birds – My Pilgrimage to Publication and Beyond

Birds, Books, & Becoming

Now we find ourselves almost three months into our new “family situation,” and at least for now, I’d say things have gotten much better. I’ve become a bird person – more so than before – like I’ve got bird seed on Amazon Subscribe and Save. Our whole family finds so much joy watching for theContinueContinue reading “Birds, Books, & Becoming”

Mourning What’s Lost

I told myself time and time again, self: you need to go write your monthly blog post. Now here we are: it’s July. Let me catch you up… In April, I had what turned out to be a very disappointing experience, personally, at the SCBWI Conference. I had a one on one with a literaryContinueContinue reading “Mourning What’s Lost”

Flight Delays

A gif of a little gray baby bird peeking out of his nest, saying hello to spring

Peek-a-boo! Spring’s in view. Now someone tell the sun! It’s shivery BRRR without any fur. My feathery down just won’t do. “Momma!” I squirm for a slippery worm. A feast for my beak and my belly! With twinkling eyes, a springtime surprise, Mom says, “It’s your turn to learn!” “To fly?” I replied, butterflies tumbleContinueContinue reading “Flight Delays”

Bad News/Good News/Great Views

Jen riding the Ferris Wheel at the Wheeler District in Oklahoma City with the Devon Tower standing high in the background above the Oklahoma River

I went to bed last night mid anxiety attack. I received a rejection email yesterday in the early evening on this new, very personal picture book manuscript, and there was some feedback that I struggled to understand. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that I actually made sense of her words. Then IContinueContinue reading “Bad News/Good News/Great Views”

Rainbows and Rubato

A beautiful rainbow shooting out from a cloud on a dark blue and grey day in our neighborhood

Last time, I briefly mentioned my Dangerous Hope. Well, it continues. My inbox is nothing but crickets. No rejections, but also no offers. It’s hard to feel motivated to query when there’s so much out there just dangling in the wind. “What is Rubato?” you’re wondering. It’s a Musical Symbol for when the musician disregardsContinueContinue reading “Rainbows and Rubato”

Season of Hope

Jen's favorite pond, that is short on water due to the hot summer conditions. Jen and her neighbor were trying to add water from a nearby well but really we should have prayed for rain.

When I comes to my Pilgrimage, I’m in a season of waiting. For just over a week I’ve been querying agents again. Averaging maybe two a day, with a very slow trickle of rejections coming through…which fills me with dangerous hope. In the meantime, I’ve been obsessing over our backyard pond. It’s drying up andContinueContinue reading “Season of Hope”

Fortunate Finds

Jen's laptop computer with a stack of picture books from the library with two new books, "Guide to How to Hook an Agent" and another new book about writing for children

Now, back to my Pilgrimage… I mentioned in Whimsy and Whiskey Part 2 that I’d discovered some helpful resources. They were things I found along the way that then brought my querying to a halt – at least until I could say, Ok, I am educated on this matter now. Because apparently, I didn’t haveContinueContinue reading “Fortunate Finds”

The Shocking Illustration Negation

Water color by Jennifer Anyong including a great blue heron in a cowboy hat and a lasso and a turtle with a hankerchief

And in a strange turn of events, I just had a literary agent give me FEEDBACK, which completely negated my last post, Illustration Experimentation! She said, “I would continue looking at ways for you to illustrate your own work – that would be a great tool for you as you build your career.” WHAT!!!!!???? IContinueContinue reading “The Shocking Illustration Negation”

Illustration Experimentation

Water color paintings by Jennifer Anyong including a great blue heron, a turtle, a duck, and a monarch butterfly

Seth Godin is to blame. He gave me the confidence to visually bring life to my picture book. I began reading Godin’s book, The Practice: Shipping Creative Work at the beginning of the summer and my creativity just got away from me! I started with these nice colored pencils I got for my birthday aContinueContinue reading “Illustration Experimentation”

Whimsy and Whiskey Part 1

Now to my writing journey… I got my big idea for a children’s story about a year ago now. My muse was this unique bird who I saw every morning on my walks around the pond in our neighborhood. I let him and his little story live in my head for months. I remember heContinueContinue reading “Whimsy and Whiskey Part 1”