Using Illustration Notes in Picture Book Manuscripts

             You may have heard that using illustration notes in your picture book manuscript is a big no no. Why? Illustration notes can get a bad rap when writers are too heavy handed and try to dictate illustrations. The thing is, picture books are a visual medium. While it is best to use none or as few illustration notes as possible there can definitely be things conveyed in your story by the illustrations that aren’t part of the text. Sometimes, as writers, we have to give a clue as to what is happening in the story when it can’t be taken from the words. So when is it okay to use illustration notes?

When something critical to the storyline happens that is not evident in the text. This means that if an agent, editor, or illustrator is reading your manuscript that the image your words will bring to mind is different or even opposite of what you have said.

For example: You’re text says, “Meredith put the book back nicely onto the shelf.” But really, Meredith does not put the book onto the shelf nicely at all because there’s going to be a catastrophic book pile up that comes crashing down and it is all Meredith’s fault. Perhaps this scenario could use an illustration note. Perhaps! It depends on what else you have happening in the story.

Or maybe Jake put his very best clothes on because he has something important to do, but yikes! He has put on two different colored socks and is going to be very embarrassed when he sits down for his recital and people start to laugh. He doesn’t know that his socks are two different colors, so the text doesn’t say it. This might be a good place for a note, depending on how the story unfolds, of course.

I used an illustration note in my manuscript for Bedtime Monster because Dad being a bit of a monster himself wasn't evident in the text. At all. Would the editor and illustrator have known that (spoiler alert!) dad had a tail at the end of the story? Definitely not. I put in a very simple, straight to the point note: (Illustration note: Dad has a tail.)

Some of my picture book manuscripts have a lot going on visually that is not hinted to in the text so, yes, they are a bit illustration note heavy. This has been fine with my agent and with editors. They need to see a complete story and sometimes I need illustration notes to make the story complete. Others of my manuscripts have no illustration notes at all. The story doesn't need them. Each manuscript is different. You have to choose what is right for each one.

• Hint: Let the manuscript with notes rest. Read it through without the notes. Do you still see places you need them? If not then take them out. Read the manuscript with the notes. Are they 100% necessary? If not, cut them. Be brutal!

• Another hint: Have your illustration notes critiqued right along with your story. It can be eye opening to have someone who is not close to your story as you are give their opinion on your notes.

No matter what, I work just as hard on my illustration notes as I do the rest of my manuscript. I revise and edit them, putting them to the same rigorous test as I do the rest of my words. You should too.

For do's and don'ts and how to format notes in your manuscript click here!

Bedtime Monster is on Nook Kids!

I got an email this morning telling me that Bedtime Monster is available on the Nook! Not only does it come in Bilingual English/Spanish and English only versions, on the Nook it comes in a Spanish only version as well. That is a first! I love seeing the cover with the title just in Spanish. You can really see more of Paul's shadow that Bonnie Adamson created:

This is the kind of thing that makes it fun to get up and check my email in the morning. I don't have a Nook, but maybe someday I'll be able to see it on one. I have seen it on the ipad and that was pretty cool!

A café, an interview, and a review. Oh my!

It's been a busy week! My husband and I have just wrapped up the Grand Opening weekend of our café & gallery. I have an in-depth interview up at GotInterview.com. And Julie Hedlund chose Bedtime Monster for her Perfect Picture Book Friday post. People even said all sorts of nice things about my book, which made my breaks during my extra-super busy day on Friday, so much more fun! I even have 115 followers now here on my blog and 100 likes on my Facebook page. *waves* It's all so exciting! Phew. I'm going to go take a nap before our music jam starts in a couple of hours. Hope you had a fun week too!

Only One Published Book? Aaack!

What do you do when you are asked to do a library visit but only have one published picture book that takes mere minutes to read? First, you panic. Ha ha. Kidding.

Mostly.

After you stop kicking yourself for immediately saying yes and wondering what you were thinking, a good idea would be to go and talk to a librarian. Maybe even a librarian at the library you are going to visit. Why? Librarians know their audience when it comes to storytimes and they just might have some ideas for you.

I went and talked to one of North Central Regional Library's great librarians and regional supervisor, Sharon. She was so enthusiastic about me visiting that she didn't even see me having only one published books as a problem. Her brilliant solution? "Read some picture books from childhood that inspired you." Viola! Easy solution! Now why didn't I think of that?

