Children's Book Senior Project

Final Weekly Reflection :( !!!

2008-05-24T16:22:00.001-04:00

Weekly Reflection #3

Today was another long, tough, and tedious week of work for our children’s book. We wrapped up, and completed production of our story, and it feels awesome! It’s also very scary that three whole weeks flew by that quickly, and I am graduating in this upcoming week! Senior project puts such finality to my time at Proctor, but this was definitely the best way end my career at Proctor!

This week was full of hard work and dedication! I started off the week by continuing edits and proofs of all the writing that was to be entered into the book. Many drafts were made, and then reworded, and than RETYPED, and then edited again! It was such a tedious process to have to edit, and keep editing so many different times for just this one book. I was able to share my completed writings with Patty throughout the week as they were given the O.K by Deb for print. By allowing Patty to finally see the completed writing, this gave her a real sense of time so she could finish her illustrations. As Patty and I finally collaborated our work together in a mock-up layout of how we wanted our book to be printed, we were now able to start to scan our work into the Photoshop program at Deb’s cottage. This program is UNBELIEVABLE! This things that this program can do to manipulate, and superimpose pictures is crazy! This program literally save Patty’s and mines life, as three weeks to complete all illustrations for the book is a crazy task to even try to handle.

As Patty and I scanned the pictures into the program, we were able to choose layouts and text placements for the book. Text placement is very important because this is what walks the reader through the characters page! (Tip from Marty Kelley!) With the help of Jack McKew, (without whom we would have NEVER have completed this project,) we completed the entire layout of our book, as well as front and back covers! This was a crazy thing to actually see! All of our worked for three entire weeks compiled into one twenty-page book was SO COOL to see!

After completed the book layout on the Photoshop program, Patty and I then had to transfer this work of art to another computer at Deb’s house that had a program called “Quarks.” This program enables one to resize the page layouts from the Photoshop program to the wanted page dimensions for the actual book. Quarks also help to edit text, and put the book into a “printer layout.” A printer layout is one that puts the correct pages to correspond with one another so when opening the book, the same picture of on the pages desired, and not one half of one picture, and the other half of a completely different one! This was very difficult to do, as we could not see each page the way we wanted it printed, but we saw page halves the whole time! It was hard but with Deb’s awesome help we did it! We were then on our way to printing out our ENTIRE BOOK!!! This was crazy that throughout this entire process I kept picturing the day when Patty, Deb and I could print out our completed children’s book, and that day has come and gone! I cannot wait to show off our finished product to our committee and everyone at the Senior Project Show on Tuesday night! The book is even more amazing than I predicted, and I am so happy and lucky to have been given this amazing opportunity to work with Patty and Deb like this! THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCHO!

Week 3 Day 5!!!! Final Day!

2008-05-23T20:54:00.003-04:00

Today was a very high intensity production day! WE PRINTED OUR BOOK!!!! It was AWESOME to finally see all that hard work paid off, and in print! Patty and I met Deb around 11:00 this morning and went over the final layout for the book. We then transferred our book pages from the photoshop program to another program called "Quarks." This program enables us to actually layout our book in page to page format. (Real book format if you will.) We opened and saved each page of the book in Quarks, and edited the pages to fit into the 11.5 X 8 in. size. We wanted to make our book a small square, so it is easier for a child to hold onto! I know that when I was younger, I loved books to be able to fit right into my owns hands because I felt like I was "in charge." We wanted our book to have this same effect on the children reading it. SO, after we fit all our pages into the Quarks program, we then had to adjust each page to be opposite the page it needs to be printed with. We could not just print each page and fold them, because the pages would not line up, thus not having a matching picture across two pages. This was a difficult task, as Deb told us this was the most tedious part of the whole process, and it really was. I was getting so impatient at this point because all I wanted to do was print out book, and see it in REAL LIFE. We finally completed the printing layout, which allowed us to finally press the PRINT BUTTON! This is what Patty and I had been thinking about doing throughout this entire process. I just can't actually believe that three weeks have flown by like this, and our book is FIN! It's a crazy experience. The fact that we only had three weeks to make this book is a really difficult concept to grasp, as most authors/illustrators take years to complete a book. I know our book isn't bookshelf ready, but with a little work I know that it could be. Everyone Patty and I met with over this process wished us good luck in our process of creating and printing a children's book in three weeks. The fact that Patty, and I completed this task, AND have an awesome book that I know I am extremely proud of makes me extremely excited. Patty and I worked so well together throughout this entire process, and with out Deb this would have never been so successful! It's finished, and we are so proud of everything we accomplished!!! WE DID IT! WAHOO!

