September will always be my favorite month, and not just because it’s my birthday month and when school starts. I now have a high schooler (it’s going well, phew!) and for the first time in many years, my kids are in two different schools. It’s been great to get everyone back on a structured schedule and I’m trying to hold onto a few summer tricks to keep things fresh in my studio. First, I’m still planning on working in a coffee shop one morning a week. Second, I’m trying to make time for my sketchbook in the early evenings - not always possible with a busy household and deadlines, but I’m trying! And third, I am still writing each morning, although it’s not quite a three-page morning pages standard, it’s enough for me to refocus.
And now for the big book news…
I’m so excited to spend this fall/winter working on THE KING OF BOOKS. I know I’ll be sharing little peeks here as the months go on. I’m already looking forward to VERY DRAMATIC readings of this with students: a main character with a BIG personality, an adorable supporting cast, humor, mistakes, and theatrical surprises. And books. So many books to draw for this book.
When I was thinking of what land creature to share this month (I try to rotate between land, sky, and sea!) I couldn’t stop thinking about hermit crabs. My daughter and I were going for beach walks at night recently and we kept making fun discoveries. One night we crashed a massive hermit crab party! I’ve never seen them at our beach at all, and there were so many of them. The next night? Gone. The party had moved on without us. But I learned a few cool facts about them, and your students can learn too.
It also seemed like a fun chance to get creative with shell and home design. I’d love to see what your students come up with. You could even cut these out and make a whole hermit crab party scene for your classroom!
I am wrapping up a summer celebrating the release of Mini Doodles with one last event. I’ll be teaching a drawing workshop at Portsmouth Public Library on Saturday, September 30th at 2pm. G.Willikers will be on hand to sell books. I’ll have some book art on display and I will have a short Q&A to talk with everyone about making books. Find out more about the event, here. See below for a fun group photo from the Camden, Maine book festival last month.
I also just sent out a batch of postcards to local school librarians to spread the word about my school visits. I’ve always relied on word-of-mouth and the bookings from CLiF but I thought it was time to get the word out in a more traditional marketing way. You can read more about my school visits here. I usually visit schools that I can easily drive to or do a virtual visit, but reach out if you’d like to have me visit you in a further location.
READING: I just finished the graphic novel Wildfire by Breena Bard. It’s beautiful - heartfelt, moving, and handles climate change in an age-appropriate way.
WATCHING: My daughter and I watched the live action series, ONE PIECE, on Netflix.
LISTENING: I started listening to a serialized fiction podcast called BREAKER WHISKEY - I love the super short format. Each episode is just 3 minutes. I’m only six episodes in but It feels like an old-time radio version of The Last Man on Earth.
As always, I’d love to see drawings from the worksheets. You can reach out here, or email me: ginacarey @ comcast . net
Congrats, Gina! Sounds like a wonderful book--can't wait to read it! :)
Congratulations on your new book deal! Very exciting! 📚👑🎉✨