I can remember moments in my childhood when I was doing some bizarre thing or another and I would happen to catch my parents watching me. They wouldn’t say anything; maybe chuckle or smile. I’d ask “what?” but they’d never reply. They would just have that look. I now understand that thoughtful gaze. I look at my boys the same way sometimes and I just think, “Wow… What lies ahead?” I wonder what paths they will choose…who they will become… what kind of lives they will lead… but most often, I wonder what fire will burn deep inside of them. What will be the thing that drives them? What will be their great passions in life?… Will they pursue them?
Monthly archives for January, 2010
good help is hard to keep
Dillon resigned as my illustrator the other day. He said he was retiring, getting out of the game… or something like that. He’d gone through about 5 pages of illustrations, and the mood suddenly left him. He was tired of carrying the weight of the team…now I’ll have to farm it out somehow. It’s a shame, because they were good pictures too… he translated the activities in the story perfectly and caught the main focus in each section with his renderings. Where am I going to find another illustrator that can bring my words to life like he did? and one who will work for snickerdoodles and pez? Dang child labor laws. Alas, another talent burnt out at an early age.
a path for 2010
I love new years…not so much because they bring an opportunity to start over, but because they add new layers of life and mystery and chance over the trials, lessons, and accomplishments of previous years. There is a certain optimism associated with opening your eyes for the first time on the morning of a new year. Even though I awoke in much the same way the 364 times prior, I had an old feeling of wonder and calm this morning that reminded me it was the dawn (or, more accurately mid morning) of a new year… a new decade. My mind started to churn through the possibilities of what this new era might hold, and Jaden ambled in. READ MORE »