Week 3 Day 4!

2008-05-22T22:17:00.002-04:00

So today was actually the biggest day of work yet for our book. Our book was literally put together on the photoshop program at Deb's cottage. Today Patty and I got to work extremely early, (8 AM!) at the cottage where Patty completed the rest of the drawing for the book! It was so awesome to actually have the relief that the illustrations were COMPLETE, and to be scanned into the photoshop program and used to complete each turtle's page! BIG STEP IN THE PUBLICATION PROCESS! (That's what Randi Rivers form Charlesbridge Publications told us!) SO... After the illustrations were scanned into the photoshop program, I was able to complete each page layout with Patty's input, as well as help from JUST JACK. Deb was able to join Patty and I in the cottage in the morning so we could update her on the status of our FINAL PRODUCTION! The photoshop program we are using is UNBELIEVABLE! It can seriously do the craziest things ever! It can manipulate any picture any certain way one wants! It is so crazy to be able to use such a high tech program to publish our book off of. We were able to finally complete each page layout, and add the text to each page. It was so amazing to see all of our hard work put onto the program, and in our BOOK format! I can't believe it is all coming together like this. The pages look SO GOOD. I mean they are seriously way better than I could have EVER imagined, and this is really do to everyone who has contributed to helping out Patty and I in this entire process, especially Deb. She knows exactly how to fix things, and calm us down whenever we, (mostly me) gets stressed out and thinks that our whole book is going to fail. Our book is way better than what I expected, and we accomplished MUCHISIMO work today. Tomorrow we PRINT!!!!! This is so surreal to me that three weeks have flown by like this! I feel like I just started writing drafts for this book of ours, and now it is in the final days of production! I can't express how spectacular this experience has been for me. I honestly cannot wait to see our book print tomorrow! A final product of these last three weeks is exactly what Patty, Deb and I need! We finally get to admire all of our hard work tomorrow! AHHH! WAHOOO!!!

Until next time muggles.

Week 3 Day 3!!!!

2008-05-21T19:20:00.000-04:00

Today Patty and I worked at Patty’s house this morning! Patty was able to sketch the cover for the book, which was really cool to see! She has to do a complete illustration, which hopefully will be completed by tomorrow so we can scan the illustration into the Photoshop program for printing on Friday. This morning I was able to work with Jack on the Photoshop program and it was so cool! We were able to put together some pages together, and complete the layout of the beginning pages of our book! We are now at Deb’s house where we are having QUESDILLAS! We are then going to go complete more of our pages on the Photoshop with Jack’s help! This is going to be a long night, and we are ready for it!

Week 3 Day 2!!!

2008-05-20T17:02:00.001-04:00

Today was a very productive day for both Patty and I! We both met bright and early with Deb at her cottage, where we collaborated all our work thus far for our book. Patty was able to see all of the finished poems in a printed format, which was super exciting! She was able to understand the actions, and prospective of the remaining characters that needed to be drawn. We then were able to play around a little bit with the program that we will be using for the printing of our BOOK! A quick shout out to MARY LEDOUX, whom without her generosity and donation of linen paper for our book production, we would probably be in big debt with production costs! YOU GO GIRL! We were able to use the Photoshop program in which we scan Patty’s pictures onto the computer and save them into the program. We are then able to use various backgrounds, and effects that add drama to our pictures! It is the coolest program! We still need to meet with JUST JACK to figure out many of the logistics of the program, as we were not able to get to far with the layout of each page today. The program is very complicated, and stressful, but with JUST JACK’S help we will be in full swing of starting layout of each page consisting of a picture and text! It was very cool and exciting to actually be able start the scanning process onto the computer. We also were able to pick out all of our scene backgrounds for each turtle’s page! It is so awesome to be at a point in our project where everything it totally under control, and on schedule! (Knock on wood!) We plan to work on finishing the cover illustration tomorrow morning, then to meet with Deb in the afternoon after our game so we can have JUST JACK’S help with the program. We are then going to work well into the night to get most of the layout finished for the book. Then on Thursday, we want to completely finish the book and have it ready for print on FRIDAY! IT’S DOWN TO THE WIRE! Here we go!!!!!!

