The art supplies came out folks. Hurray! And it feels so good.

When I first started traveling thorough Asia, seven months ago, I brought paper and colored pencils. I intended to create some art. Nope. I rarely saw those pencils. I need time and space with my art. On my trip I had neither.

Now I have time and space. I have a table that I can devote to my art supplies. I started drawing. I then decided I would enter the illustrators showcase when I went to the Los Angeles SCBWI conference this summer. This is a big decision for me. I don’t have a prepared portfolio. A lot of work will be involved. I toyed with waiting another year, but why? Do it now, give it a try, then do something even better next year. I’ll get some mistakes out of me, then I’ll be that much more prepared for the next one.

Besides, preparing for the showcase gets me drawing. I have created a list of illustrations I would like to include. Already I have finished two of them. And I’m going to create not one, but two dummies books. Plus I need post cards to put next to my portfolio at the show. Ok, now I’m thinking I might be crazy. Yikes!

What else? I’ve had a very productive week. I wrote my weekly first draft. I will admit that I really love it. I started with a strong character, strong premise and a unique look at the world. I let the characters do what they wanted and the story just popped out, wrote itself as they say. I love it when writing is easy and fun. It encourages me to do so much more. The story is long, over 1000 words, but it needs a lot of work so that could change drastically .

Also I worked on a book of poems I  wrote years ago. I knew some of them could be better, so I sat down and changed them. And I dug out another rhyming story to I wanted to fix. I found a new beginning and ending that really ties everything together.

And I got out one of my first drafts from earlier this year. It’s really grown on me. I tightened it up and sent it off to my critique group to get some feedback. I’ll be interested to hear what they say. I’ll admit that it is a little odd, so it could be hit or miss.

Wow! I’ve surprised myself with how much I’ve gotten done. How long can I keep up this pace?

Oh, and how about all the stuff that comes with living in Mexico? 100+ degrees for weeks on end. A possum just died under the fish pond. We’ve just discovered that very large scorpions run all over the place at night. More to write and draw about I guess.