Debbie Ridpath Ohi's Blog, page 123

Comic: Writer Office Organization

I've been moving over My Life In A Nutshell archives (my semi-autobiographical comic) to http://debbieohi.com/nutshell and came across this strip. It still applies as much today as it did back in 2003. My husband has always been the neat one in the household. :-)

Google+ Hangouts: Creative Collab Potential But Not Quite Ready for KidLit/YA

Above: Screenshot from a kidlit/YA Google+ Hangout I hosted this morning on my G+ Inkygirl business page.

For some reason, I wasn't able to access the collar drawing/writing features (the top left of my screenshot SHOULD have links to those features). I was able to access them fine the last time I did a Hangout, so not sure what went wrong. BUT at least everyone else had fun experimenting with the collab tools.

Apart from that glitch, however, the main reason I can't fully recommend Google+ Hangouts for a public event yet is because there is currently no way for one person to moderate. If someone behaves inappropriately (I had someone expose himself in my previous Public Hangout!), there's still no way to kick that person out of the chat. You can block him, but that only means YOU don't see/hear him anymore -- everyone else in the chat will still see him unless they block him as well.

Still, it has great potential for creative collab with trusted invitees.

Cuppa Jolie blog: SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with my agent, Ginger Knowlton!

Jolie Stekly has a great interview with my agent, Ginger Knowlton. Ginger will be sharing her views, along with three other agents, on the final panel of the SCBWI Winter conference. And Ginger mentions me in the interview, yay!!

Why I'm Quitting Klout

I joined Klout a while back because I was curious about the service and also because of a recommendation in a blog I respect that writers should be aware of their Klout score.

It was fun at first, checking out what various people's Klout scores were and playing around with the tools. But then I became aware of a few negative points:

1. My Klout score didn't bring me any real benefits.

2. I checked my Klout score way too often, angsting about  fluctuations. ("Uh-oh, I'm going away on vacation! My Klout score is going to drop!")

3. The accuracy was questionable, with so many factors not being taken into account.

4. I started feeling hypocritical and slimy. I'm always going on about how the number of followers and other numbers aren't nearly as important as meaningful connections. So why was I so concerned about my Klout score?!? Plus I became aware that it was influencing how I tweeted…which made me feel even more hypocritical and slimy.

As soon as I submitted my opt-out request today, I felt a tremendous relief.

Before Klout fans jump on me, let me point out that I opted out of Klout because of my own weakness/angsting, not because Klout is Bad.

I'm going to take all the time I was spending thinking about Klout and put it into writing and illustrating instead. :-)

HarperKids video: Meet Author/Illustrator Kevin Kenkes

Wow, I love watching this man draw. The video includes fascinating info about how Kevin Henkes draws and writes. He says that before starts a picture book, he works on the character first. He wants to have a clear image of the character before anything else.

One of my favourite quotes from the video: "If we expose our kids to books and art, nothing but good can come of it."

More info about Kevin Henkes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Henkes

Unfortunately his official website seems to be hacked right now. :-(

10 Reasons Why My Agent (Ginger Knowlton) Rocks

I was recently telling someone about my agent and realized that I was doing a terrible job at accurately describing why I think Ginger Knowlton is so great. So I decided to do a handwritten post instead.

Please note that these are only ten reasons of many. :-)

Photos from the Torkidlit Holiday Party

Thanks so much to Claudia Osmond for hosting the holiday meet up for the Toronto Middle Grade & Young Adult Author Group! I had a fantastic time: so many great conversations, good food and lots of kidlit/YA talk.

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For more info about what Torkidlit members are up to, please do visit the Torkidlit News Facebook Page.

Click the right- and left- arrows to see the slideshow of my iPhone photos:

 

Hm...just noticed that Squarespace's Gallery feature forces ALL the photos in horizontal mode, which means you're not seeing the full photo in some cases. To browse all the photos, do visit my 2011-12 Torkidlit Holiday Party Flickr set.