Until next time muggles.

Week 3 Day 1!!!

2008-05-19T20:11:00.001-04:00

Today was very much a workday for Patty and I. We both met this morning at Patty’s house, so I could show her the work I had accomplished over the weekend with Deb. This weekend I went up to Deb’s house on Sunday afternoon. Deb and I FINISHED all of the writing for the book! Each poem is complete, and just needs to be proofread by myself, Patty and Deb. I was able to really concentrate with Deb as she gave me pointers and techniques that helped me develop the poems for each character. I remembered what I head learned from the writing workshop about just letting my creative part of my brain just flow, and to cut off the editor! It truly has helped me so much to even just remember this little fact. So, I was able to sit down with Deb and complete the poems, and it feels SPECTACULAR!! Deb and I were also able to have create a mockup layout of our book. This allowed us to see how many pages we will be using, (20 cover to cover!) and gave me a real sense that this book is actually almost completed and printed! It was a surreal moment to see the book layout! We decided on the order of the introductions of each family member, and where our dedication and publication pages are going to be! I really cannot wait to see the finished book right now! The mockup gave me such excitement!!! Patty has completed all of the turtle family member drawings, and now only has to complete the cover and dinner table art! We are SO close to starting actual layout on Deb’s computer at the cottage, which also means we are that much CLOSER to printing our book! WAHOO!!! Tomorrow Patty and I are meeting with Deb at 9:30 at her cottage to scan Patty’s artwork, and start then start the layout of text and pictures! Another exciting day today, as well as one prepared for tomorrow!

Weekly Reflection Week Two: 5/11-5/16

2008-05-18T14:27:00.000-04:00

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!

Week 2 Day 5

2008-05-16T21:20:00.002-04:00

Today was very much a more lax day of work than any day thus far in to our project. Even though it was more relaxed than ever, Patty and I still got some very important work done for our book, which by the way will being to be "put together" on MONDAY! I can't actually believe that the last week of undistracted work is starting this monday, and that the finished product of our children's book is just in sight! Today Patty drew some more finished turtle family members, and they are absolutely amazing! Patty truly has an artistic gift! I on the other hand do not have quite the writers/rhymers gift, as I still have three poems for Turtle family members to write about! It's very frustrating to know that I have to complete these rhymes by monday, but to not be getting any ideas for the poems! I know that they will come to me by deadline, but it's just extremely difficult to have these times set apart in the day where I know that I have to accomplish some sort of writing, but my brain just won't allow it. I know that our whole project will come together (hopefully more smoothly than anticipated,) and our finished project will be exactly what Patty and I have in mind. Patty and I also read some of the book gifts that Charlesbridge Publications gave us when we went to visit them yesterday. The writers, and illustrators of these book are just amazingly talented. The work that is required for a book mock-up like Patty and I are doing is extremely demanding. The authors and illustrators of these actually published books must be absolutely and completed wiped out by the end of their whole entire process, which can take up to 4 years for one book! this is all just so new and crazy for me, but I absolutely love every second of it!

Until next time muggles.

Week 2 Day 4

2008-05-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

BOSTON WAS OUR DESTIONATION, AND OUR GAME WAS PUBLICATION.

TODAY WAS DOPE. Yes! Today we ventured in the early hours of the morning into Watertown, Ma. which is located 9.6 miles from BOSTON! ( according to the trusty GPS.) In Watertown, we were able to get a full tour of the Charlesbridge Publishing House! It was unbelievable! We were able to see the full process of a story from the submission of a story, to the final print. We got to see a sneak peak of the "hot off the printer" children's book "What Really Happened To Humpty." We saw all of the edits, straight from the editor, Randi Rivers! She was our tour guide for the day and she was AWESOME. She pushed for this book to get published when she read it in 2004, and it is now finally just getting printed in 2008! It truly awakened me, and made me really aware of the time and hard work that goes into each book that is published and printed! After seeing the editing aspect of the book, we were then brought to the art direction of the book, and were shown the many, many, many redirections and edits in the illustration part of the book publication process. I was truly blown away by the whole processes that Randi toured us through today. We met many of the main people involved in the process of how a book gets "picked" out of the many thousands of submissions the Charlesbridge Publication HOuse recieves each year. AND... Out of these thousands of submissions, only between 8-10 are published every "season." ( Meaning Summer, Spring, Winter, and Fall.) This was truly an amazing experience for Patty and I as we were able to see the publication process, and not just hear about it from authors and illustrators. We were able to see a new prospective of the process, and I am now able to fully appreciate a finished, publicated book!

