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My Writing & Illustration Goals for 2022
It’s 2022, and I haven’t blogged in a long period of time! What better time to start blogging than when I make a goal list for the year? No, seriously, tell me so I get it right the next time I take a break from my blog. If you know me, you know that I don’t like making resolutions. To me resolutions feel too much like a pass/fail situation. I do like to make a lot of lofty goals that I know I wont achieve them all.
1. Finish sketching my PB & GN dummy. Normally, I wouldn’t make a dummy for a graphic novel, but this particular graphic novel is picture book length so it makes sense.
2. Finish a draft of my MG kitty novel. Cats are in most of my stories. While this is a specific novel it’s could be almost any MG book I write
3. Draft 2 GN scripts. This is the minimum amount of GN scripts I want to write this year. I’m sure I will get more ideas, but I want to draft two this year.
4. Put together a new graphic novel package for one of the new scripts.
5. Submit my polished work to agents.
6. Write 12 picture book manuscripts. I’d like to draft at least 12 decent picture book manuscripts. I’m in the 12×12 and I’d like to win this year! https://www.12x12challenge.com/
7. Make sure I make use of critique groups and other resources.
8. Interview authors & Illustrators and post about BIPOC, Disabled and LGBTQIA+ books.
9. Keep up with my list of resources on my blog.
10. Blog at least once a month about the books I’ve read and other updates!
11. Edit at least one of my novels for submission.
I think that’s a good list of things. I doubt if I’ll get to them all, but it’s good to have a list of goals up. What are your goals for this year?
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Upcoming Kidlit Events and Classes
I’ve been meaning for some time to update this blog with upcoming kidlit events. These events will mostly be focused on BIPOC, Disabled, LGBTQIA+ ect. resources. I will try to update this as much as possible, but only will post updates once or twice a month on the blog. I have added a resource tab on my website. You can also see the list of resources here: https://www.daniduck.com/kidlit-events-and-resources/
January
Author Mentor Match for MG- Adult novels: https://authormentormatch.com/ Jan 12-14
Windows and Mirrors Scholarship for New England SCBWI Annual Conference. Submission window Jan 1- 31st https://newengland.scbwi.org/new-england-scbwi-scholarships/nescbwi-windows-mirrors-scholarship/
DV Con – From the creators of #DVPit. This free conference is for self identifying marginalized book creators. Excellent conference! January 22 – 23 https://www.dvpit.com/register-2022
February
Annick Press Mentorship – The deadline for the first round of submissions is February 8, 2021
https://www.annickpress.com/Submission-Guidelines/Annick-Press-Mentorship-Program
May
Mastering Graphic Novels Live is happening in May 2022 for the Children’s Book Academy. There are scholarships for all of the big courses. Mira Reisberg rarely gets enough BIPOC applying. Sign up for the newsletter to be informed of scholarships and other events the CBA has to offer: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/2022graphicnovels.html
Unannouced/Ongoing
The Queer Kidlit Chat Mentorship for LGBTQIA+ people will be happening again this year! There will be an announcement on #QueerKidlit chat when this happens.
A list of calls for submissions sorted by month: https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/p/calls-for-submissions.html
Year Round
Classes
OC Art Studios – Open Studio sessions where Larissa will critique illustration work (I highly recommend these). https://larissamarantz.com/oc-art-studios.html Larissa offers scholarships to her classes for Black and AAPI students.
Chats
Queer Kidlit Chat – On Twitter #Queerkidlit chat is Wednesday nights at 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET. LGBTQIA+ people and allies welcome!
Kidlit Art Chat – On Twitter #KidlitArt chat is Thusday nights at 6:00pm PT/ 9:00pm ET. A fantastic chat for kidlit illustrators!
Other Websites:
The Brown Bookshelf – A website dedicated to create awareness for Black stories: https://thebrownbookshelf.com/
Editors of Color – A website to hire BIPOC editors. Search for an editor in a huge number of categories or post a job. BIPOC can join the database. https://editorsofcolor.com/
Diverse Picture Books – A list of picture books created by diverse authors/illustrators https://bookshop.org/shop/diversepicturebooks
Kidlit 411 – a website dedicated to kidlit. Events, classes and tons of resources: http://www.kidlit411.com/
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Events, Classes and Submissions!
I thought that October was going to be my busiest month this year, but it looks like this month is just as busy or busier! I don’t know how this happened. I’m going to talk about what I’m working on later, but for now here are some events, classes and submissions that I’ve been telling people about. It’s just that there are so many that I just want them in one place!
Picture Book Palooza
Price: $20 (or donate more to help this cause!)
