Natasha Wing's Blog, page 3

Meeting the Illustrator In Person

I had been working with illustrator Brittany David for more than a year, maybe even two, before I met her in person. I wanted to celebrate the fact that this awesome team pulled off an awesome book! So she came up to Fort Collins and it was like meeting a long lost friend.

Brittany is a wonderful, kind, and generous person. It shows in her illustrations, and how easy it was to work with her. She also had a lop-eared rabbit. His name was Lil Zacky. 

We went out to lunch at Lucile's then back to my house to sign books.

This was the first time Brittany had seen the final version in print and she was super pleased! I introduced her to Larry, the lop-eared plush rabbit that is the book's mascot. Then we signed stacks of books. 

Brittany went home with illustrator copies and even more confidence that she can illustrate another children's book. 

It's been a long time coming, but on January 2nd, The Legend of Lop-eared Larry will be released to the world! 

If you'd like to support our independently published book, and two Colorado creatives, please order a copy here. Or, if you'd like a copy of the book with both our signatures in it, order directly from me. 

We'd love it if you would help spread the word about our new book and post a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Instagram or your own social media. 

Thank you kindly,

Hester Applebee (aka Natasha Wing)

The Search for Carrot Cake

The last time I was in New York City many years ago for an SCBWI conference, I was in search of carrot cake because the winter conference happened during my birthday. I typically ask for carrot cake for my birthday. Here I was in the land of awesome bakeries so I decided to treat myself. I walked downstairs in the hotel and lo-and-behold! There was a 3-layer carrot cake in the bakery display! I forked the moist cake and cream cheese frosting down my belly, and my-oh-my was I happy! With this fantastical experience still tucked away in my memory bank, I returned to NYC this past October with my friend, Teresa, whose daughter now lives there. One of my New York things to do was to find carrot cake.

The first place we tried (because I try to eat mostly gluten-free and Teresa is totally GF) was Posh Pop. Lydia said that for a GF bakery you'd never know their sweets were GF. They are THAT good.

I got my first piece of Posh Pop carrot cake and I agreed. It was good. The cake didn't fall apart, but one of my biggest complaints about bakeries is that they never layer on enough frosting as if the decorator just swiped the knife across the cake and hoped it stuck. It was delicious, don't get me wrong. There just wasn't enough. Even though there was some between the layers as well. Okay, that's a super picky thing.

The next place we tried was Lloyds. I had looked up "best carrot cake in New York City" and Lloyd's came up many times. And since my father-in-law's name was Lloyd, I thought I should try it. Gluten be damned. 

I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The cake crumbled and wasn't as moist as the GF slice. The frosting was good, but still, NOT ENOUGH. And only one layer? Come on. 

We were only in NYC for 4 days so it was a short search. But I have to say, I think the carrot cake I made from the recipe in my upcoming book, The Legend of Lop-eared Larry, is so much better than either of the pieces I tried. It's moist, plus I add on extra frosting, and when I tested it out on friends before including it in the book they had that heavenly look on their faces. So if you don't want to travel to NYC, but instead want a fabulous carrot cake, check out the recipe in my new book. You can pre-order it here.

Do you have a favorite carrot cake bakery in your town that you highly recommend?

Why the Pen Name?

This is another installment of how I independently published The Legend of Lop-eared Larry. The book will be released January 2, but in the meantime, enjoy my process.

Freedom to choose

Self-publishing this story meant I could exercise more creative freedom in all aspects of the book. One piece is the author. I had already self-published two other children’s books. At the time, I was hoping my name and reputation in the children’s book field would help sales. Well, it didn’t. (Covid didn't help either.) So I thought, if it doesn’t matter if my name is on the book, then why not put another name on the cover and see if sales are any different? That’d be one way to see if the story could stand on its own. That's when I decided to use a pen name.

How did I come up with the pen name? 

At the time I was thinking about self-publishing The Legend of Lop-eared Larry one of my favorite design shows, Project Runway, was on. There was a designer whose name was Hester and she was really cool and talented. Plus the name Hester sounded  “old-fashioned” to me which is exactly the tone I wanted for my book. The last name came from wanting a word that sounded “country” as in someone who might live in the countryside of England. I also wanted it to sound wholesome and earthy. That’s where Applebee came from. Apples and bees are images that are easy to visualize and therefore remember. I also wanted a last name starting with “A” since with Wing I typically ended up at the end and bottom of bookshelves. Now I’ll be at the beginning!

Writing the biography of a fictional person

Now that I had a name, I had a persona. I envisioned a joyful elderly lady who adored her nephew, and together they shared the love of bunnies and Easter. Aunt Hester would of course be a captivating storyteller, and Georgie, her nephew, would beg his auntie to tell him more about Larry the lop-eared rabbit. So that’s how I envisioned this story originated – as a loving tale from aunt to nephew. In the back of the book you can read about Hester Applebee.