After our tour at Charlesbridge, Deb, Pat and I went into Boston to Quincy Market for some yummy lunch and frozen yogurt! It was an absolutely fabulous day, and I LOVED every second of it! I am truly loving this Senior Project WAY more than I ever anticipated! Tomorrow Patty and I will be working together at her house to finish our rough draft of our book! This is truly an exciting process, and we are nearing the end of our project time! We are now under a TIME CRUNCH to get out book done, and I KNOW we can do it! We are on our way to having a beautifully written and illustrated Turtle Story! Wahoo!

Until next time muggles.

Week 2 Day 3

2008-05-14T19:57:00.002-04:00

Today was another exciting day in the world of literature! Patty and I were finally able to attend Deb’s famous WORDS IN PLAY WORKSHOP!! It was spectacular! The group was so eclectic, and dynamic that while I was there, I was completely reminded of the book Patty and I are writing. This special group of people was so different and unique, yet so uniformed with their enthusiasm for writing, as this is the underlying message of our book. The family of turtles is so opposite from one another, but that’s what makes the group a community and so special as a whole. I picked up Patty a little before 9 today and we headed through New London, and up to Deb’s cottage for the workshop. As people filed into the cottage, Deb rang her bell, which is a symbol for the start of class. We filled the class time with a free write, and a creative story write. The free write was a warm up exercise to get our creative “juices” flowing.” This write is for five minutes, and one is not allowed to lift their pen/pencil off of the paper. This is to stop the “editor” inside oneself, and to just let the “creator” take over. We then discussed the importance of a free write, and went onto talk about Scene vs. Summary. The main point of this discussion was to understand that a scene is the action of the writing, and a summary is the rest. In a scene a reader in involved and wants more, as with a summary the reader is in “rest position.” Summaries are where most detail and elaborations occur. After this discussion we played a writing game in which Deb had us pick three different pieces of paper out of three different boxes, and we would have to write a short story in 15 minutes based on the three things on the papers. The three pieces of paper included a subject, a scenario, and a setting. This task was more difficult than the free write as one had guidelines to follow. One had to write about these three things, and could not change their mind about the story objects because they did not like them. The class was given 15 minutes for this to be completed, and these stories were then shared. We discussed the importance of scene vs. summary in each short story shared, and were asked to recognize the difference between the two at each stories end. I was able to completely comprehend the difference between scene vs. summary at the end of the class. I was very meek in the beginning of the class period, as I do not feel I hold the best creative writing skills. At the end of class I was able to be a little bit more comfortable and confident in the words that I write down on my paper. I was thrilled to have been able to finally go to a workshop hosted by Deb! It was an awesome experience, and I can’t wait until next week where we will be able to go back again for one last time! Tomorrow Patty, Deb and I are traveling to Charlesbridge Publishing House, which is right near Boston! We have a morning appointment, and I can’t wait to see the inner workings of a publishing house!

Until next time muggles.

Week 2 Day 2

2008-05-13T19:52:00.001-04:00

Today was another killer day of work for Patty and I in the world of children’s literature. After not being able to accomplish much yesterday, as I was a dead beat from my exam, Patty and I really had to get down to business today. We talked with Deb via phone, and decided that it would be best for Patty and I to work at Patty’s house today, so we would be able to focus entirely on the work needed to be completed. Since all of our work is at Patty’s house, Patty, Deb and I all agreed on this arrangement. Patty and I went into New London early in the morning to get some art supplies so Patty could draw some “final sketches” of our turtle family. When we got back to Patty’s, we both started our work, and remained extremely focused throughout the whole morning, and into the afternoon. We of coursed stopped working for bathroom and food breaks, but other than that nothing deterred either of us from our work at hand! My big project for today was to try to complete roughish/final poem and page drafts for each member of the family. I was able to successfully complete the poems for the children, but had an extremely difficult time developing poems for the mother and father turtles. I’m hoping that when we meet with DEB tomorrow she will definitely be able to help me work through this problematical writers block. Patty and I also discussed the order of our book, to make sure we are on the same page for each of our characters! It was an extremely successful day for our book, as we have a very clear and developed image of the final product of our work!

