Tuesday, June 5, 2012

I do a lot of school visits and the students always ask how I write and draw every day.

The answer is routine and discipline... and always being ready for inspiration. My day is very regimented. I start each day with a coffee and the newspaper. I make my own cappuccino. (Here's this morning's in my prized Little Nemo mug)



Then I go write until 11, when I grab an apple.

Then I write until lunch. Lunch is spent watching the Food Network (research) or Jon Stewart and Colbert (also research).

Then I'm back upstairs by one, writing or drawing. I don't have word counts. Instead I try to make each day a "volume"business. Just keep going until your back spasms. If my writing is stalled, I draw and vice versa. I don't have a goal for each day, although I can proudly say this approach has had me on deadline for four years now.

Second cup of coffee is at 4. Greet the kids, get after-school snacks served.... then (especially if I'm on deadline) back upstairs until dinner, or prep-time for dinner.

Then it's usually a mix of family time or back upstairs.

Sleep around 11, with the New York Times crossword app. Then fitful slumber with a notebook bedside my pillow to write down the snippets of story ideas or dialogue that come at me at the most inopportune times (read, 4am.)

Sleep, wake, repeat.


Friday, June 1, 2012

A few more Silver Birch pics to share. I illustrated the non-fiction Silver Birch winner Don't Touch that Toad. Cathy Rondina wrote the amazingly funny text, so when we presented she talked and I drew on my shirt.

And here's a smiling me with the award. Thanks to David Carpenter for the pics!