Want to see some great Halloween, pumpkiny-themed art? Check out "The dust of everyday life" the blog for the Picture Book Artists Association.
Along with lots of MY free Coloring Page Tuesdays, Halloween-themed coloring pages:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Halloween!!! Woooooooo....
Want to see some great Halloween, pumpkiny-themed art? Check out "The dust of everyday life" the blog for the Picture Book Artists Association.
Along with lots of MY free Coloring Page Tuesdays, Halloween-themed coloring pages:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Rescued Baby Hummingbird
Need a smile to start your day. I dare you not to smile... impossible...
Thanks to Cute Overload for the heads up.
Thanks to Cute Overload for the heads up.
Little Librarian
If you didn't see Little Librarian on Boing Boing, maybe you've seen it floating around the web, like on Shelf Awareness. It's a kit that let's your young librarian organize their book collection just like a real library would. How cool is that for encouraging reading? Very, I say.
The Evolution of the Geek
Thanks to Nathan Bransford via the Nerdist for the heads up.
Coloring Page Tuesday - Pumpkin and Crow
Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and/or click here to view more coloring pages!
Happy Halloween!
Halloween is Sunday - trick-or-treat! I hope you have a goulish treat of a holiday with lots of fun costumes and candy!
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
LULA'S BREW! 'Tis the season for all things witchie! LULA'S BREW, my picture book app, has been downloaded over 9,000 times! Check it out for yourself through iTunes (search: Lula)!
Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!
Happy Halloween!
Halloween is Sunday - trick-or-treat! I hope you have a goulish treat of a holiday with lots of fun costumes and candy!
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
LULA'S BREW! 'Tis the season for all things witchie! LULA'S BREW, my picture book app, has been downloaded over 9,000 times! Check it out for yourself through iTunes (search: Lula)!
Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!
Halta - art up close
I've seen the painting in person, but even then, I didn't see it like this. And there are several paintings available on Halta which you can study like this. Almost as good as being there. (You still can't smell the paint.)
Marketing - Think outside the... hay!
I've been teaching Drawing and Advanced Illustration at the University of Georgia this semester and one of the biggest challenges for the students has been to come up with new ways to advertise very old or overdone ideas. It's hard to do. But then I found this...
Thanks to Rasco from Reading is Fundamental (RIF) for the link!
Thanks to Rasco from Reading is Fundamental (RIF) for the link!
Ready Made Bookshelf
Need to fill your shelves with books that will impress your friends? This Bookshelf by NEXT architects was listed at DROOG. It comes pre-prepared with all the titles you should read. You just pop the actual book into it's spot once you've read it.Impressive!!!???
SCBWI Southern Breeze Fall Conference - WIK
The annual Writing and Illustrating for Kids conference, was in Birmingham last weekend. For the first time I gave a talk on Online Marketing - based on my article in the recent SCBWI Bulletin: "Marketing, The Snowball Effect."
Thankfully, I've received excellent feedback on my talk and lots of nice compliments. (It's always a good sign when your attendees smile at you brightly in the halls.)
And of course, the conference was top notch as usual. So great to hang out with friends!
Sandy Fry put together a great photo collage at http://springminglephotos.shutterfly.com/ (click WIK).
A visit to East Side Elementary - my alma mater!
Wednesday I had the pleasure of doing a very special school visit... to my old Elementary School. Yup.
When they directed me to where I'd be speaking, I already knew the way. Granted, it was to the new fancy gym which didn't exist when I went to school there. But I had to walk right by the lunch room/auditorium where I had a solo in the 5th grade to sing "You Light Up My Life." (That dates me, huh?)
And indeed, those halls felt so familiar. A bittersweet moment, it turns out, as the school is scheduled to be torn down next May for a brand new school which will replace it. They said I could have a brick from the old building, and oh do I want one!
I have nothing but good memories from East Side. So much so, I included the school in my picture book SOAP, SOAP, SOAP ~ JABON, JABON, JABON. (The red brick building in the lower right and right.) The kids loved being famous!
The nice thing is, I now have some wonderful NEW memories of East Side Elementary, because they have a whole new crop of kids coming through...
