Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Boy howdy!

These have been some crazy two weeks!

Last things first, this past weekend I spoke at the Nashville SCBWI conference. Look at the grandeur:


Very beautiful city, very fun conference, VERY talented attendees! I gave my standard go-to talk about the behind-the-scenes machinations of an art department, as well as a brand new talk on picture book dummies. If any attendees have recommendations for either talk- things you wish I'd covered, burning questions you didn't get to ask in the Q&A, please let me know! I'll try & include them in future talks. My one disappointment of the weekend was that I did not get to taste any chess pie. Alas. The excitement of meeting so many great illustrators made up for it. 

This weekend getaway served also as a mini-vacay-- a reward for handing in all of my artwork!! That happened on Thursday. Here's the heap o' sheep:


I meant to spread out all the pictures real nice to see them altogether. Instead, I took this "oh-man-it's-4-am-please-just-take-the-picture-and-go-to-bed" picture. I got to hand in the art in person, which was fun. Bloomsbury is in the Flatiron building, and I always feel very New York when I go in there. It's been kind of a weird feeling, not having anything to do when I get home from work! I was able to watch the premiere of Heroes last night! (review: confused). I got to scrub the bathroom like I wanted! (review: squeaky clean). Now what?!? Good thing I have another SCBWI conference this weekend to keep myself occupied!



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chess pie?! You get all the great named treats out there! What does that taste like?

Top notch review of Heroes, btw

Vicki said...

Wow, I love the new blog & comics!

And, I think the US has NOTHING on the UK when it comes to funny-sounding desserts! A quick Wikipedia search turned up "Knickerbocker Glory", "Jammy Dodgers", and of course the infamous "Spotted Dick". Not to mention those deep-fried candy bars!

Anonymous said...

spotted dick and custard is my favourite! Did you see the Daily Show (the one with Tony Blair) when Jon Stewart made a joke about them?

And thanks! The comic is something for me to do for practice. I've realised I need to practice at my visual storytelling, and that seemed to be the ideal thing. It's mighty tough - I have the utmost respect for all comic and picture book illustrators!

Kristi Valiant said...

Oh, I love chess pie! At least the way my husband makes it. His family introduced me to it, but I hear there are different tastes to it sometimes. His has a pastry crust, custardy soft inside and a crispy top, somewhat similar to creme brulee. He makes it in addition to my pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. If you're ever around this part of the country, he'll be glad to make one for you! Mmmm...

Vicki, it was so wonderful to finally meet you at the conference! In your presentations, I loved seeing which postcards you would take a second look at and which ones you would recycle. Also, the picture book dummies were helpful to see up close, since I hope to put one together next year for my own story. And now I'm dreaming of dancing penguins and can't wait to finish my current work and get to them!

Vicki said...

I really need to look up a recipe for chess pie- everything I hear about it just intrigues me more & more! I will keep your offer in mind, though, if I'm ever in the area...

And it was great meeting you, too! I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Adam said...

Congrats on shipping the sheep! I never know how to feel when another kit and caboodle is put to bed, and those are never even the projects clattering around and percolating in my brain case.

Here's hoping you find something soon to fill in that wooly hole.

And while I'm currently reading the new David Sedaris, I guess I have to pick up an English dessert book now...