MariNaomi's Blog, page 23
August 27, 2010
My friend Melaina
Yesterday I packed up my puppy and my work-in-progress for a drawing date with my charming friend Melaina. I got to take a look at the proofs of her newest comic, entitled "Crash Course," which she gets back from the printer today (just in time for SF Zine Fest). Whereas Melaina has in the past written mostly about relationships and dating, Crash Course is a short comic book about her experience as a driver, with some interesting statistics and anecdotes thrown in for good measure. I have to ...
August 23, 2010
Asking for Blurbs
My editor and I are in the process of getting blurbs for Kiss & Tell. You know what I'm talking about—those superlative quotes on the back of every book screaming: "BEST BOOK EVER! Signed, Shakespeare"
So I made a list of all my favorite authors, reviewers and personalities in general. I sent off this whopping list to my editor, but with a caveat: I don't want to ask more people than we can fit on the back cover. You see, years ago, when I was helping another author get blurbs for her book, I...
So I made a list of all my favorite authors, reviewers and personalities in general. I sent off this whopping list to my editor, but with a caveat: I don't want to ask more people than we can fit on the back cover. You see, years ago, when I was helping another author get blurbs for her book, I...
August 19, 2010
Where I'm At, Part 4: Getting Published
Part 4: Getting Published
It was November 2009, and I was beginning to get discouraged. Kiss & Tell had been complete for nearly a year, and I was starting to wonder if the self-publishing route would be the way to go again, when out of the blue my agent called me and said HarperCollins was interested in publishing my book! I tell ya, it's a good day when you tell a man you've never met in person that you love him, and then do the happy dance for hours afterward!
From there it got fun, because...
It was November 2009, and I was beginning to get discouraged. Kiss & Tell had been complete for nearly a year, and I was starting to wonder if the self-publishing route would be the way to go again, when out of the blue my agent called me and said HarperCollins was interested in publishing my book! I tell ya, it's a good day when you tell a man you've never met in person that you love him, and then do the happy dance for hours afterward!
From there it got fun, because...
August 16, 2010
Where I'm At, Part 3: Finding an Agent
This is the third part in a four-part blog post explaining the process I went through to get Kiss & Tell published.
Part 3: Finding an Agent
After some asking around, I learned of an agent who works with some graphic novelists I admire, some of whom I know fairly well. After asking these people how they like working with him, I gathered up my nerve and sent him a query in June 2008. I wasn't sure what the protocol was with this sort of thing, so I basically just sent him an email telling him a ...
Part 3: Finding an Agent
After some asking around, I learned of an agent who works with some graphic novelists I admire, some of whom I know fairly well. After asking these people how they like working with him, I gathered up my nerve and sent him a query in June 2008. I wasn't sure what the protocol was with this sort of thing, so I basically just sent him an email telling him a ...
August 11, 2010
Where I'm At, Part 2: Coming up with an idea!
Part 2: Coming up with an idea
I first came up with the idea of my graphic memoir, Kiss & Tell, in 2005 or so. I've always enjoyed hearing and reading about people's love lives, and I felt like mine was pretty interesting too, so I committed the romances of my formative years to paper in the form of a script for each person I dated, and ran each story by the gals in my writer's group.
Kiss & Tell being a collection of short vignettes, I was able to write and draw them as I became inspired. I pu...
I first came up with the idea of my graphic memoir, Kiss & Tell, in 2005 or so. I've always enjoyed hearing and reading about people's love lives, and I felt like mine was pretty interesting too, so I committed the romances of my formative years to paper in the form of a script for each person I dated, and ran each story by the gals in my writer's group.
Kiss & Tell being a collection of short vignettes, I was able to write and draw them as I became inspired. I pu...
August 10, 2010
August 9, 2010
Where I'm At, Part 1: My Background as a Writer
A question I'm increasingly being asked is: What were the steps I went through to get to where I'm at right now, particularly concerning my book deal? So I thought it would be an appropriate subject for this blog, coming at you in four parts.
Part 1: My Background as a Writer
I've always known I wanted to be a writer (in an "autobiography" I wrote at the age of five, I believe there was talk of wanting to be a writer when I grew up…or a "scientist of caterpillars"). I loved writing short, bizar...
Part 1: My Background as a Writer
I've always known I wanted to be a writer (in an "autobiography" I wrote at the age of five, I believe there was talk of wanting to be a writer when I grew up…or a "scientist of caterpillars"). I loved writing short, bizar...
August 6, 2010
August 3, 2010
Post-birthday post: Looking to the future!
Yesterday was my birthday, and birthdays always lead me to consider what's happened in the past year, and what I want to happen in the forthcoming year. Since my last birthday, I:
* Got married
* Got a book deal
* Curated an art show
* Bought a house
* Adopted a puppy
It's going to be a difficult year to top, as far as accomplishments are concerned. Then again, this next year is when my first major book will come out. This is when I'll hopefully learn all about what to do, and maybe what not to do...
* Got married
* Got a book deal
* Curated an art show
* Bought a house
* Adopted a puppy
It's going to be a difficult year to top, as far as accomplishments are concerned. Then again, this next year is when my first major book will come out. This is when I'll hopefully learn all about what to do, and maybe what not to do...
July 26, 2010
Kissing and Telling
With my graphic memoir,
Kiss & Tell
, coming out in a scant eight months, I suppose I should give it an introduction here on my blog.
Kiss & Tell
is a collection of graphic vignettes about my formative years—a short story about each significant crush, kiss, f**k and other up until I was twenty-two years old. The stories range from one to forty pages apiece and have been appearing in my self-published Estrus Comics, as well as other various publications, since I started the project in 2003. Alt...
