Hello 2017!

I love beginnings. There's so much promise held in beginnings... the excitement of a budding relationship, the first day of a much anticipated vacation, a crisp clean sheet of paper that greets you in a new sketchbook, or the first line of a book that draws you in and begs you to read more. And the beginning of a new year is no different. It's a jumping off point to set our goals, map out a plan, and work towards achieving our dreams. Just like a sprinter coming out of the blocks, we all like a good start. 

But as much as I love beginnings, I hate late starts. Ten days into 2017, and I haven't even written my goals yet, much less mapped them out. I feel this sense of anxiety looming as each day passes and I haven't taken the time to even write down a goal. I have some vague ideas of smaller goals like sketching everyday, or blogging more, or writing a couple of new stories every week, but I've already balked at accomplishing these. If I were a sprinter, I would have been disqualified from this year's race. 

I don't know why it's so hard to recover and start again without that shiny new, first day of the year beginning, but it is. January 1st holds the promise of everything you hope to achieve as you set sail into the year, while January 11th feels like you missed the boat. But I have to remind myself that everyday I wake up is a new beginning. Every day holds promise to accomplish great things. So instead of staring forlornly at the January 1st boat quickly disappearing over the horizon, I'm going to bid it farewell.  I'm opting to step onto this January 11th boat. It may not seem as clean and fresh as that first day of the new year boat, but hey, it's right in front of me, and I can't wait to see where it takes me. In fact, we're already off to a good start:

-Write a New Years blog post.

-Make a sketch for this post

-Use tired analogies about boats and races in one post.

Okay, so maybe I just now added that last goal, but it feels so satisfying to mark things off a list, who wouldn't want to keep riding that gravy train?

I apologize.

Here's to making things happen. Happy January 11th, 2017!

xo

nessa dee

Big Announcement!

I have an agent!!

 After many, many years of illustrating, writing, revising, and rejections, more revising, more illustrating, more writing, I am beyond excited to announce that I am now being represented by Rebecca Sherman of Writers House for all of my book related projects!

It was through my fantastic critique group, The Girllustrators, that I first made the connection with Rebecca. As a group, we send out one collective postcard mailer a year to various agents, art directors, and editors. This year, our postcards were Texas themed recipe cards, and it was through this mailer that Rebecca first contacted me. Since then, Rebecca has been working with me to polish several of my projects, and her advice has been tremendous. I'm grateful to have found an agent who invests so much time and thought into my projects.

Thank you so much Rebecca and Andrea for working with me and my little projects. I'm looking forward to being part of such a wonderful team and community of authors and illustrators! 

xo

nessa dee

Favorite Children's Books of 2016

I am super exited to be joining a wonderful group of authors and bloggers today to discuss our favorite children's books of 2016! Each of us has written about one book; simply follow the links included at the bottom of each of our posts to see the remaining recommended list. You can also find out more about who we are at the bottom of this post. 

And now, I present to you...

If there's one thing that can make or break a book's standing on my personal list of favorites, it's the book becoming a preferred read of my preschooler. If any book can survive night after night of multiple readings, and I don't end up hiding it under a rug, then it's gotta be top notch. Horrible Bear! by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Zachariah O'Hora not only survived a potential life of rug exile, I found myself suggesting it when my four year old ventured to stray from tradition.

Horrible Bear! begins when Bear breaks Girl's kite. The incident sends Girl stomping away screaming HORRIBLE BEAR! But bear didn't mean to break Girl's kite, and this unfair proclamation sends bear into a tirade of his own, until he has a "Horrible Bear idea." He stomps after the girl to show her what a horrible bear truly looks like, but just as he reaches her house, something happens that takes all the horrible right out of the bear... Girl apologizes.

A mere 258 words, Dyckman packs a tremendous amount of emotion into this story of forgiveness and acceptance. Every word in this simple story is used to great effect, and the fun language repetition makes for a lively read aloud. Accentuated by O'Hora's expressive illustrations, the story's emotional outbursts are felt just as much in the bold black brushstrokes, the girl's mop of red, curly hair, and the bright orange of the bear.  O'Hora's jewel toned color palette give the illustrations a richness, and his creative use of vignettes echo the parallel storylines.

