Black and white sketches



River Center Mall

 What a great way to start the year! I just received via email the black and white sketches for my next bilingual picture book, Alicia’s Aguas Frescas/Alicia’s Frothy Drinks. The illustrator, Laura Lacamara, has done a great job bringing the characters in my story to life. I think it’s going to be a fun book that all kids as well as adults will like. This is all part of the journey of the book. Pretty soon I will be shown the sketches in color! Then the galleys. Then the finished product sometime in the spring. As I’ve said before, a picture book is a collaboration, a team effort, between the writer and illustrator and publisher. It becomes “our” book when it’s finished.

On the topic of manuscripts, are you about ready to pitch or query the story you’ve been working on to an editor or an agent? Has it been critiqued and polished and is ready to go? So where do you go from here. When I first started, I had so many questions and knew so little. I’m still learning about this business. I came across a blog article by Janet Reid, literary agent, on “ … the difference between pitch and query.” Visit her blog to learn more on this. Be ready. Submit. And best of luck.

“If you doodle enough, the characters begin to take over themselves — after a year and a half or so.” – Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)