Week 2 Day 1

2008-05-12T23:38:00.001-04:00

AP BIO EXAM = DEATH.

But on a lighter noter, I WON 200"BIG ONES" today all thanks to britt and 98.5!!!

Weekly Reflection Week One: 5/4-5/9

2008-05-11T18:13:00.001-04:00

Senior project started off with a bang! I have never been so motivated to get my ideas out and about, and complete a project from them! I am writing and illustrating a children’s book with Patty Dansereau, and we are off to a fantastic start.

This week was a very successful week, as we met with two authors of children’s books in New Hampshire, but we also have a concrete outline for what our story is going to be about. The week started off with Patty, and I meeting Deb in New London for some coffee at Jack’s. This is where Patty, Deb and I talked about what ideas we had for our book. Patty and I really had no idea about what we would base our book on, so Deb had us create a “story cloud.” This cloud helped Patty and I along in our process of creative writing, as we were able to map our how we think a good story develops, and what characters and emotions were needed to do this. Patty and I talked through each of our story clouds, and agreed on the idea that our book would be written around an idea of a turtle that comes from a big family and wants to be noticed by her parents. We also agreed that we wanted our story to rhyme. Patty and I became extremely excited with this idea as Deb agreed that this would be the perfect base for our book. Patty was then able to go meet with author David Elliot, who is a local children’s book writer. Patty was able to share with David our beginning story clouds, and ask him what his thoughts were on our primitive thoughts. David was supportive of our story line, but warned Patty that it is extremely difficult to write in rhymes. He told Patty that when reading a children’s book that rhymes, many feel forced and unnatural, and that is something one definitely does not want for a children’s book. Patty shared the views of David with me later, as we met up so we could develop our main turtle character so we could begin writing our story. After talking with David, Patty and I felt apprehensive to try and rhyme our book, but we both know that this is completely reachable for our creative minds, and we are definitely going to rhyme our book!

Patty and I were then able fortunate to meet with MARTY KELLEY, who is an unbelievably talented author AND illustrator of children’s books in New Hampshire. Deb, Patty and I traveled to New Boston, NH to Marty’s studio where we were able to ask him questions about his writing and illustrative processes. We were also able to look at Marty’s current books, and see some unreleased illustrations and books. This was an awesome experience as it made Patty and I aware of how much time and dedication is required to be a children’s author like Marty. We shared our story idea with Marty as well, and just like David Elliot, Marty warned us of the unnatural feel of some children’s books that are rhymed. He told us to “go for it!” but at the same time be aware of the hardships that come with rhyming a story. Marty was able to share many of his illustrative techniques with Patty and I, and showed us a story that is being released within the next year. He had been working on this unreleased story for almost 3 years now, but had never given up. What a motivator! Meeting with Marty was the best experience, as he showed Patty and I the flaws and hardships of this business, but just seeing how much Marty loved his job only aspires me even more to put all my effort into the book Patty and I are creating.

The rest of our week consisted of Patty, and I writing down ideas and story “arch’s” for our creation. Patty and I met at Deb’s cottage on Thursday, where we had a creative epiphany! Deb wanted Patty and I to write down all of our ideas for our story thus far, and then share then with her and one another. As we joined together for our discussion, Patty spoke up quickly and told me she had this really cool idea for our book, but it was completely different form the direction that we had already made headway in. I was a little apprehensive to hear Patty’s new story idea, but was actually blown away when she told me her thoughts. She was thinking that instead of a turtle who come form a big family and wants to be noticed, why done we just write about a big turtle family in general. We would write a rhyme for each family member, and dedicate a page to each character. I was really psyched about this idea, as I then chimed in with the idea that this turtle family could have extremely diverse children whom compete all over the spectrum of thing, and that face that each family member is so different and diverse from one another, make the family even more special. The story we then created has an underlying theme of community and family dynamics, and this is what makes family so fun and special. I cannot explain how excited I am about Patty, and mines new idea for our book. It is so fun, and fresh that it makes this project even more inviting to want to work with and complete. Patty and I then finished off our week by developing the character of each family member, and starting our rough drafts of each characters poem. Patty also was able to sketch many ideas and perspective for our turtle characters.

