In 2015, I sat in a darkened auditorium in a hotel in Los Angeles, wanting to throw up. I had word poisoning. What was the source? The messenger's message. In that dark room, Shannon Hale, a keynote speaker at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference, was turning the spotlight on gender bias. … Continue reading Who Are You? Gender Bias – #KidLitWomen
According to my 10-year-old son, the American Revolution can be distilled to four panels (click photo to enlarge): He loved drawing this cartoon and spent a couple of joyful hours completely absorbed in his work. Note that the Loyalist character's voice comes from off the page, showing how the Loyalists either operated under cover, "lost … Continue reading What do David Shannon and My Son Have in Common?
Well, folks, the SCBWI's spring conference at Asilomar was inspiring, despite the food provided by ARAMARK. The glutinous pad thai noodles, grey prime rib, and screams for life-rings from the nicoise salad ingredients as they bobbed above the pool of nondescript salad dressing---all this failed to throttle the enthusiasm of the children’s book writers and … Continue reading Humor and Tragedy for SCBWI
Head down. Nose grinding. Just registered for SCBWI's regional conference at Asilomar on Mar 1-3. Also registered for two mini-sessions: a roundtable critique and social marketing advice. Must have the picture book trilogy polished to brilliant cut diamond standards by then. Gotta make something happen. Gotta do it. Gotta do it. Visualizing a bullet train. … Continue reading Goal-driven
Jilanne Hoffmann 