Week two of senior project has been just as fulfilling and eventful as the first! Patty Deb, and I were always on the go as we had lots of work to catch-up on and complete, so we are ready for final book production in our last week!
This week started off with developing, and completing our turtle characters, and having final drafts of the poems for each family member. I had lots to do for this task, as I am not the best of writers. I worked on each character, and the family is full of fun and unique dynamics! Each turtle has it’s only little twist to what they add to the family. We have six children, and a mother and father. The children turtles were much easier to write, and complete poems for as each child has a defined character trait. Each of the children are represent a very dominate trait that sets them apart from one another. The parents on the other hand are not labeled with such a trait, and this make them more difficult to write for as I have no baseline to start from. Patty and I had to think clearly about the story as a whole, so we could develop and write about the parents. Patty was able to get most of the artwork for the book finished this week. She has drawn almost each family member, and they are SO AWESOME! I was not expecting Patty to be able to really take in and embrace the each character, and represent it so well with her illustrations. Each drawing has a unique technique, and altered perspective to keep our readers interested and occupied on each page. Marty and David were so helpful with their tips form the interviews last week. Each time Patty and I are working on any little part of our book, we always have their reminders and pieces of advice playing in our heads. I am so thankful that we were able to meet with those two talented writers, as I know they motivated and guided me through this tough and frustrating process.
On Wednesday, Patty and I were able to finally attend Deb’s WORDS IN PLAY WORKSHOP! It was so amazing to be surrounded, and in such a motivational atmosphere for writing. Each member of Deb’s class is so unique, and they really bring out the best in one another. The class was able to help, and show me as a writer how to provoke and get my creative juices flowing. We did exercises that forced the creative part of one’s brain to work, and overtake the editor side. This was so helpful because I know that when I am writing my “editor” is always correcting my words and thoughts, and does not allow me to let my brain just write and get my ideas out onto paper. I found Deb’s class was able to move me forward in our book process because I am now able to just write my thoughts out about each turtle. I was getting extremely overwhelmed with my poems for the book as I felt I could never think, or create any pieces of writing that I liked for the characters, but I am now able to remind myself to just start writing about the turtle, and not let my brain edit any creative thoughts of the character until I allow it to do so. I absolutely loved this class, and hopefully Patty and I are able to attend it again this coming week! (Hopefully we are not to busy producing our FINAL BOOK!)
On Thursday we then traveled to Watertown, Massachusetts where we got to meet, greet, and tour all of the Charlesbridge Publishing House! This opportunity was unbelievable! It was so cool to actually see the entire process of how a published story is picked, and then eventually printed. We got a sneak preview of a new book “hot off the press,” called What Really Happened To Humpty. With this book we were able to see each and every step of the publication process! It was so cool to see all the hours and dedication put into the book by the editor, author, and illustrator of this one book. The work and time consumed in the production of just this one book was unbelievable. We were also given a tour of the art department of the publication house! This was SO cool to see the illustration process, as there are many, many steps to it! Being at the publication house truly reminded me of that fact that Patty and I are doing this whole process in such a short amount of time, and we are completely dedicated to making this book the best it can be. It takes true devotion and determination to make a living out of illustrating/writing children’s books!
In this next week Patty and I, with the guidance of DEB will be completing and printing our VERY OWN BOOK!!! I am SO excited to finally see how all of our hard work has paid off! This has been such a new and awesome experience for me, as well as Patty. I cannot wait to show, and present all of our drafts and mistakes, and show how each mess-up just pushed Patty and I even further along in this process. The final production beings Monday, and I know that neither Deb, Patty or I can wait!
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