I this next coming week, Patty and I will need to get down to some serious business with developing, and completing a rough draft for our final book. I know that this week will be a bit more tiresome, and hardworking than the last but I know that Patty and I can do this! Our ideas are so thrilling, and we are working and bouncing ideas off of each other left and right. Our energy for this project is awesome, and I can’t wait to see how our final project will turn out. I am eager to share our experiences of the ups and downs of this process with others!

Week 1 Day 4!

2008-05-09T22:29:00.001-04:00

Today was not as a productive day as yesterday! Yesterday we hit a gold mine of ideas, and today Patty and I tried to be as productive, but we were unfortunate. We were unable to meet with Deb today in Sunapee, so Patty and I met up at her house and traveled into New London where we sat in the gazebo and worked. Patty and I looked at her sketches of turtles, and then tried to imagine these sketches in our book successfully. The sketches were awesome, and with the many perspectives that Patty drew the other day only helped my creative thought process of what each illustration for each family member could possibly look like. Patty and I also worked a bit on developing each family member more in depth today, as we have found that rhyming is really not an easy task, BUT WE CAN DO IT! We are determined to rhyme, and I know this is possible! We have named the characters of our book; The Mom, the Dad, Natalie, (the oldest,) Max, (the athlete,) Jack, (quiet and smart,) Marley, (the lizard who is adopted,) Hannah, (the loud character,) and Ella, (the youngest turtle.) We have really developed Max and Jack enough to start rhymes for these two characters. The other turtles in the book need some serious attention, as they are not as developed as Jack and Max. I feel that Patty and I are completely on the same page with this book, which is unbelievable! I am so pumped that our book has evolved into such a project in this past week. I never thought we would get to a point where we were actually developing and making first story drafts for our actual book! I know that this project is hard, and extremely tedious at times but I know Patty and I definitely won’t give up! We work off of one another’s energy so well that it would be unheard of for us to complete this creative project!

Until next time muggles!

Week 1 Day 4

2008-05-08T19:11:00.002-04:00

TODAY WAS HUGE!

Here are the details...

Patty and I went to the cottage on Deb's property this morning at 9:30. I love working at Deb's cottage because it is such a motivational site for creative writing. Deb sat down with Patty and I, and we started to talk about our turtle story and how we want it to evolve. Of course, we had WRITERS BLOCK, so Deb had Patty and I do an activity where we went and sat away from one another, and wrote a summary of what our thoughts were for how we pictured our story. I traveled down to the dock, where I sat for 3o minutes and put every idea about the turtle story in my head down onto paper. After some time, Patty and I met back up with Deb at the cottage where we both shared our ideas. I went first, and shared my vision of pollution issues and an unnoticed turtle in a huge family. Then Patty shared her brilliant idea of not exactly writing about a turtle alone in a polluted river, but writing about a family of turtles, and having a page dedicated to each member of the clan. I absolutely loved this idea, and so did Deb. So, we took this idea and "ran" with it. Patty and I immediately started brainstorming ideas of how we could incorporate an message into a family of turtles, and we cam up with an idea of family dynamics, and how each family is so special because of their dynamics. We decided that there will be 8 turtles total in the family; A mother, a father, and six children. Each "turtle child" will have their own page in which we will express the personality of that child. Also, each parent will have a page to show how they keep the family together and successful. The idea is to have a the mother turtle ring a dinner bell in the opening of the book. All the children are at different places, doing various activities that relate to their personality, BUT hear the bell ring. Each child hustles back to the dinner table. The conclusion of the book revolves around that even though each child was off doing their own thing that relates to them, at the end of the day, a family is a family no matter how different each other is!

I am thrilled about this idea! I can't wait to begin to generate this idea into an actual book! Tomorrow Patty and I going to write at Patty's house, because I have AP Biology in the early afternoon. We are going to generate ideas about each character in our book and develop them!

Until next time muggles.