Runs Dec 5-7th! It’s a big online event that talks about all aspects of Picture Books. The event is to raise money for diversity scholarships for the Children’s Book Academy. It’s $20 and there are a lot of prizes. All webinars are recorded:
SCBWI Graphic Novel Conference
Turning Writing and Illustrator Ideas into Graphic Novels
Price: Varies
Date- 01/16/2021
10:00 am – 3:30 pmA one day conference for graphic novel writers and illustrators. When I signed up there were a few spots left with Natascha Morris for a paid critique. Submission opportunity available after the conference!
https://indiana.scbwi.org/events/turning-writing-and-illustrator-ideas-into-graphic-novels/
Black Friday Bootcamp with Storyteller Academy!
Price: Free
Arree Chung is the founder and one of the teachers at the wonderful storyteller academy. Come join in the free event and see if the Storyteller Academy is right for you! I’ve learned a ton at this academy and my son adored the kids classes that were offered!
Storyteller Academy Black Friday Bootcamp
YALL WRITE
A YA writing event. Most of the webinars are for YA writers, but there was a talk on MG books. I haven’t watched the events so it could be good for MG writers as well. There is a talk for graphic novelists and one with a queer talk!
This event is now over, but most of the webinars are posted on Youtube!
YallWrite Twitter: https://twitter.com/YALLFest
Website: https://www.yallwrite.org/
Youtube Replays: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLuk7vwjbCbcfvt5K22xlF_6HS4WWcCoB
7 Turns – Novel Writing Course
This is an absolutely wonderful course to take for anyone wanting to write a novel for any age. Ksenia teaches the 7 turns of creating a novel giving you an excellent and fully customizable blueprint to make your novel sing. The community surrounding this course is very supportive and I love everything I’ve learned.
7 Turns Vision: To be the world’s first creative healing company, to create a healthy place to work for, and to build a safe, trusted, and uplifting online community where people can share and discover any story they want.
The 2021 Craft & Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books
A wonderful course by the Children’s Book Academy. Work on your writing craft with three fantastic teachers. Submission opportunity after the course with 10 Editors, Agents and Publishers who will look at your work!
I have been in the illustration course 3 times. It is a fantastic learning opportunity. I learn something new every time I’m in a CBA course.
https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/cbwpb.html
The BIPOC Bookshelf
A list of BIPOC Editors and Agents. Not all agents on this list are open to submissions!
“The purpose of the BIPOC Editors & Agents database is to be used by both literary publishing professionals and potential writers – with the goal of bringing more stories from the perspective of BIPOC writers into the world through traditional publishing.”
The BIPOC Twitter Account:
https://twitter.com/BIPOC_Bookshelf
Website:
https://www.bipocbookshelf.com/editors-agents
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Picture Book Palooza!
I haven’t been able to post for over a month. October was busier than expected this year! I have a lot more to talk about, but I want to get started by talking about Picture Book Palooza! https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/pbpalooza2020.html
Join the PB Palooza
Picture book Palooza is going into it’s second year. The cost for entry is only $20 and you get so much great information. This is a fundraising event so that Mira Reisberg can continue to give class scholarships to BIPOC, Disabled, LGBTQIA+, Low Income ect.! These scholarships are designed to help even out the publishing playing field. In many of the Children’s Book Academy classes students get to show their work directly to Editors, Agents and Art Directors. Students are all given an equal chance to showcase their work in front of these industry professionals.
What You’ll Learn
It feels like 100 years since last year’s event, but I do know that it was epic. I just learned so much from taking part of the event. There were so many wonderful presenters. Lots of fantastic conversations and a ton of learning. You’ll get a lot of your industry questions answered. The events are: 21st Century Nonfiction, Fiction From Life, Writing for Social Justice, Kidlit Community Resources, How to Write Funny, Fiction vs. Concept Books, Editor & Agent Panel, and an Illustration & Writing Panel. Plus a break out Zoom room where you can get all of your questions answered!
The information you’ll get in this event is equivalent to an event put on a bigger organization. You will find that the people invited have information that will help you no matter what your level in writing or illustration. The information given in this event is current and relevant to those just starting out and those who have been in the industry for a while. Take a look at the picture below and go to https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/pbpalooza2020.html to see the list of all the wonderful people involved with this event! There is also a full list of what’s happening when there too!