Together, Dyckman and O'Hora have delivered an adorable, offbeat story with a lovely sentiment. Horrible Bear! has not only captured my four year old's heart, it's charmed this reader enough to keep it at the top of our nightly reading list! Plus, I kind of like getting to read in a Horrible Bear voice.

xo

nessa dee

Ready for the rest of our 2016 recommendations? Just follow the links! 

Cate Berry on The Snurtch

Charnaie Gordon on Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion

Danna Smith on Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille

Eileen Manes on Best Frints in the Whole Universe

Henry L. Herz on Return

Karen Santhanam on Mabel and the Queen of Dreams

Kell Andrews on City Shapes

Keyosha Atwater on One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree 

Liz Garton Scanlon on Owl Sees Owl

Vanessa Roeder on Horrible Bear

So...who the heck are these suggestion-making people? 

Cate Berry is an author, performer, songwriter, and teacher. She's the author of two original shows, one of which (Dish) was produced at the Long Center for Performing Arts in 2014. Cate's debut picture book, Penguin and Tiny Shrimp Don't Do Bedtime will be available in Spring 2018 (Balzar + Bray).

Charnaie Gordon, a computer programmer by trade and a Distinguished Toastmaster, is the blogger behind the popular Here Wee Read blog, where you'll find tips and suggestions for finding the best children's books, and be inspired to make the most of your read aloud time, however much that is.

Danna Smith is the author of many books for children, including her most recent fiction titles, Swallow the Leader and Arctic White, as well as numerous non-fiction titles, such as Balloon Trees and the forthcoming The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry (Candlewick, 2017).

Eileen Manes is a writer, an artist and the blogger behind Pickle Corn Jam, a blog about books and writing for children of all ages. She was recently nominated as a finalist for the SCBWI-Austin Cynthia Leitich Smith Writing Mentor Award, and her current projects include picture books, a middle grade novel and a novel for adults, all in various stages of completion.

Henry L. Herz is the author of numerous books for children, including Mabel and the Queen of Dreams, Little Red Cuttlefish and the forthcoming Dinosaur Pirates (Sterling, 2017). He's a regular panelist at conventions, including San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon, and has been a guest blogger on several blogs, including Tara Lazar's amazing Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) and Angie Karcher's Rhyming Picture Book Month (RhyPiBoMo).

Karen Santhanam is a writer, an artist, a blogger and host of the popular Storybook Spotlight podcast. Storybook Spotlight is about reading with kids, children’s books and family fun, including interviews with children’s books authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers, preschool folks and friends. She was also recently nominated as a finalist for the SCBWI-Austin Cynthia Leitich Smith Writing Mentor Award.

Kell Andrews writes novels and picture books for children and nonfiction for adults. A little bit of magic helps with both. Her first novel, Deadwood, was published in 2014 and her debut picture book, Mira Forecasts the Future, came out this year (2016, Sterling).

Keyosha Atwater is an avid reader, Instagramer and blogger. When she isn't reading to her own kiddos or reviewing books on Instagram @weebooklovers, you'll find her working on her brand new blog, Wee Book Lovers, where she'll be reviewing even more books and suggesting the best of the best kid-tested, mom-approved books to try with your own family.

Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of numerous beloved books for young people, including the highly-acclaimed, Caldecott-honored picture book, All the World, and her debut novel for middle grade readers, The Great Good Summer. She's also a poet, a teacher and a frequent, popular presenter at schools, libraries and conferences.

Vanessa Roeder (Nessa Dee) is an illustrator, painter and self-proclaimed crafty mess-maker. She's worked as a muralist and made art for magazines, children's books and homes around the world. She's taught art, writes stories, has been featured in Highlights Magazine and on Apartment Therapy and was the grand prize winner in the Austin SCBWI 2016 portfolio contest.

Trapped

xo

nessa dee

Howdy Y'all!

xo

nessa dee

Borrow

xo

nessa dee

Revisions, Revisions, and More Revisions

I finally finished revisions on one of my picture books over the weekend. It's a simple story, wordless, yet full of surprises. It relies solely on the interaction between the two characters pictured above, and one object that ties them together in a unique way. The idea for the story came out of a conference workshop assignment to tell a sequential story in six or more images and attach them together, acpprdiban style. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I think I ended up with 20 images, and at the end of that breakout session, I was told that I should do something with the story. So I set to work, redesigning the characters and simplifying the entire look of the book.