Week 1 Day 3

2008-05-07T18:58:00.000-04:00

Today Patty and I were supposed to attend Deb’s writing class, but were unable to since I had to go to AP Biology. Deb’s class was from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, and my Bio class was from 9:45 to 10:40, so the timing did not work out. I was bummed that we could not attend this class as it would have helped Patty and I with our creative writing skills for our book. I’m sure that we will have the opportunity to attend her class again, so no worries! Instead of attending the class, Patty and I completed research on turtles. Since the main character of our story if a turtle, we have to know a lot of information about how they interact, and they live and interact with one another and their environment. Patty also worked on the first sketches for our character! They are SO good! I can’t wait to see the final character sketch that we agree on! Patty drew many different perspectives of the view of a turtle. Marty told us that perspective is key, so we want to sketch the turtle in as many perspectives as possible. Patty and I are going to go to Deb’s cottage tomorrow morning to work for a full day on writing our story and getting all of our ideas out onto paper! It will be exciting to see what we come up with!

Until next time muggles.

P.S- Shout out to PLANTE & C O'BRIEN.

Week One Day Two!

2008-05-06T21:08:00.003-04:00

*One Of Marty Kelley's impressive children's book in which he was the author and illustrator for. ( Like all of his work!)*

Today was the second day of Patty’s and mine senior project of writing and illustrating a children’s book. We met with Deb early this morning at 8 o’clock, and headed on our way to New Boston, NH where we met with Marty Kelley! He was so awesome! He is a local author and illustrator of children’s books in New Hampshire. Marty is extremely talented, as he not only comes up with his own story lines, but also illustrates his own books. Marty literally blew me away with his talent. He showed us his four books out right now. Three of his novels are centered around different seasons, (ex: Fall, Winter and Summer) and one is revolved around a list of terrible childhood traumas, (ex: dropping your ice cream cone, or going to the dentists.) Marty rhymes in most of his books, and preached to Patty how difficult it will be to rhyme our book. He reminded us that completing a rhyming book is completely possible, but we need to make sure our words do not seem forced, and that they will have an even flow when reading them out loud. Marty also stressed that our storyline needs to remain simple, as we are dealing with an adolescent age group. Patty and I desperately need to remember that we are using our story to get an underlying message across to a young reader, and we need to be subtle with our point that we are trying to make throughout our story, and not preach our lesson to the children. When Marty commented on the illustration processes of his stories, he mentioned that his illustrations are imagined in his head after he is done writing down his story. One main reason it happens this way is because when a story is finished, one has to see how the story would take place in a real life setting. One has to see the perspective of each page, as Marty told us that perspective of each page of the book is the most important part of this whole process. The perspective needs to be constantly changing from picture to picture, or the child becomes bored with the images, thus not being interested in the story. Marty also noted that the illustrations for many of his books could take from 3 weeks to 3 years to complete fully and submit to a publishing house, (unless, of course he is on a time constraint.) Patty and I also talked to Marty about the whole process of submitting a story to a publishing house. I was highly interested in understanding the editing/publishing aspect of the project, as this is the topic I am mainly focused on. I asked Marty if he felt his stories from start to finish were completely different from one another. Marty told us that each story is of course edited and taken apart, for improvement purposes only. He feels that the editing of the stories is only to better improve the story, so each piece of criticism is only for the best! I feel that Marty had an unbelievable attitude towards this job and its entirety. The interview with Marty was a clear motivation for Patty and I as we take the beginning plunge into the writer’s world of children’s literature. Tomorrow Patty and I are going to sit in on Deb’s writing class! WAHOO! Until next time muggles!

Check out Marty Kelley's website! He's AMAZING!

Week 1 Day 1

2008-05-05T19:31:00.003-04:00

Today Patty and I met with Deb this morning at Jack's in New, London. We discussed strategic ideas for how we are going to approach the writing process as a whole, and how to organize our thoughts in a helpful way. Patty and I each made individual "story clouds" which are diagrams to organize one's beginning thoughts of a story. We compared our "story clouds" with one another, and them seemed to come to a consciences on our story being based on a turtle who deals with pollution in his environment. Patty and I still have many kinks to work out with our story, but we are both super psyched about getting our thoughts down, and agreeing on a story line. I had to go back to school for my AP Bio class, but Patricia was able to meet with David Elliot and ask him many questions about his writing process, and how he incorporates another artists illustrations with his literature. Patricia and I are now researching Marty Kelley who is an illustrator/author. Patty and I get to go and meet with Marty Kelley tomorrow down towards manchester! We are off to an amazing start with our project, and I can't wait to see our finished project!