Banana Peelin' with Stephen McCranie

I feel so hip having a blog. Despite my rebellious gray hairs and new-found back aches, playing a part in cyberspace makes me feel so, well, young... in touch... savvy. At least that WAS how I felt up until this last week. I just can't out-hip this week's Banana Peelin' author, Stephen McCranie. The poor soul had to deal with my constant questioning on how to download, lift, copy and paste his illustrations from  multiple links emailed to me. Eeek. I was catapulted into feeling super with-it to older than dirt in a matter of hours.

SCORE: Banana Peels  64, Elizabeth  2.

I listened to Stephen McCranie describe his experiences with children's literature on Katie Davis's, Brain Burps About Books podcast a while back. I was incredibly impressed with Stephen's success at such a young age and the creativity he demonstrated in launching his Journal Comic .

I am so drawn to comics and graphic novels as a way to reach young readers, whether they be emergent, reluctant or advanced.  They were important to both my husband and I growing up and I felt they served as a great resource to my students in the high school classroom.

I feel so lucky to share with you today the experiences of the talented, Stephen McCranie.

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Waiting is a such a big part of being a writer. The publishing world is akin to waiting in line at a theme park: You rush to get in line, wait forever, and then get on a roller coaster of victory and excitement, only to get off and race over to the next line to begin waiting again.

You wait for an agent to be interested. You wait for a publisher to call. You wait for an editor to give you corrections. You wait for your book to be published. You wait for your book to sell.

I feel like a writer who can practice patience and contentment will have overcome a majority of the struggles a writer faces. But some times it's not so easy.

A while back I was waiting and waiting and waiting, so I decided to draw a series of journal comics to keep working while I waited. Here's one of them:

I think a nice way to wait is to have side projects to keep yourself occupied.

I work on a series of children's comic books called Mal and Chad. When I am waiting for my editor to get back to me, or someone to sign something or do something so I can continue, I work on side projects. My current side project is a blog that uses comics to speak about sustaining creativity, and being a creator. This blog is called Doodle Alley, please check it out!

In whatever struggle you guys are facing, please keep on waiting. It's worth it!

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Thank you SO much Stephen for sharing your work here with us.

P.S. I, Elizabeth Stevens Omlor, promise to you, Stephen McCranie to never ask you a technical question ever again, for as long as we both shall live. =)

Me Love March

Me love March.

If you wonder why it is I am talking like a cave woman, well, I will just have to keep you in suspense for about 200 words. I do love March however. Let me tell you why:

1. It is my birth  month and I am very narcissistic.

2. It is the month of my wedding anniversary. What was I thinking having the two so close?

3. It is the beginning of spring.

EXHIBIT A

4. and therefore my incredibly brief  period of feeling motivated and productive

What does that mean?

It means, opening the windows, cleaning house, and returning dead plants to Home Depot.

For me, this time of year always calls for the marvelling of all things beautiful.  The gentle sounds of the birds filtering in through our open windows, the birds' nests resting in the bare limbs of our trees, the birds' poop ornamenting our outdoor furniture. Ahhhh.....

But what is so beautiful to me right now is the air of generosity that seems to be floating through the atmosphere as of late. Whether it is due to the fact that people are beginning to come out of hibernation mode or the fact that they are counting down the days until they too can dress up as Katniss and attend the first showing of The Hunger Games...people are being nice.

Well, in case you haven't heard, published authors apparently are people too. They slip on banana peels just like you and me! It's true! These next two months are booked with some amazingly generous children's authors. I just can't believe it. Some of the authors who will be contributing to the Banana Peel Thursday series are:

Lori Degman

Marsha Diane Arnold

Stephen McCranie (Woo hoo! Some testosterone in the house!)

Audrey Vernick

Liz Garton Scanlon

Amy Novesky

George Shannon (Woo hoo! More testosterone!)

And this week, just in time for the release of her new book, ME WANT PET!, Tammi Sauer!

That's right! Author of Chicken Dance, Mostly Monsterly and other hugely popular, delightful books for children, Tammi Sauer will be here on Thursday to tell you about a couple of slips she has made as a published author.

Please check out some other wonderful sites she will be visiting on her ME WANT PET! blog tour this week:

Monday, March 5th: Literary Friendships

Tuesday, March 6th: Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)

Wednesday, March 7th: Random Thoughts

Thursday, March 8th: Banana Peelin’ ...(That's me! Eeek! I mean, ooga!)

Friday: March 9th: Jama’s Alphabet Soup 

I don't know about you, but ME SO EXCITED!

ME LOVE MARCH.