Q: Give us a short synopsis of the book.
\nA: Paint the Night is a picture book where I illustrated with watercolor paintings a poem that I wrote about a young boy who employs his imagination and a paintbrush to overcome his nighttime fears.<\/p>\n
Q: What inspired the book?
\nA: Years ago an editor from Dial Books for Young Readers saw my artwork in Print magazine and it led to me illustrating a book of poetry. I was thrilled to have this experience but realized it would be more satisfying for me to illustrate my own words, so I found a wonderful critique group and began working on writing. Ten years later, my book King Cat was published, and I went on to write and illustrate seven books after that. Since we often write about what we know, I like to write about the creative process. I have an active imagination which can be a wonderful thing, but as with the boy in this book, it can get me into trouble sometimes. <\/p>\n
Q: What was the most enjoyable part of writing your book and what was the most difficult?
\nA: It is thrilling to come up with an idea, to receive encouragement from others, and to dream about bringing it to fruition. I love waking up and knowing there is a project waiting to be worked on. For this particular book, I enjoyed experimenting with watercolor, making it flow across the pages in a loose way, and letting the water often direct the outcome. The hard stage for me was when I neared the end, as I had new ideas for other projects, and wanted to move on to them. To stay with one concept for an entire book can require self-discipline sometimes.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you have any writing rituals?
\nA: I often get ideas and work things out when I am driving or on my daily walks.<\/p>\n
Q: People who like your book might also like …
\nA: My favorite children’s book author\/illustrator is M.B. Goffstein. I certainly was influenced by her work in my Stone, Shell, Tree and Snow Crazy books.<\/p>\n
Q: What advice would you give other authors who would like to submit their works to Fifth AvenuePress?
\nA: Try to find a supportive critique group, for people interested in children’s books I recommend joining SCBWI, and the most important thing is to read a lot and look at inspiring art. –Interview from AADL.ORG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Q: Give us a short synopsis of the book. A: Paint the Night is a picture book where I illustrated with watercolor paintings a poem that I wrote about a young boy who employs his imagination and a paintbrush to overcome his nighttime fears. Q: What inspired the book? A: Years ago an editor from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14114,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[111,120,128,129],"product_tag":[301],"class_list":["post-14113","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-children","product_cat-picture-books","product_cat-signed-editions","product_cat-staff-favorites","product_tag-tracy-gallup","product_shipping_class-priority_medium","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/14113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=14113"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=14113"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/bookshop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=14113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}