I took this picture while out for a walk last March. This character sits in front of a house just a few blocks away. I like walking around our neighborhood and taking pictures of things people put in their yards (though I only take pictures that don't require pointing the camera directly at someone's home). …
One problem about writing about a girl in high school is that I haven't been in high school since 1986. In the manuscript I've been working on, my main character pulls a fire alarm at school. She does so on impulse, in one of those it seemed like a good idea at the time impulses. …
My mother drew the unicorn. I can't draw like her. I've always wanted to, but have yet to manage it. Do you compare yourself to your parents? Is there something either on of them did that you wish you could do? My mother started to write a novel. She had only a few chapters written …
Some friends may think this is aimed at them. It isn't. They may have inspired me, but that's not the same thing. When was the last time you changed your mind? I don't mean you decided not to have your usual Monday breakfast. I mean, you changed your mind about the death penalty, abortion, climate …
Whenever someone mentions bees, I want to shout, "The bees are disappearing!" If you're a Doctor Who fan, you'll understand. But the point now is that I'm illustrating a children's book about bees. I've never drawn bees before, so this is a challenge. This might sound crazy, but most of the time, I don't actually …
When I first wanted to be a writer (back when I was eight, I think), I knew nothing about the publishing industry. I didn't understand how agents worked or what it took to get a book to readers. A few years ago a young man told me he wanted to write a book so that …
I've been ignoring my blog. Maybe I mean neglecting. I'm supposed to be figuring a website for my art and all that. People ask me, "Do you have a website?" I feel most failure-esque to say, "I have a blog." I mean, you can't sell art on this thing. Sure, someone could leave me a …
Continue reading Resistance isn’t always futile. Sometimes it stops progress for years.
Some people promise to diet or to exercise every day or to be more patient. Do you do that? Swear you're going to be different and somewhere between three minutes and three days that is all shot to hell? Mine is that I'm going to be less neurotic. I've been trying to come up with …
Do you ever google people from your past? Hmmm? Well, okay. So. I set my novel in 1985 because that's when I was a teen and because I didn't want to deal with cell phones and google. I used my hometown as a starting point for my novel. But then my fictional town of Lake …
In high school I spent one year on the yearbook staff. I started the class really excited, and I ended the class hoping never to speak of it again. When my mother saw the section I'd worked on--the advertising section, which I hated but did work hard on--she said, "That doesn't look very good. That's …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 