Get a load of this wonderful coloring book Mrs. Broome's kindergarten class created for me - there are SIXTEEN pages of art creations in this book, all featuring my dog Bernie! Can you believe it? (The cover art was by budding artist, Diane.) I tell ya, that does a heart some serious fuzzy good.
PTA Mom and Arts in Education hostess, Molly, was wonderful, as was Tray - the PE instructor who took care of me and introduced me with deft skill. Also the wonderful teacher who played tech guru on the fly. (??) Thank you everybody!
We had fun. :)
Not much has changed at East Side (which I LOVED seeing!), although I can see why the teachers might be anxious for some new digs. That photo at the top? That was even before my time, in the 1960's. Bad math puts me there in the late 70's. So I do understand.
But still, I'll miss the old building. I hope the kids know what a special school they've had the good fortune to attend. I'm so glad I did too.
Alice Walker, the Dalai Lama, and Richard Gere
Susan Spain (author of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA) and I trekked over to Emory University today (Tuesday) to experience something rare. We saw these three amazing people discuss creativity, the ego, spirituality, and staying free through dire circumstances.
The crowd was Enormous and they shuttled us in on travel buses, then through airport security, then to bleachers, then to an enormous gymnasium which had been transformed.
I must say, Alice Walker wowed me and said my favorite thing... A quote by Zorba the Greek: "We must embrace the catastrophes." the point being, we must find the joy within our trials, because the trial IS life.
The Dalai Lama encouraged us, as Americans, to keep liberty and freedom alive, for if we let it slide, it will be lost in the world. (His exception was India.)
Oh heck, it's one of those things where you tell yourself 'I have to remember that' and of course you don't remember anything, so I'm sure I'm not saying this right.
In the end, Im glad I got to see the man in person during my lifetime. Were incredibly lucky to live where we do and not have our patience, tolerance and compassion tested the way he has. His attitude alone is inspiration for a better life.
Coloring Page Tuesday - Caramel Apple
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The sweets are coming...
Yes, Halloween is about candy and chocolate and sugar. My favorite? Caramel apples. Yum!
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
LULA'S BREW! 'Tis the season for all things witchie! LULA'S BREW, my picture book app, has been downloaded over 9,000 times! Check it out for yourself through iTunes (search: Lula)!
Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!
The sweets are coming...
Yes, Halloween is about candy and chocolate and sugar. My favorite? Caramel apples. Yum!
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
LULA'S BREW! 'Tis the season for all things witchie! LULA'S BREW, my picture book app, has been downloaded over 9,000 times! Check it out for yourself through iTunes (search: Lula)!
Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!
12 Common Picture Book Mistakes
I don't often give out writing advice at dulemba.com, but as I've judged writing contests & grants for the SCBWI, taught "Creating Picture Books" at the John C. Campbell Folk School, and done manuscript critiques at conferences, I've slowly gathered a list of common errors almost all writers tend to fall into. Thank goodness I rarely read a manuscript that makes all these mistakes, but most writers will usually make at least one or two. They are...12 Common Picture Book Mistakes...
1) The author hasn’t actually written a picture book. Perhaps it’s an article, a chapter book, or even the start of a mid-grade novel. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s definitely not a picture book.
2) Writing an incident, a moment, or a circumstance rather than a story. Nothing really happens, giving the illustrator little to work with.
3) Great story, poor writing. Great writing, no story.
4) Didactic, preachy, talking down to the child or trying to impart a moral lesson - with a heavy hand that will beat the reader about the head. Who wants to read that?
5) Not appropriate for the age group. You really want to share that with a child? Who is the book intended for, really? And are there enough of them to support sales?
6) Hanging out in the protagonist’s head, telling not showing, giving the illustrator nothing to work with. And *yawn* offering few scene changes.
7) Writing to a trend so blatantly, it’s obvious which book the author was using as a template. It’s been done - come up with something new.
8) Wise guys - somebody/something from stage left swoops in to save the day, often a parent or critter, giving the child/protagonist no power to control their world or destiny. (They feel helpless enough as it is.)