I took Sharon's idea and ran with it. To go along with my reading of Bedtime Monster I chose two of my favorite monster books from childhood, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and There's a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer. Those two books along with a little talk about being an author then a craft, and my program lasted over an hour. Happy kids, parents, and librarians. I definitely call that a success.

Now, I could have been a sport and read two more recently released picture books. Maybe even books written by friends. I actually had a couple in mind and suggested it. The thinking here? It was my time to shine as the author of a new book. Reading classics helped me have a little something special juxtaposed to these great books.

Well, it seemed to work out. Nobody asked my why I didn't write those other books instead of mine. Not even close. They applauded me. People told me they loved my book. Huh. A girl could actually get used to this.

Book Signing!

I did a book signing over the weekend. It's actually the first straight book signing I've done for Bedtime Monster. My two other events have been library presentations, so people come expecting a book. This signing was at a Spring Bazaar that promotes women in business. I suspect that no one's ever seen an author signing books at one of those in my little town. But, it was actually pretty fun.

The day started out with me winning the prize for being the last participant to register. My being last is really no surprise, but I've never gotten a prize for being a procrastinator. Now that's more like it. Awesome!

Someone from the city got my book for her kids and told me that she'd actually heard about my book! From where she couldn't remember, but I was just excited to know that someone who didn't know me had heard about Bedtime Monster and remembered it! (I know, little things can get me overly excited.)

There was a lady who was so happy to meet me. She is certain that I am going to be famous. She hugged me AND GAVE ME A PIE! Blueberry!!!

My favorite part...a little boy of around two years old was walking by my table, hand in hand with his grandma. She was looking straight ahead, headed somewhere else, but when he saw Bedtime Monster, he ran his hand across it, and let out a squeal of delight. Grandma stopped and bought him the book (grandmas are awesome like that) and I got to meet the sweetest little boy who is going to be reading Bedtime Monster over and over from the looks of things.

So, all in all, I sold some books, made some friends, and had a good time. Not too bad for a Saturday morning!

Bedtime Monster is an App!

I found out today that Bedtime Monster is available as an iphone app! How cool is that? I don't have an iphone or an ipad but I'm going to have to find a way to check it out. What are the chances I'm going to find a mountain person with an iphone? If you want to check it out, you can find it here. I'd love to hear what you think!

What a Surprise!

I woke up to find a nice review of Bedtime Monster in my inbox! It was a nice warm fuzzy feeling on such a cold, snowy Winter's day. (We got around two feet of snow overnight.) The review is by a librarian too, so it feels extra special. I love librarians!
You can check out the review if you like at Waking Brain Cells.

So it's a new year, eh?

Wowie, I made it through the year of the release of my first picture book. It sure takes a lot of time and energy to release one little picture book, and I'm no marketing maniac either. But here's the thing that everyone seems to ask me, "When is your next book coming out?"

Well, it sucks because I don't have a next book coming out--yet. I thought I did for a while. There is a companion book to BEDTIME MONSTER. My publisher was holding it, then they got bought out and the new publisher decided they weren't buying anymore books for the time being. Well bummer.

I tend to blame myself, of course. I know the picture book market is soft, but I'm not much of a subber. And even though I only sent BEDTIME MONSTER to three publishers, got two requests, and of course, one sale, I would never expect it to always be that way.

So, in October I decided I'd better put in a real effort. Really start subbing things--to publishers. Yes, I'd love to have an agent someday but an agent isn't going to publish my book and I only get so much energy to dedicate to submissions so I have to choose. I've been plugging along, getting things out, little by little. Then came the holidays and the new year. The story goes that subs go way up in the new year. To me it seems silly, but I guess I'm not much of a believer in New Year's resolutions.

Here's the deal though, I don't want my manuscripts to be seen as some resolution sub that was haphazardly sent because of some date passing by. They are certainly not. I thought about stopping subbing for a while, but I'm working. Should I stop because my manuscript might be looked upon unfavorably because of the time it was sent? I've pondered this and decided it's silly. I have to get things done when I can get them done, and maybe someday if I'm lucky I'll have an agent to help me do it. But for now I have a few stories sitting in slushpiles somewhere, some with a sent date around January 1st even, waiting in line to be read. Maybe it was the wrong decision. Perhaps I'll never know, but what I do know is that I'm never going to sell another book if I don't actually send stories out to publishers.