Here's a photo of "Georgie," the inspiration for the nephew, that I bought at an estate sale. 

The challenges of a pen name

When registering my book with the Library of Congress I had to list it under Hester Applebee as the author, but then included Natasha Wing as the designer. Also when registering it with Ingram and Amazon, the title had to have the pen name. Inside the book on the copyright page I decided to include: Hester Applebee is a pen name of Natasha Wing. 

All the pre-promotion on my social media was starting to confuse people – like when I showed an early cover design, people wondered why I was promoting Hester’s book and calling it mine. So when I sent out review copies I explained why I used a pen name to clear up the confusion.  I suppose I’ll have to figure out how to direct online searches to my website, too.

Another challenge was when illustrator Brittany David and I got together to co-autograph the first print run. I had to really concentrate on signing Hester Applebee. Out of about 100, I only messed up once! I tried to make Hester’s signature a little different than mine. It’ll be interesting to see the reaction when I do in-person book signings!

I have a few signings already set up for Christmas and 2022. You can pre-order your copy here. 

Comment below if you have used a pen name and how you dealt with it.

Best Talking Food Books

With Thanksgiving coming up, I've been thinking a lot about food. Pies in particular. Apple pie. Pecan pie. Pumpkin pie. So it got me thinking about books that have talking food as characters. I put together this list of favorite talking food books. Feel free to suggest others. 

 

Development of Illustrations

This is another installment of the development of The Legend of Lop-eared Larry. I thought it would be fun to see the progression and decision making that went into an illustration via exerpts from emails between illustrator Brittany and me. 

March 9, 2021

Brittany: Here is the first pdf mockup of Lop Eared Larry. I used Helvetica neue for the body text and an adobe font called Active for all the headings/our names/etc. The Headings are 18pt and the body text is 12pt.
Some of the illustrations look sort of weird and don't reach to the full bleed (which you won't see but I can see on my end and I'm sure the printers will see) We do run the risk of having white space showing up on the page just in case it gets cut different with the publisher. We can shrink the images to the same size as the text, maybe add some sort of border that encases the illustration. Let me know what you think.

Me: I just printed this out and made a dummy to see how it would look. It's so helpful to see it as a book!
Overall, love! Your illustrations are so charming. I like the font you chose for the chapter heads. I am wondering about a serif vs. sans serif body font though to make it feel more cozy and traditional. What do you think?
I do want to print the 5x7 trim size. I'm not quite understanding what you're saying about the illustrations. Are you wanting bleeds or thinking of shrinking the f-p ones and adding a border would be better? Not having bleeds might be less expensive?
There is also a blank page that I see an opportunity for a full-color illustration of Larry and his family so wanted to see if you'd be interested in developing one more illo. 

March 31, 2021
Brittany: Here are two sketches of Larry’s family. One is of them in the park running around flying kites, having a picnic and creating art. The second is a shot from above them they’re all laying in the grass blowing bubbles and drawing but they all look like Lop bunnies so I thought that it might reflect how Larry is feeling about being the only Lop. 
 

              

 

Me: I agree with you that the sketch with them laying in the grass makes them look like they have lop ears so that wouldn't work. The illo needs to distinguish Larry from the others in his family. I like the idea of blowing bubbles though. Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Paws are sitting on a blanket with a picnic basket in background, lovingly watching their children play, while Larry and his sisters are standing up blowing bubbles. That way you can see that Larry's ears are down and all others are up. What do you think of that idea?

April 10, 2011
Brittany: Here is mid sketch phase with more details. I’m still working on Larry and his sister with the kite in the back.
 

April 19, 2021

Brittany: Here is the value & color studies as well as the linework. Please review these and let me know what you think. I decided to do the bunny patterns on the value studies, so if you like certain patterns with certain colors let me know they are pretty interchangeable. I thought it would be easier to see them in the value studies.

I did stick with the original color palette and just tried to make a few different variations while keeping the same colors for Larry, his parents and the grass and bush. 

      

Me: I like the #3 color one that's more intense in color. Only thing is I'd like the girl behind/above the mother rabbit to have the yellow dress instead of white. And if you can tweak it a touch so that Larry stands out against the grass. 

Brittany: That sounds great, what about the value studies? The value studies determine lighting and the overall feel of the piece.

Me: I'm not really sure how to choose a value study. #1?

Brittany: With these value studies, it's all about lighting, how dark the background is compared to the character and vise versa.

Me: I'm going to let you choose. I'm thinking it should be similar to the values you've already used in the other illos.

Brittany: For sure I will start the finals!

If you'd like to see how the colors came out, preorder a copy here.

Endorsements for my new book

I am so honored that these three people endorsed my book, The Story of Eliza Hamilton. You might recognize a few of their names.

Beth Anderson is an award-winning non-fiction children's writer. (I just finished reading her new book, Tad Lincoln's Restless Wriggle, and I recommend it for a kid-friendly look at President Lincoln and his son's relationship.)