9) Using antiquated language or ideas, often a memory from the author’s childhood, that has little relevance to today’s children (or marketplace). This also often occurs with #2.
10) Writing an animation - a scene that would work well in motion but won’t translate well to print. This also often occurs with #2.
11) Too much text - oh, you do go on! Keep it under 1,000 words, preferably less than that - in the 200 to 600 range. And don’t be thinking a series yet, you have to sell book ONE first.
12) Bad rhyme. Good rhyme is hard to do, which is why many publishers don’t want to see rhyme...because bad rhyme is easy to do, and for some reason they all end up sounding alike - using inverted or forced language, keeping rhymes that might work even though they don’t move the story forward, near rhymes that don’t work, an entire story where everything rhymes with “cat" (we had a Seuss - you are not him), lots of rhyme - no story.
Yup. See them all the time. Have you ever committed one of these errors? I know I have! (Nobody is immune. *ahem*)
If you share this, please include: © Elizabeth O. Dulemba, www.dulemba.com
Bansky's Exit Through the Gift Shop
Whatever your opinion of graffiti, or street art (and I know many people hate it) - I happen to think it is one of the most under-recognized art forms in our society today. Some of these creators are doing absolutely brilliant work, which gets painted over in favor of white walls or paid advertisements - bah. Heck, I know of a wall near me that was painted over so the community could do an organized mural. (I thought the street art was much more interesting.)
Now, before you go all ranting on me - I know taggers and the like are simply defacing private property - but I don't see street artists as being in the same league AT ALL. And I can't WAIT to see this movie:
Thanks to Jay Montgomery for the link.
And here's an idea - train cars. Street artists paint them anyway, turning rusting black boxes into moving art galleries as they pass before you at train crossings. I love to see watch them go by. Wouldn't it be cool if these were actually supported by society and the art community? Think about it.
Now, before you go all ranting on me - I know taggers and the like are simply defacing private property - but I don't see street artists as being in the same league AT ALL. And I can't WAIT to see this movie:
Thanks to Jay Montgomery for the link.
And here's an idea - train cars. Street artists paint them anyway, turning rusting black boxes into moving art galleries as they pass before you at train crossings. I love to see watch them go by. Wouldn't it be cool if these were actually supported by society and the art community? Think about it.
Stress Reduction Kit
I don't know who first created this, but I found it on Rants & Ramblings.
I often tell people, you won't succeed in the children's publishing industry until that bruise on your forehead becomes a callous. (I'm proof.) So this made me seriously crack up!
Top 20 Picture Book Agents
I'm often asked how to find a good agent, but since I have one I really like, I don't research that side of the biz anymore. However, an article recently came out in suite101.com by Brenda Sturgis: "Top 20 Picture Book Agents in Publishers Marketplace August 2010." The rankings are based on recent sales and I have to say most of the names on the list have been around for a while as top respected agents. In other words, this is a great list. Go check it out!Thanks to Anastasia Suen for the heads up!
GrammaR - are you out there?
Hi GrammaR!
I did a drawing from those who left comments on my blog during the launch week for my latest picture book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA, and you have won a free copy! But your blog profile doesn't have any contact information and I can't find you! Please email me at elizabeth at dulemba dot com to let me know where I should mail your book and to whom it should be dedicated!
I did a drawing from those who left comments on my blog during the launch week for my latest picture book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA, and you have won a free copy! But your blog profile doesn't have any contact information and I can't find you! Please email me at elizabeth at dulemba dot com to let me know where I should mail your book and to whom it should be dedicated!
Book Tower
How's this for a cool idea? It's a literal tower of books! It was featured at Elle Decor and I learned about it through one of Alison Morris' last posts at Shelf Talker. (She's moving on to big things and I wish her tons of luck!)
Coloring Page Tuesday - Scarecrow!
Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and/or click here to view more coloring pages!
Hang out and enjoy Fall!
Halloween is coming! And with it come pumpkins and corn mazes, caramel apples and scarecrows. It's my favorite time of year, must admit. What's your favorite part?
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
LULA'S BREW! 'Tis the season for all things witchie! LULA'S BREW, my picture book app, has been downloaded over 9,000 times! Check it out for yourself through iTunes (search: Lula)!
Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!
Look at what 4-year-old Sophia did! Thanks to her mom, Marion, for sharing! :)
Hang out and enjoy Fall!
Halloween is coming! And with it come pumpkins and corn mazes, caramel apples and scarecrows. It's my favorite time of year, must admit. What's your favorite part?
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
LULA'S BREW! 'Tis the season for all things witchie! LULA'S BREW, my picture book app, has been downloaded over 9,000 times! Check it out for yourself through iTunes (search: Lula)!
Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!
Look at what 4-year-old Sophia did! Thanks to her mom, Marion, for sharing! :)
Seth Godin: "Where, precisely, do you go in order to get permission to make a dent in the universe?" http://tiny.cc/o3v85
The Child on the Page - Wrap up!
If you've never been to Auburn, you've got to go. What a beautiful town filled with inspired, brilliant people! I was thrilled to be a speaker for the inaugural Child on the Page annual Writers Conference conference in Alabama (the brain child of Chantel Acevedo made possible through Jay Lamar of the Center for the Arts & Humanities). But even better was spending time hanging out with folks like Dan Latimer, Julianna Baggott, Irene Latham, Rachel Hawkins, Doc Waller of The Layman Group, Peter Huggins and his lovely wife, Chris, Holly Root, awesome Humanities angels Maiben Beard, Nancy Griggs, and Jay Lamar, etc...!
I drove over early on Thursday to visit two elementary schools. Hopefully I'll have more photos to share with you soon, but just to get an idea of the warm welcomes - here is the sign Jennifer Dempsey, media specialist at Wrights Mill Road Elementary, had her kids pull together using my "Reading Witch" coloring page and the cover of LULA'S BREW:
And no matter your opinion of eBooks and apps, I have to share... The kids had been reading my picture book app LULA'S BREW (via an overhead projector and Ms. Dempsey's iPhone) - and that's what they wanted to hear (along with my other books). So, I literally showed my iPad and read along with the story. That was sure a first for me!! (Was it a first for the world??) WOW! Remarkably, the kids didn't turn green, nobody sprouted scales - they just enjoyed a fun story. Of course, I had to wonder - did they have any idea what a revolutionary moment that was? I tell ya - the future is NOW.
I then visited Richland Elementary. Here I am with Deana Schnuelle, their media specialist, who had the kids make this FANTABULOUS welcome sign...
as well as this sign using my "Reading Vampire" coloring page. Could this be more adorable?
There, I shared my latest book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, as well as SOAP, SOAP, SOAP!
In other words, it was a FABULOUS weekend! And they're already planning next year's conference. If you can, you should definitely go!
Maiben took some cute pics of me with the kids at Wrights Mill Road Elementary, here are two, but the rest are on Flickr.
12 Days Giveaways - more winners!
It's been a great launch week for THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! Thanks to everybody who helped spread the love by posting our banner on your blog. They were:
Flip-Flop Creations by Jennifer Tidwell
Fabulous Illustrator by Mary Reaves Uhles
My Heart Belongs 2 Books by Abi Buening
Susan R. Spain (the author!)
May Bennett's On Top of the Children's Lit World
Scrappily Ever After by Melanie Holzwarth
Just Coffee Please... by Jennifer Scull
Martha Bennett Stiles
Finders & Keepers by Cathy C. Hall
Laurie J. Edwards ~ Author, Artist, Dreamer
Dori Reads by Doraine Bennett
Do Thing Different by Kristin Tubb
Write From the South & Visualeyes by Gail Handler
(Please let me know if I missed you!)
It's never too late if you'd like to help spread the word too! Just go to the 12 Days Activity Page to get the code to add this to your blog or website:
Meanwhile, I drew five names from the comments all week and five people win a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! (Drum roll please...) They are...
Apple Blossom, GrammaR, Deebi27, Melanie Hozworth, and Jami {sgtStamper}! Wahooooo!!!! Y'all be sure to email me at elizabeth at dulemba dot com to share your address and to whom I should dedicate your books! Thanks for the love guys!!!
We started this week hearing "Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles - so let's close with him singing one more time... a little farther along in his career at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1997.
