing two new Quiz Books for Scholastic and season 3 of Planet Echo, a science tv show. More news on new contracts next month!
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Jo Karaplis
http://www.joannakaraplis.com/ - Twitter: @JoKaraplis
"Found one of my NaNoWriMo mauscripts from 2010 and it's better than I remember, so I've revived the project. It's been rattling around in my head for a while so I'm excited to dive back in."
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Maureen McGowan
http://www.maureenmcgowan.com - Twitter: @maureenmcgowan
"Signed a three book contract with Amazon Publishing for a YA trilogy. The first book (Deviant) will be released in 2012."
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Rob Weston
http://www.robertpaulweston.com/ - Twitter: @robertpweston
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Joanne Levy
http://www.joannelevy.com/ - Twitter: @JoanneLevy
Posting every Monday at http://www.thedebutanteball.com/
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Jo Swartz
http://www.littlejolit.com/ - Twitter: @littlejolit
"First chapter of a graphic novel is almost complete and will be ready for submission in a month."
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Karen Krossing
Karen has a draft of her middle grade fantasy novel complete and ready for reading.
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Megan Crewe
http://www.megancrewe.com - Twitter: @megancrewe
Megan's contemporary dystopian YA, THE WAY WE FALL, comes out from Disney-Hyperion on January 24th! Here's the book trailer:
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Patricia Storms
http://www.patriciastorms.com/ - Twitter: @stormsy
"My illustrated book, Winter Science, is out (Scholastic) and my non-fiction humor middle grade book (which I also illustrated) will be out in the spring, called Kid Confidential (Bloomsbury)."
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Derek Molata
http://www.derekmolata.com/ - Twitter: @derekmolata
Derek is a YA/adult sf/f writer. "Scorpio. Tripping down the rabbit hole. Represented by the sharkly Janet Reid."
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Jennifer Gordon
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1129160996&sk=info
"JOIN CANSCAIP!"
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Jordan Hageman
http://jordanhageman.blogspot.com/ - Twitter: @ABookLongEnough
"Got my book back from a pro editor I hired and am revising, revising, revising!"
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Ricki Schulz
http://rickischultz.com/ - Twitter: @rickischultz
It was Ricki's first Torkidlit meetup! Ricki is a freelance writer and editor, and coordinator of the Write-Brained Network.
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Jeff Szpirglas
https://twitter.com/#!/jeffszpirglas - Twitter: @jeffszpirglas
Jeff is shopping some novels around and in theory, one is coming out soon. "It's called Evil Eye, about a disembodied floating eye that's totally EVIL." It was Jeff's first Torkidlit tweetup!
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Debbie Ridpath Ohi
http://DebbieOhi.com - Twitter: @inkyelbows
Excited to be able to say that I'M BORED comes out THIS YEAR (woohoo!). I'M BORED is a new picture book by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by yours truly, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Sept/2012. Also looking forward to the March/2012 launch of TOMO: Friendship Through Fiction - An Anthology Of Japan Teen Stories. I have an illustrated short story in this collection. Proceeds from the sales of Tomo will go to organizations that assist teens in the quake and tsunami hit areas.
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If you're a middle grade or young adult author and would like to find out about upcoming meetups, please join our group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/127433455731/
To find out more about what Torkidlit members are up to, please visit (and Like!) our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TorKidLitNews
On Twitter, follow the #torkidlit hashtag.
January 2, 2012
Virtual Housekeeping and Resolutions
Today was the first day in my new work schedule, where I try to stay offline for most of the morning. As I mentioned before, I resigned as Writersmarket.com publishing industry columnist as of Dec. 31st, 2011. After 10 years, it's hard to break the habit of going online first thing in the morning to check publishing industry news sites, blogs and Twitter feeds.
I did check e-mail once for anything urgent but resisted answering or posting. I got a ton of work finished this morning in one uninterrupted block of time.
I spent part of last week doing email housekeeping. Instead of just deleting mailing list emails and newsletter that I never read, I took the time to unsubscribe from as many of them as possible. I revamped my email filter system. I got my email inbox down to ZERO emails.
I feel virtuous, productive.
But I'm also aware that's only the FIRST DAY.
December 30, 2011
10 Years Later: just posted my last publishing industry news column for Writersmarket.com
Back in 2001, I visited the Writer's Digest offices in Cincinnati, OH and pitched my idea of a publishing industry news column to David Fryxell, who was editor-in-chief of Writer's Digest and Writer's Digest Books. He liked the idea, plus also asked me if I'd be interested in doing the WritersMarket.com newsletter. I had to turn down the latter because of a non-compete agreement that hadn't quite yet expired after my Inkspot sale, but started my column in January, 2002.
