The Craft and Writing of Children’s Picture Books

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I recently completed Dr. Mira Reisberg’s wonderful Children’s Book Academy course, The Craft and Writing of Children’s Picture Books, hosted by the lovely Dr. Mira Reisberg and Random House Associate Editor, Kelly Delaney. The course was chock-full of fabulous content and helpful information for aspiring and even established writers. It reinvigorated me to get some of the ideas floating around in my head down on paper.  I highly recommend!

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Legacy of Stoke

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Joseph Tomarchio approached me last year about contributing to his collection of short stories, Legacy of Stoke: A Collection of the Stories that Made Us Surfers (Volume 1). The instructions were pretty simple: tell a story about learning or teaching, how were you initiated, and/or how you passed on the legacy. In case it wasn’t totally obvious, I am passionate about surfing and all that it has done for me, so I gladly said yes. It was a treat to receive the bound copy last week of Volume 1. My story was included along with many other voices and experiences. It was fun to read through and hear from surfers around the world “talking story” about their experiences in the water. Some stories were similar to mine—learning to surf relatively late in life and having it change us, such as Karen Shatafian’s passage. Others were inspirational, like the one from Charlie Paradise, who was traveling down the wrong path in life when surfing saved him. Or the one from Kim Byrne, who overcame various medical complications to surf once again. Stoke fills the pages through the stories and excerpts from other books. I urge you to pick up a copy, available on Amazon.

Santa Monica Art Day Featuring Falling Rock

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My dear friend and author of The Collected Writings of A. Morkus Dog, Deborah Reilly, invited me to her Saturday children’s art class held at Santa Monica’s Virginia Avenue Park. She created a fun silhouette project based on my mother’s artwork and inspired by Falling Rock. What a fun day it was! With over 40 children and their parents stopping by and creating wonderful works of art, it felt like a total success.

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