So, my answer to, "when is your next book coming out?" I'm working on it.

Launch Party or Strapping on my Tail like a Big Girl

Waiting for a launch party to happen is a funny thing, especially if you work at the place the party is going to be at. Flyers with my picture on them were hung on the bulletin boards and there was a stack of handouts on the desk right next to me. It was a little weird to have pictures of myself hanging around the library, but it was entertaining. I lost count of how many people looked back and forth, back and forth, from me to the flyers, me to the flyers. Then I would hear them whisper to one another, "Is that her?"
"Nah."
"No, I think it is."
"I don't think so. Maybe."
Finally they'd ask, "Hey, is this you?"
I'd smile and say yes, and they would usually have a look of surprise or amazement. I mean, famous authors don't have real jobs, right? (Yes, some people even use that crazy 'F' word. Famous. To which I have to laugh.)

Anyway, I know I could have just piped up and said "That's me!" When I saw them looking, but it's so much more entertaining to see people try to figure out whether it was really me or not.

After a few weeks of flyer entertainment, the day of the party finally came. We made monster cupcakes. The head librarian came back from her vacation early just to be there and to make them with my kids. Isn't that sweet?!




Cute & tasty!



When the time came for me to get up in front of everyone, I thought I was ready, but I did get a little nervous. There were about forty people there and some of them were grownups! I was a big girl, though. I put on my tail and got up there.

I couldn't believe so many people showed up just to see me. Some of them I knew, but many of them I didn't. So, I started off by talking about how much I love books. I told them about how I love books so much that I write them. I told them that that's why I started working at the library, so I could be around more books.

Then I told them all sorts of things about Bedtime Monster. I talked about how long I'd been waiting for the book to come out. I showed them the original cover(they all agreed that Bonnie's cover was much better.) I talked about Bonnie and how she is the illustrator. Then we read the book. It went great! The kids stayed interested the whole time, and I didn't die because a bunch of grownups were watching me. Victory!

Then we all went and partied down. We made monsters out of some monster parts I'd made, did monster origami, put on monster tattoos, and ate popcorn and cupcakes. We even had live music provided by my husband and this crazy guy wearing a tattoo on his head.

Every party needs a crazy guy who lets the kids put tattoos on his head.

I got to sign some books too! A few people stopped in just to buy my books. I was amazed! Yup, this is where I sat and signed them.

Now, you may wonder why I'm not sitting here, and why I don't have a bunch of great pictures of all the fun stuff we did. Well, I have a little boy who loves to take pictures. He's really quite good at it. He wanted to be the photographer. With all the book stuff I've had going on my kids have really been learning a lot about writing and business and I think it's great for them to participate so, of course, I said yes. I went over things with him beforehand. I know, at the event I should have told him, "here take a picture of this, take a picture of that," but I ended up being a lot busier than I imagined. I mean, it was like I was the host to forty people and the guest of honor. My little guy did take a lot of pictures, he just kinda forgot that I needed them to be of things I could actually use. Oh well, he had fun.

I had another library presentation the next week, but it wasn't such a big production. The crowd was a lot smaller, but the intimacy was nice. I really got to talk to people. And the funny thing was, I wasn't even nervous. I feel ready to strap on my tail and do my next three library presentations in the spring!

A Review! (and stuff)

Booklist reviewed Bedtime Monster, and it's a nice one. Yay! It's my first review so I'm excited! You can read it at booklistonline.com if you're interested.

Fun things have been happening with my little book and me lately. Yesterday eight copies of Bedtime Monster arrived at the library while I was working and I got to check them in. I put one on the shelf and one in a bedtime display to go along with my release party tomorrow. I've got my tail and monster tattoos ready to go. I have a create-a-monster craft all together. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get my monster origami craft finished up. It's been a little tricky getting the dotted folding lines in just the right place. I also got a nice write up in the local paper with a big photo of my book cover and a little photo of me. Just the way I like it. Ha! Tomorrow is definitely going to test the depths of my outgoingness. I'll be sure to tell you how it all goes.