Flip-Flop Creations by Jennifer Tidwell
Fabulous Illustrator by Mary Reaves Uhles
My Heart Belongs 2 Books by Abi Buening
Susan R. Spain (the author!)
May Bennett's On Top of the Children's Lit World
Scrappily Ever After by Melanie Holzwarth
Just Coffee Please... by Jennifer Scull
Martha Bennett Stiles
Finders & Keepers by Cathy C. Hall
Laurie J. Edwards ~ Author, Artist, Dreamer
Dori Reads by Doraine Bennett
Do Thing Different by Kristin Tubb
Write From the South & Visualeyes by Gail Handler
(Please let me know if I missed you!)
It's never too late if you'd like to help spread the word too! Just go to the 12 Days Activity Page to get the code to add this to your blog or website:
Meanwhile, I drew five names from the comments all week and five people win a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! (Drum roll please...) They are...
Apple Blossom, GrammaR, Deebi27, Melanie Hozworth, and Jami {sgtStamper}! Wahooooo!!!! Y'all be sure to email me at elizabeth at dulemba dot com to share your address and to whom I should dedicate your books! Thanks for the love guys!!!
We started this week hearing "Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles - so let's close with him singing one more time... a little farther along in his career at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1997.
12 Days Giveaways - and the winners are!
All week we've been celebrating the release of my latest book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA, written by Susan R. Spain, illustrated by Yours Truly, Sterling Children's Books!
If you helped spread the word by adding our banner to your blog or website - thanks so much! Your link was added to the Grand Kick-off Post which garnered over 4,000 hits! And of those who shared - I drew one winner to win a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA...
The winner is...Flip flop creations by Jennifer Tidwell!!! Congratulations!!!!I also drew a winner each day from the comments and those will be announced tomorrow - so check back!
Of course, there's lots more free stuff available at my 12 DAYS ACTIVITY PAGE, so I hope you'll stop by. Thanks Y'all!
CLICK HERE to learn about the Center for Puppetry Arts - soon to be home to the Jim Henson Wonders from his Workshop!
12 Days Free Activities! Crossword Puzzle!
I'm celebrating the release of my latest book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA, written by Susan R. Spain, illustrated by Yours Truly (Sterling Children's Books), all week by giving away free stuff! Today's giveaway is a cross word puzzle! This one is Susan's creation. Be sure to download both sides - the puzzle and the clues!
Crossword Puzzle:
Find LOTS more free stuff at my 12 DAYS ACTIVITY PAGE!
Want to help us spread the word about THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA?
Go to my 12 DAYS ACTIVITY PAGE and scroll down to the peach (it looks like this one). Below it is the banner you can share and below that the html code to plug into your blog or website (just copy the code and pop it into your post)!
Send me the link to your shout-out at elizabeth at dulemba dot com (or use my contact form) and not only will I add your link to Tuesday's big blog announcement (over 4,000 people will see it), your name will also go into a drawing for a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA!
And don't forget - leave a comment to be entered in today's drawing for a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA!!
CLICK HERE to read about the Kangaroo Conservation Center. Yup - we're still in Georgia!
12 DAYS Free Activities! Word Find Puzzle
I'm celebrating the release of my latest book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA, written by Susan R. Spain, illustrated by Yours Truly (Sterling Children's Books), all week by giving away free stuff! Today's giveaway is a word find puzzle. I create these for all my books (because I loved them as a kid and still do).
Word Find Puzzle:
Find LOTS more free stuff at my 12 DAYS ACTIVITY PAGE!
Want to help us spread the word about THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA?
Go to my 12 DAYS ACTIVITY PAGE and scroll down to the peach (it looks like this one). Below it is the banner you can share and below that the html code to plug into your blog or website (just copy the code and pop it into your post)!
Send me the link to your shout-out at elizabeth at dulemba dot com (or use my contact form) and not only will I add your link to Tuesday's big blog announcement (over 4,000 people will see it), your name will also go into a drawing for a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA!
And don't forget - leave a comment to be entered in today's drawing for a free copy of THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA!!
CLICK HERE to read about my visit to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