Here's what Beth said:
“Eliza Hamilton, a Founding Mother, is a great addition to the Biographies for New Readers. With plenty of context, academic vocabulary, graphics, illustrations, maps, and opportunities for readers to connect, her story will fill in an often-missing side of the revolutionary era and support social studies content for native English speakers as well as English language learners.” 
—Beth Anderson, children’s author and former educator

Teresa Funke is an historical fiction writer of WWII stories and also has mentored many a writer during her long career of 30 years. She has also written a book for adults called Bursts of Brilliance which is...brilliant!

Here's what Teresa said:
“This book introduces young readers to Eliza Hamilton, a highly skilled, intelligent, compassionate, creative woman who assisted her statesman husband, helped start an orphanage and a free school, advocated for children, raised funds for the Washington Monument and more, all while running a large household and raising nine children. This biography provides new students of history with an inspiring role model and a broader view of what defines a hero of the American Revolution.” —Teresa R. Funke, historian and author of the Home-Front Heroes books for young readers

I'm doing little happy taps over this next endorser. Kimberly Watson is the president and CEO of Graham Windham which is the family services organization that evolved from Eliza Hamilton's orphanage in NYC. I sent her a book crossing all my fingers and toes that she would like it since there is a whole section about the orphanage.

Here's what Kimberly said: 
“This book does a great job of bringing Eliza Hamilton’s story to new readers. In a clear and accessible way, it covers everything from her childhood in upstate New York and her time as Alexander’s wife to her many philanthropic endeavors—including her role in founding the first private orphanage in New York City (my favorite part). Natasha Wing gives Eliza’s life historical context, utilizing simple timelines and maps to keep readers oriented and posing questions so that readers can self-reflect. Great for any young fan of Eliza who is ready for a short chapter book and a good resource for classrooms.” —Kimberly Watson, president & CEO of Graham Windham

Please post your own review on Amazon or your favorite social media site. Order your book here. I would mean so much to me. Thank you!

 

Hamilton Biography Giveaway!

I'm excited to announce that I have a new biography out - The Story of Eliza Hamilton (Rockridge Press). The Kindle version comes out November 2 and the print version is being released November 16. In the meantime, I'm hosting a giveaway for a signed book. Just email me here by midnight MT November 17, 2021 to enter. One winner will be randomly picked November 18. You must be 10 or older to enter.

If you're looking for a gift for a 6-9 year old who's interested in history (or who loved the Hamilton musical), you can pre-order the book here. 

The story is about one of our Founding Mothers who not only was the wife of Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, but went on to become an important contributor to child welfare and literacy after Hamilton died. 

Recently I visited New York City in hoped of visiting her gravesite to pay her respect. Unfortunately, Trinity Church cemetery was closed to the public - another fallout from the pandemic. Here's what I would have seen. 

Thankfully, I was able to visit Hamilton Grange, the home Alexander and Eliza built (which was closed and under renovation). But at least I saw the building and walked the grounds, imaging the Hamilton family living there at one time. 

I'm really proud of this book and hope that you will be the winner of the signed copy so you can read about all the interesting historic facts I found out about Eliza. I agree with Lin-Manuel Miranda, she's something to sing about!

Choosing a Color Palette

The most fun part of designing the book was choosing the color palette. Brittany David used Pinterest to find images for inspiration and to find a "model" for the main character, Larry. Then she put together 3 color palettes for me to choose from. It was such a delight to open her email and see the lovely colors! 

This is an excerpt from Brittany's color study email so you can get an idea of how she approached adding color to the illustrations: "Here are my color studies for the rest of the illustrations, these are just the base colors I would use. I also included a few images of Lop rabbits that I referenced when picking colors for Larry. Please let me know what you think. I tried to stick to Easter-ish palettes and then try to add some more muted tones."  

What I looked for in the colors was would the cover be attention-getting? Do the colors reflect the time of year, spring? Do the characters stand out against the backgrounds? Will the colors still be strong after using a quick printer?

I ended up mixing and matching a bit to get the character colors and background colors working. Brittany worked digitally so it was easy for her to change them. You'll have to see how the colors turned out in the printed book. I am pleased!

These are the 3 color palettes. Which one would you choose?

 

September 25 is National Bunny Day!

I love bunnies! I had one when I was in my 20s. Now I've written a bunny book called The Legend of Lop-eared Larry. To celebrate, I'm meeting with the illustrator to sign books.

What better way to celebrate National Bunny Day than pre-ordering my new book? 

Pre-order here.

 

Behind the Art Inspiration Podcast

Artist Caroline Karp interviewed me for her podcast Behind the Art Inspiration. I was her first children's book author!

We met during a breakout session during one of Christine Kane's Uplevel Café sessions and instantly liked each other. Check out her artwork, too. She paints sailboats, sunflowers, and does this cool custom art using an inspiration word.