Weeding

I've been doing a lot of weeding at the library lately--pulling books off the shelves and packing them up to send to the library system's distribution center. I thought it would be hard for me to take any books off the shelves, especially in the children's section. Funny enough, that was the easiest place for me to pull books from. I know that section best and have read most all of the books in it(don't be too impressed, my library isn't that big). I definitely have opinions on which books are great and which aren't. I know which books are checked out a lot and which ones sit. I was a little sad about having to get rid of some oldies but goodies that were worn, but I have a feeling there are newer copies in the library system I can order in if I want to. So yeah, it was kind of fun weeding the children's section. It's definitely going to be easier for the kids to pull out books, the shelves were getting a little tight. And now I can order in a bunch of new books and freshen things up. Of course, I'll have to read them too!

I had thought that weeding the adult fiction would be easy. I was so wrong. I don't know a whole lot about those books. I know the popular authors like Catherine Coulter and Danielle Steele because I check their books in and out constantly, but I felt squeamish about pulling anything off the shelf lest someone want to check it out. I really don't know what has been sitting unread. So, I went the easy route and pulled books that looked worn. Then if an author had a slew of books on the shelves I pulled some of those. If a book was number 2 or 3 in a series and the first book wasn't there, I pulled them.

That system seemed to work pretty good until I got to the large print books. They all looked new! I noticed that I was pulling a lot of romance and westerns at first, so I started reading back copy and tried to make guesses on what people might want to check out. Large prints are so popular that I'm sure lots more will be flowing back in so I tried not to worry.

As I boxed up a heaping table full of books today I realized that it doesn't matter how popular an author you are, how famous, or how great your book is, sometimes it's going to get pulled off the shelf because there isn't enough room. I know I'll be happy to share a spot on the shelf at all. I hear that my library's copies of Bedtime Monster will be arriving on Thursday. I wonder whose books they'll be sitting next to on the shelf.

New Things

It seems that with the release of Bedtime Monster lots of new things have come along. Of course, having a book release is all new to me. I've been doing interviews and writing press releases about myself. I've written press releases before, but talking about myself is a bit different than talking about the next library event. I'm planning a book release party. I'm even getting ready to do a small library tour.

But it hasn't only been book things that have been happening, it just seems like having my book released created some sort of waterfall effect of new things. I've learned how to drive a tractor because my husband I are trying our hand at garlic farming. We planted fifty pounds of garlic. We're creating business plans. We're thinking ahead. Hopefully the garlic will grow!



I've become a line judge at volleyball games at school. Now this may not sound like a big deal, but I am not known for my powers of concentration. My mind tends to wander off into thoughts of stories and fantasy worlds if I am doing something boring like watching a line, but I have prevailed! I can concentrate when I have to and make important line calls under pressure. Don't want to disappoint the kids with a bad call.

I went on a job search. I made a resume and everything(never had a need for one before.) There isn't a lot of places to work in my small town but I managed to find one place. I had a real job interview--only the third one in my entire life, then worked in an office. I haven't done that since I moved away from the city and became a mountain girl. There wasn't even a window. The horror! Lucky for me I'm on call. I can live with that.

And just the other day I got a revision request on an article. I don't write much non-fiction for adults so this is exciting. I hope I can change the focus of the article to their satisfaction. I'd better get to work. I'd like to add having an article published to my list of new things someday.

You Sick of Me Yet?

I have an interview up at Suzanne Santillan's blog where I talk about my writing process, procrastination, tropical paradise, and also, rollerskating. You can check it out at Writing on the Sidewalk, if you aren't too sick of me yet!

Authors Now!

My Author Spotlight interview is up at Authors Now! where I answer some great questions about who might identify with Bedtime Monster and how the book can be used in the classroom. Stop by and say hi!

The Road to Exhaustion

BEDTIME MONSTER's release is....TODAY! Yay! Woohoo! Yippee!

What have I done to celebrate my baby being out in the world today? I go up and drove the kids to school, drove home, drove to town again,(all this driving is a big deal, it's a dusty, bumpy half an hour each way!) took my son to work with me, showed my book to my librarian friends, played at the playground, toasted my book release with donuts(that was fun!), then came home and cleaned. You may not know this, but when you have a book coming out your house can easily turn into a disaster area because you're so busy doing important things like answering interview questions and figuring out how local stores are going to get your book. What? I'm an author now, shouldn't I have a housekeeper? I thought that was part of the deal. No? Well, fine. Just. Fine.