When I first started attending SCBWI Conferences five years ago and heard writers and illustrators talk about revising their stories and pictures ten, twenty, thirty times, I was a bit overwhelmed by the thought of such a daunting task, especially having written stories and created illustrations which I loved. It's hard to want to change something you're so fond of, even harder when it took so much effort to finish it in the first place. Add to that a head full of stories and the time limits of being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, and having a finished dummy book meant I could jump into the next project.

Fast forward five years... to this project. It's a project I started over a year ago, not too long ago in the realms of publishing, but in that year, I've drawn and redrawn, and revised, and revised again, and again. I've redesigned the bear multiple times, which meant redrawing him on every page of the book. I've thumbnailed out this entire book, at least ten, maybe twenty times. In one of those rethinks of the story, I came up with an entirely new story, a sequel if you will, which has been revised several times.  I realized that it's not enough to just get it done, and move on to the next big project, it's about taking a project you love and polishing it, refining it, making it stronger. Yes, it can be a daunting task. There are some days that I swear I'll never draw another bear again, but then I decide his expression could be tweaked or his posture could be changed, and it's back to the drawing board. Am I completely finished with revisions? No. If it gets picked up at a publishing company, it will likely go through many more revisions. But I'm no longer overwhelmed by such a task. When I look back at all the changes this story has gone through from the initial sketch that sparked the idea to where it is today, I'm quite proud of what it's become. I know any future changes will make me love it even more, and hopefully, someone else will love it, too.

xo

nessa dee

Fish Ice Cream

This illustration was somewhat inspired by a story my uncle told of trying fish flavored ice cream in Mexico. I'm can imagine that ice cream vendor was very popular with the towns cats.

xo 

nessa dee

Hello 2016!

Did I just type 2016? It feels like we just rang in 2015, I blinked, and the year's over. I'm still writing my list of resolutions for last year, and we're four days into January '16. What the what?! A lot happened in 2015, some of which I documented on this here blog, and many of which I didn't (cue the guilt trip), but one of my goals this new year is to blog more...at least once a week to be exact. I know, I know, you'll believe it when you see it, but I've got a new trick (laptop) up my sleeve (on my lap) that's going to help with the execution of that goal! No more late night internal struggles deciding whether or not I should drag myself upstairs and bask in the glow of the screen, holed up in the computer nook whilst the rest of my family is gathered in the living room, or sleep deprivation threatens my brain function. Nope, now I can take those internal struggles with me wherever I go, and find new excuses to interfere with blogging!

Here are some highlights from 2015 before I blinked, and the year was over...

In January, Audrie celebrated her 14th birthday just two weeks after Christmas.  We also took the older two kids skiing for the first time, and ourselves skiing for the first time in 15 years. Now if there's two things I really don't like, it's heights and being cold, so you can imagine the stress I felt in the weeks leading up to this trip. I literally had a stomachache for two weeks. We skied Winter Park, Colorado, and the kids had a blast. In fact, they had so much fun, we're going again this year. Hello stress, my old friend.

*blink*

February I attended the Austin SCBWI Conference, and gained some much needed confidence in my work, and had an amazing critique with picture book author/illustrator Tom Lichtenheld.

*blink*

March meant a week of SXSW, an amazing, yet extremely exhausting experience. The highlight? Seeing Spoon perform, up close, and hanging out with the Mowgli's  before they took to the stage.

*blink*

Finn turned 9 in April, we celebrated Easter on the farm, and I  attended another SCBWI conference in Houston and heard the delightful Kelly Light speak about her journey into children's book publishing.

      

  

*blink*

You might have heard about our vacation to the Cayman Islands back in May, and Jonathan's passport fiasco. I'm not sure if enough time has passed yet for this experience to be funny.