Comic: Writer & Santa

Lost Weekend with David Diaz (Part 2): Art, Food & Friendship

 

(Continued from Part 1: Lost Weekend with David Diaz)

Another highlight from Lost Weekend: the conversations. They sprung up everywhere and without warning, while we were painting, sitting by the fire, helping David in the kitchen, over meals, while we were out walking.

Topics frequently revolved around children's book illustration but also writing, family, food, travel, other work…in other words, LIFE.

As the weekend progressed, it became clear to all of us that this was about so much more than just kidlit illustration info and new business contacts. It was also about mutual encouragement and sharing, bonding and appreciation.

And um, food. Lots and lots of good food. :-)

Each of us ended up taking away something different. One aspect I especially enjoyed: getting to spend more time with people I knew mainly online. Some of the newer Mentees I had only been in contact with via Facebook and had only met briefly in person.

And it was such a treat to finally spend time with Bonnie Adamson, co-founder of Kidlitchat and founder of the KidLitArt chat on Twitter. We had run into each other at SCBWI conventions, but usually only had time to exchange a few words before hurrying off to the next workshop or keynote talk.

And that was another thing I LOOOVED about Lost Weekend. We had a chance to slow down and get to know each other in a much more casual environment than a convention. Although David had some activities planned for us, the schedule was flexible, adjusting to the group dynamic.

Another of many highlights: getting to know David's son Ariel. Not only is Ariel a talented artist but his quirky humour and dry wit enhanced the weekend for all of us:

I can't imagine what it must have been like, having a horde of women descend on your house for an entire weekend! Ariel handled it well. :-)

On the last evening, David hosted a party for not only our group but some of the local artists and industry people. We helped David with food prep but he did the bulk of the work. I would have been super-stressed about all those people showing up for dinner but if David was stressed, he sure didn't show it.

Great to see Erin O'Shea; Erin was one of the first Mentees in 2009 (in the red sweater below):

We had a table where some of our portfolios, postcards and business card were on display for people to peruse:

I was also happy to see Jen Rofé from Andrea Brown Literary Agency at the party; Jen had given me a great critique at the SCBWI Summer Conference in L.A. and I loved her energy. She gave us all some excellent advice during the evening plus (not sure if it's public news yet so am not naming names) is going to be representing one of the Mentees after meeting face-to-face at David's party.

There was so much relaxing downtime and casual conversation that I didn't realize how much about children's book illustration I had learned until I got home. I realized that I had learned something that could help me in my own craft from every single Lost Weekend attendee, from new techniques to try, process tips, digital tech (I sooo want Christina Forshay's drawing tablet!!), attitude inspiration and encouragement, how-to advice and practical industry info.

We've been in touch since Lost Weekend, rehashing some of the memories from those magical few days, following up on tips and advice, exchanging recipes (ok, they've all been David's recipes…and they're making me hungry!!). Plus we Mentees are starting to gradually ramp up our website at:

KidLitArtists.com

Please do bookmark us; we'll be adding more Mentee bios and organizing our post schedule. Stay tuned for lots of great info and news for children's book illustrators! Plus you can find us on Twitter at @KidLitArtists; Juana Martinez-Neal has started to help with that account. And please do Like our KidLitArtists Facebook Page; you can find updates to most of our blogs as well as main blog.

And finally, a huge THANK YOU to David Diaz for inviting us to be part of this incredible Lost Weekend! As I mentioned before, this wasn't an officially sanctioned SCBWI event but rather something that David put together on his own, opening up his home and devoting a big chunk of time (including prep) for our group. We were all blown away by his generosity.

And thank you also to the SCBWI for bringing us all together in the first place! If you're interested in children's book writing and illustrating, you NEED to join this organization if you haven't already. More info: http://www.scbwi.org

You can find out more about David Diaz at his Wikipedia page as well as his NCCIL.org page, plus he's on Facebook.

Comic: Internet Social Media Addiction Group

I'm gradually going through all my comic archives as I work on my Will Write For Chocolate book compilation, so am posting some of the oldies here in Inkygirl (sometimes revamped).