Back then I was writing a lot of nonfiction articles for print and online magazines, so the research overlapped with market research I was doing anyway. I got into the habit of surfing the publishing industry news sites (this was before Twitter and Facebook) first thing every morning and keeping an eye on industry trends. It was fun and also helped me find new markets for my own work.
Over time, however, the focus of my own work began to change as I began attending SCBWI conventions and I began pursuing my initial passion (writing for young people) more seriously. Then came the summer of 2010, when a rejection turned into a book contract with Simon & Schuster and a spot in the SCBWI Illustration Mentee Program. Not having any formal art training, I've been in sponge-mode this past year, immersing myself in the world of children's picture books, learning as much as I can AND working on illustrations for I'M BORED, a new picture book by Michael Ian Black (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 2012). And then Jen Rofé of Andrea Brown Literary Agency nominated my YA novel-in-progress for the Sue Alexander Award.
I didn't win the award, but the nomination was a great honour and also helped cement a decision that was already in the works: I needed to find more time to focus on my own book projects. The decision to give up my Writersmarket.com column was tough because (1) of the regular income, and (2) Robert Lee Brewer has been a fantastic editor to work with.
BUT not having the column would mean that I wouldn't have to go online first thing every morning. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but the following comic (originally posted in Writer Unboxed) summarizes my own experience:
A while back, I posted in Inkygirl about cutting down on my online time. Well, that plan fizzled out within a few days…mainly because my Writersmarket.com work has me in a mindset where I need to be online enough to know what's going on in the publishing industry: not just kidlit but in general. Plus I need to go online first thing every morning, which inevitably gets me into catching up on various blogs and Twitter and Facebook and Google+ and e-mail and and and…well, you get the picture. And it's so easy for me to justify any online time by thinking, "well HEY, it's part of my work!"
So I'm removing my own safety net.
Yes, I'm nervous. But also really excited.
I'll still be online way more than most of you. BUT I'll be cutting back my usual frenzied surf/read/Twitter/FB posting. It's going to be hard, I can already tell. The biggest challenge for me: being okay with NOT always knowing the latest publishing industry news and trends. I need to take all that energy, time and focus and put it into my own creative projects instead.
I just posted my final Market Watch column in Writersmarket.com today. It's been a grand ten years and I've enjoyed working with a site that has so much great info for freelance writers, and I've especially enjoyed working with Robert Lee Brewer.
My current plan: to do an e-mail check in the morning for anything that needs an urgent reply (my agent, editors, art directors, etc.) but then STAY OFFLINE until I get some solid, focused work finished. I'm sure it'll take some experimenting before I find a schedule that works for me, but my overall goal is to spend less time online. At this point, I'm sure some of you out there are thinking, "See? Social media and the Internet are eeeeevil!" but I'd disagree. Almost all of my career opportunities have, directly or indirectly, been the result of connections I've made online or information I've found online.
I think every person needs to find their own balance.
My goal: to find mine. Wish me luck, eh?
December 27, 2011
December 21, 2011
December 19, 2011
Reading Lord Of The Rings…The Final Attempt
Back in 2001, my friend Allison Durno convinced me to try reading the Lord Of The Rings trilogy again. I had tried back in high school, but found it way too dull. With the (then) upcoming LOTR movies, though, I figured I may as well give it another shot.
Not surprisingly, I decided to blog about it (because that's what I do, after all). TheOneRing.net told their readers about it, and suddenly I had a huge number of Tolkien fans looking over my shoulder.
I was still a bit doubtful in the beginning, but then a bunch of them told me to SKIP THE PROLOGUE, which was the bit I couldn't get through on my first attempt back in high school. So I did…and found it much easier to get into the story.
And I ended up loving the books. :-)
Anyway, you can see all my original posts AND the comments, courtesy WaybackMachine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020209101145/http://www.electricpenguin.com/blatherings/lotr/
I thought I had lost this blog when our server got hacked years ago, but then on TheOneRing.net found the posts again, yaaay!
It was the response to this blog that prompted me to do my Waiting For Frodo webcomic, by the way.
And now I'm doing Waiting For Bilbo webcomic with the help of Shane McEwan (formerly of Weta Digital -- you can see his name in the credits for the Lord Of The Rings movies). It's about avid fans waiting in line for The Hobbit movies.
If you're on Facebook, please do "Like" our Waiting For Bilbo page! Thanks kindly. :-)