Why I Love the Children’s Book Academy
I have learned so much in taking the Craft and Business of Illustrating Picture Books! I have taken the class twice and am currently a helper in this past class (and will be a helper in future classes as well). I just love seeing people go from good to great in these classes. Every single person who does the course works ends up with a huge jump in skills from start of the class to end. Also I mentioned that you get to show your work to actual Agents, Illustrators and ADs after class. Not to just any publishing companies, either. These are a range of great companies (that vary every class) that could give you a huge advantage going into or continuing your illustration or writing career! Please join me for this event! If you missed the link before here it is again: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/pbpalooza2020.html
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In Which Exhaustion Kicks in and I Lose My Way
I was hoping to do a lot of artwork this month for Doodles and Dreams. I did do quite a few drawings, but ended up burning out in the end. A big problem to start was I attempted to keep up with two different instagram accounts. BIG MISTAKE. The drawings weren’t taking very long but they were draining especially after having a summer home with the kids.
Both my kids will be in school full time starting tomorrow morning! I’m so happy about this. I’ve had a hectic schedule these past couple of weeks with the gradual entry my kindergartener had these past two weeks. I guess it’s less painful for the kiddos but it’s a lot of work for a parent.
The thing that really killed everything was those fires! I live just south of Vancouver. We had at least a week ranking with the worst air quality in the world for the week of the 13th. My joints were burning all week. If that wasn’t enough I possibly have CFS. Which means I’m tired all the time. It does make sense with how I’m feeling all the time. I’m not upset, but I’m also not happy when my body doesn’t want to do anything!
So my plan is to just put out the Doodles & Dreams art prompts out for next month. Since there are a lot of people looking for an alternative to Inktober maybe more people will join me! I’m going to try to keep it to 1 piece a day so I don’t burn myself out. I hope some of you will join me, too! Tag your art with #doodledreams
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Bird Drawing Video
Bird drawing video! Bird is not happy. I won’t say why. Let me know if there is something you’d like me to draw on video!
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Cat Drawing
Quick video of me drawing a cat in Clip Studio Paint. Also showing a few neat tools in Clip Studio! Let me know what else you want me to draw!
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Flower Drawing
This is how I like to draw a quick rose. I did a video like this for a friend, but I think I just posted it on twitter so the quality was bad. Is there anything you’d like to see me draw? I’ll do drawings of general items so please let me know what you want me to make!
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Drawing Up!
I had wanted to say that I was catching up with artwork for Doodles & Dreams this week. Really this is a relaxed event so there is no pressure to finish anything. I do want to draw more so I’m going to make an effort to do more. I’ve been so exhausted this week. Here are some things I’ve been working on for both the booklet and the prompts.
I should admit I did get side tracked. I worked on a new color palette for Clip Studio Paint. I took a red, blue and yellow and mixed them with an almost white, and almost black to make a bunch of nice colors. It took a while, but I finished. It should help the blending of colors later on.
I’ll likely be posting these on Instagram! Some I’ve posted already. I’m posting the book prompts here: https://www.instagram.com/dani_duck_art/
And the daily prompts here: https://www.instagram.com/smart_dummies_challenge/
There is a list of prompts at the bottom of the page! To download the booklet and sign up please go here: https://www.daniduck.com/doodles-and-dreams/
Prompt #1 Quilt 
Prompt #2 Warm Drink 
Self Portrait - Booklet Prompt 
Thing I Like Drawing The Most - Booklet Prompt 
Color Pallet for Clip Studio 
Ice Cream - Bowl Prompt in Booklet 
Full List of Prompts. Can Be Downloaded Free in the Booklet! -
Welcome to Doodles & Dreams
Welcome to Doodles and Dreams! All the fun starts today. If you haven’t signed up for this event please sign up here: https://www.daniduck.com/doodles-and-dreams/ Don’t forget to pick up your free booklet as well.
This is a relaxed event to encourage doodles and fun! I’ll be making posts here so be sure to sign up for my email. If you like what you make during this event please share it with me on Twitter or Instagram using #doodledreams! I’ll RT some work I see. You don’t have to stick with what’s in the book. Please feel free to share any of you work with that tag.
If you have something you really like please mail it to me at daniduck(@)gmail.com. I’ll be posting other people’s work on Fridays (but only if you email it to me). I’m also hoping to post a few other things throughout the month so please sign up to get my emails below!
I just finished editing the Doodles & Dreams booklet so if there are mistakes please let me know. Also if you find accessibility issues in the booklet or on the website please let me know!
If you are an artist or writer please feel free to join my Discord server: https://discord.gg/mEt4PGr This server is meant for adult professionals and those working towards becoming a professional. Right now it’s mostly kidlit and graphic novel people!
Subscribe to my email list so you don’t miss out on any event posts!
