Writing a Picture Book--Idea to Launch

Happy Poetry Friday!

This week I've been posting a series of picture book process posts, all about writing the poem for Twilight Chant (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 20, 2018) and the journey from poem idea to revisions to submission to contract to illustrator to book launch.



This picture book arose from many years of pausing at twilight to notice the world, wherever I am, in waning light, and finding myself hearing the same few lines of a poem in my head: “In the twilight, the low light, the egrets fly to roost light . . . .” 

In Kamakura, like many towns and cities around Japan, Yūyake koyake, the sunset song, is played over loudspeakers at the end of the day. It is a signal for children to head home like the crows mentioned in the lyrics, but the song also serves as a daily reminder to pause and notice the changing sky. 

Here are all four posts in my part of the Writing a Picture Book series:

Writing a Picture Book 1: A Twilight Idea
Writing a Picture Book 2: Revisions
Writing a Picture Book 3: Submission to Offer
Writing a Picture Book 4: Contract to Illustrator to Launch

So now it's over to Jen Betton who will share her process posts about creating the illustrations for the book.



And I can go back to hanging out with the locals down at the beach after the sunset song, watching those egrets fly home to roost in twilight. Maybe another poem will start to form . . .