*blink* 

In June, we celebrated Jonathan's 35th birthday, and we welcomed a new cousin-in-law to our crazy family. Thankfully, our nutty antics didn't scare Lindsay away. In fact, she just jumped right into the insanity and made herself at home. 

*blink*

Towards the close of June, our family suffered enormous heartache with the loss of my cousin, McLean. We grew up together, half of my childhood we lived right next door to each other. After high school, Mac went into the Marines, and traveled the world, and although we weren't as close in our adult life, those childhood roots ran deep. It's so hard to accept that he's gone. I've been so amazed, though, by the strength of his parents, sister, and fiance'  through this grief. Even though we miss him terribly, we find solace in the fact that we'll see him again. Mac, you were, are, and will forever be in our hearts.

*blink*

In July, we watched fireworks, went to a long overdue family reunion, and my baby boy celebrated his third birthday. Oh, August, you've added so much joy to our lives.

*blink*

In August, Jonathan and I went on a spontaneous trip to Miami to celebrate 15 years of marriage, and also surprised my brother to bid him farewell before he moved to Mexico for a couple of years. "Cause, you know...two birds.

*blink*

September meant the start of school, and venturing into the uncharted waters of homeschooling through high school. Sure, thousands of others have already made that journey, but it feels so scary when it's your own child. Audrie started taking some classes through a school called One Day Academy, and I'm happy to report that she's flourishing. Finn continued in Classical Conversations, and all three kids and I are still involved in our homeschool co-op. 

By the end of September, I finished illustrating another picture book, Varla's Gift, by Jeff R. Smith. It's now published and available for purchase.

*blink*

In October, Audrie attended her first homecoming dance, we went to the Space Center in Houston, and I started taking a picture book writing class with the lovely and amazing Liz Garton Scanlon. If you are an aspiring picture book writer, I highly recommend this class at the Writing Barn.  Plus, we dressed up for Halloween.

*blink*

November meant the start of phase two of a giant mural project for my church and the completion of illustrations for another picture book, which I will post more about once it's published. We made a trip to my hometown, I wrapped up my writing classes, celebrated my 29th birthday for the seventh year in a row, and dove head first into the holidays.

*blink*

In December, Finn competed with a team of friends in the First Lego League Lego robotics competition. I am happy to report that they advanced to regionals!

*blink*

Audrie and Finn wrapped up a year of piano lessons with beautiful performances at their Christmas recital. 

*blink*

We celebrated no less than six Christmases, some loud and crazy, some calm and quiet, but all worth it to spend precious time with family. 

*blink, blink*

And finally, we rang in the new year with friends...dinner and dancing.
*blink, blink, blink*

...and here we are, four days into January, and I'm still trying to finish my New Years resolutions for 2015. 

I don't want to blink and have another year zoom by. My main goal for 2016 is to be present and enjoy my time spent with these precious three...

Happy New Year! I hope the months ahead are filled with an abundance of joy!

xo

nessa dee

Meet Nigel and Mr. Turtle

I met a couple of new characters yesterday. This is Nigel and Mr. Turtle. This wasn't our first meeting. Nigel popped up in my sketchbook last week, and Mr. Turtle joined him during church on Sunday. (I listen to the sermons better if my hand is busy...honest) They were so cute, I had to see what they would look like in color with their matching outfits. 

And now I'm introducing them to you. :)

xo

nessa dee

Materials used: Acrylic paint, scrapbook paper, glue, and embroidery thread.

Holidaze

I can't believe we're at the end of 2014 already. This year went by in a blink. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are gearing up for the new year. I'm ready to take 2015 by force. You should see the giant lists I wrote on our three hour drive back home from visiting family.

The holidays were a bit hectic for us, as I'm sure they are for most, but this December was exceptionally busy. I went on five different trips, over the course of three weeks mostly to visit family. It was exhausting, but worth it. Four of our trips took us to different parts of the Lone Star State, but the fifth was a last minute trek to New York City. Jonathan had to be there for work, so in a hasty decision, we flew up early together to spend a weekend in the Big Apple to see it adorned for the holidays. It was a whirlwind of a weekend with a big surprise, which I'll tell you more about in a future post.  For now, though, I hope you have a safe and happy new year!

Happy 2015!

xo

nessa dee