Part 2 of my guest post on my road to publication is up on Corey Schwartz's blog. I can tell you the real end right now though, something I didn't know when I wrote that post. My road to publication has lead to exhaustion. There's so much to do! Link this, write that. It's great, but I need a nap or I just might turn into a bedtime monster myself. Now that would be ironic.

If you're looking for Bedtime Monster you can get it at Indiebound, Amazon, and Raven Tree Press, and who knows, maybe you can find it someplace else too, which I, of course, would think was very cool. Okay, I'm getting comma happy. Time to get some ZZZzzzzzzzzzz's.

It's Been a Long Road

It's been a long road on my way to the publication of BEDTIME MONSTER. The book actually comes out in three days, so I guess it's safe to say that the road to publication part has finally come to an end on this project while the path of promotion seems to be something that goes on indefinitely. This hit me this summer when I saw Nina Laden at the library and she'd brought along all of her books, including the first she'd ever published, THE NIGHT I FOLLOWED THE DOG. Guess which one my little guy chose? Yup, 16 years and the book is still selling.

Corey Schwartz actually asked me a while back if I would write about my road so she could share it on her blog. I finally was able to do this since I think it's safe to say that I've officially reached the end. My story was so long that she's split the post into two parts. Since when did I get so long-winded!?! You can read part one here on Corey's blog, Thing 1 and Thing 2, if you're interested.

How Many Licks Does It Take...

Now that's puzzling. You know no one can ever wait and not bite the tootsie pop. I've tried. you've tried. WE'VE ALL TRIED OKAY!!! Here's what I really want to know, how many people does it take to deliver a box of books to a waiting author on a mountaintop?

UPS called and left a message (there's no phone service here) because their driver couldn't find my house. My husband got the message on the computer (that's where we get our phone messages. We can get internet but not phone. Weird, I know.) I walked up to our phone spot and called UPS. I told the lady who I was. She went and looked for the package. Another lady came on and asked me what I wanted so I told her, then she said she already knew the package wasn't there. WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE?!<--Okay, I didn't yell that or even say it, it just felt good to get that off my chest. Anyhow, she asks for directions to my house. I tell her I can't give her directions because it's too hard as there aren't any road signs and that she can just have the driver drop the package off at the library. I email my librarian. She emails me. The package arrives. She thinks about opening it because she's so excited but resists. My husband and kids pick up the package and deliver it to me. We open it. Yay!

I received my copies of Bedtime Monster two days after Bonnie Adamson did(she's the illustrator. You know that, right?) Everything seems to take longer and require more effort on a mountain. How many people did it take to get my copies of Bedtime Monster delivered? The world may never know, but it sure is exciting to finally have them!

The Deep Dark Depths of my Writing Life

My friend and critque partner Stephanie Theban asked me some tough, personal questions about my writing life on her blog: Stories. Read'em. Write'em. She really got me thinking about things I'd never even realized, like how life on the mountain has prepared me for the publishing world. I had no idea!

Publisher's Weekly!

I'm so excited! BEDTIME MONSTER got a mention in Publisher's Weekly's Silly Salutations of the Season. The category: Most Monstrous use of "Scared Straight" techniques. I am happy to share the category with MONSTERS EAT WHINY CHILDREN by Bruce Eric Kaplan. Sounds like a fun book(unless you're one of the whiny children maybe?) I am definitely going to have to check it out and I'm adding it to my monster book list.

Here's a link to the article. The monster category is at the end. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/43868-silly-salutations-of-the-season.html

Yippee!!!

Launch Party Prep

So I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for my book launch party. I know it's happening at the library. I know I'm going to read my book and have food and drinks. I want to have monster masks for the kids to make or maybe have a monster art show where kids make their own monsters from random art supplies and they hang them up and get a ribbon that says "monstrously good".

I, of course, have to find a place to get such ribbons. And that's where my trouble begins. I have all these ideas but I scarcely know where to start. I want some really cool monster print pajamas and a big green tail to wear to my launch party, but where do I find such things? I see some monster attire for kids, but I think I'm going to need some specialty stuff. After all, I could be touring some more libraries in these jammies! I wish I was more crafty and could sew myself some pajamas and a tail. The closest shopping mecca is hours from here and I doubt there are the kind of monstery things I need. I know--there's online, obviously. But I don't seem to be finding what I need. Guess I'd better get to work.

At least I know that I'm going to be making a monster cake. I'm certainly looking forward to that! Maybe I should go practice making one now.