Book Release & Summer Update
Happy summer!
Personal updates forthcoming, but first, exciting business: yesterday I received my contributor copies to the gorgeous new book Field Guide to Graphic Literature, published by Rose Metal Press and edited by brilliant educators & cartoonists Kelcey Ervick and Tom Hart. I’m honored to have a chapter in the book called “The Problem of the Page,” where I think through how panel composition and page design can affect comic storytelling. This project has been in the ether for a few years after Covid delays, so I was thrilled to get my hot little hands on the book itself and begin reading everyone else’s contributions. What an honor it is to be a part of such a thoughtful, practical, and insightful book!
The Field Guide to Graphic Literature pub date is July 18 but you can pre-order here, and if you’re in the Chicago area I’m going to be joining a book release event in Evanston on August 17 at Bookends and Beginnings. See you there!
Today is the first day of my kids’ summer camp, so I’m able to sit down and think and work for the first time in a month. I used to aim for balance over the course of a day or week, but I’m learning that this is the rhythm suits me well—I’m an all-in kind of person, “balance” stresses me out. I truly delighted in being all-in on almost four weeks of summer fun, and I also recognize the immense privilege I hold in being able to temporarily work aside and just spend time with my kids. We spent a long weekend in St Louis visiting my in-laws, going to the zoo and Grant’s Farm; I got my 5 and 7 year olds their first library cards and instituted a weekly trip to get new books; taught my 7 year old how to ride a bike without training wheels; caught frogs and minnows and butterflies in creeks, went to the beach, drove out to farmland to pick strawberries, stayed up late on weekends for movie nights, did slip & slide and kiddie pool afternoons, and on and on. We also had three day-long doctor appointments for my medically complex kid, 4 days of a brutal stomach bug that happened to overlap with 4 days of toxic wildfire smoke sitting on top of the midwest, and an outside birthday party that was brought inside because of torrential rain that flooded Chicago. Life is so full! I love it! I reckon if we do nothing else all summer and they just sit around the house, I’ll have done my job of Making Summer Happen. I’m also physically very tired, mentally sluggish, and eager to get back to the projects that have been getting dusty while I was getting sun-tired.
One thing from this summer marathon worth sharing: my daughter turned 5 this past Sunday, and per the tradition I made up, I made a portrait of her surrounded by the things she loves right now. These portraits are usually somewhat realistic (I try my best to varying degrees of success), but this year my daughter asked to PLEASE be represented as Joan of Arc (her hero) riding a rainbow unicorn (the main character in her favorite improvised bedtime stories). I pulled out my metallic & pearlescent watercolors and was tickled with how it turned out!
She also asked for…a volcano cake? “You know mom, like a BIG volcano. Like Krakatoa!” I’m not a Pinterest Parent, but I reckon you only turn five once, this is primo age to be really invested in a novelty cake, and I like making cool shit, so I figured it out. I baked and stacked a mini bunt cake on top of a regular sized bunt cake, hid a cup in the lower cavity to hold dry ice, and made a chimney out of tin foil so when I poured in the warm water to activate the ice it wouldn’t get the cake wet. I also made vanilla cupcakes with orange and red batter swirled together for a lava field. Total success!
I have a script to work on this month (not able to share details yet) and a lot of prep work to do for exciting activities on deck for the fall (details later this week or next week). I’m also sitting on a short comic that I finished in the late spring and submitted to a publication over a month ago, and submittable just says “received;” I’m trying to decide when to pitch it to other publications, but hopefully I’ll be able to share that one here soon too. In the mean time, here are a few scattered diary comics that I haven’t shared yet.
Enjoy your summer!
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That portrait is such a lovely tradition! And whoa, that cake is Pinterest-worthy.