First off, this was totally out of my comfort zone. Going to a conference, out of town and knowing no one there. A bit intimidating, right? But it was all cool. There were authors and illustrators in all different phases of the process. From traditionally published authors to self-published authors to those working on their stories. There were authors and illustrators and some that were both. The speakers were editors, agents, and well known published authors. It didn't take me long to feel at home and I took in the role of taking it all in. My motto of the weekend was, I'm here to absorb it all. Or at least as much as I could.
When I arrived back home, I reviewed my notes and came up with three areas to focus on. I put them into the following buckets - Publishing, Development, and Marketing.
Being a self-published picture book author/illustrator, I realized that to be published traditionally is not an easy undertaking. This is a long process that involves a lot of rejection and hard criticism. I am mot sure if I am ready (or ever will be ready) to head down that road or not. I feel like I am enjoying the self-publishing route for now and will work on developing my skills for now.
That brings me to the second bucket. Development. During my absorption process at the conference, I jotted down a lot of notes on ideas for improving my craft. My head is swirling with ideas. Different ways to format my book, new illustrations strategies and brainstorming ideas to name a few. This all gets me very excited as I type. Watch this blog, I will share as I go.
Then we have the Marketing aspect. A lot of ideas here. I was totally engrossed in a session at the end of the day on Saturday about the use of social media, not only as a marketing tool, but for information gathering (without being a creeper). Word of warning, twitter, watch out, I finally figured you out! I was also very inspired by a session on Sunday about school visits. I also don't so much think of this as a marketing tool as much as a way to get out there and share my book.
Aside from my three buckets to work on, I came away with one very valuable lesson that I heard over and over this weekend. Be true to yourself, follow your passion and life will lead you. These are words I truly believe and would like to say I live by every day but I do get knocked off course from time to time. This message was a great reminder to me. I love writing and illustrating a lot. There is no end goal, except to keep being passionate and to continue to grow and learn.
Now that I have a big list of ideas and things I want to work on.....I will get back to my illustrations for a bit to clear my head and let it all sink in. Because, as you know, Illustrating is my passion.
And to add for fun here is an illustration I recently completed.
The caption reads (for the purposes of this blog):
"I am only measuring my own growth, not comparing myself to others"
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