Thursday, January 6, 2011

One Hundred Drawings

It takes a long time to make a book, months... sometimes years. I've been inking like a printer's devil putting together one hundred drawings that are going into a new book called Haunted Histories. The first book will be about castles, dungeons and palaces.


My writing partner, J. H. Everett, is a historian and we are checking and double checking to make sure everything is accurate. We are using professional historical methods to present the information, something kids usually don't have access to until early college.

There are so many details. It's like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. We are also checking and double checking to make sure the book is read-worthy. Will a kid find this book funny, relevant, interesting? I sure hope so. We've managed to pack it full of information about what kid's lives were like through the ages, which I'm finding were less then stellar.

Today we are scanning the rest of the artwork and compiling it into a giant packet to send to our editor.

What time in history would you like to visit for a day?

Marilyn.

7 comments:

  1. December 8, 1813, to see Beethoven conduct the premiere of his Seventh Symphony (a personal favorite), at a charity event for wounded soldiers. On the same day, I would like to skip forward in time to 1948, and listen to the same symphony played on my grandfather's record player, while he and I play chess together - one of my favorite memories.

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    1. Love your memory!
      I share your interest as my father & his father were pianists

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  2. Marcia! That sounds lovely.

    I'd go to Concord in the 1840's to hear Ralph Waldo Emerson speak, then go back to his house to hang out with Margaret Fuller, the Alcotts, and Thoreau to eat pie.

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  3. They would, each one, enjoy your company!

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  4. And I theirs... I love the Concord writers.

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  5. I'd like to hear Lincoln give the Gettysburg address. I'd also like to meet Louisa May Alcott - my favorite author of all time. Finally, I'd like to spend a day on a riverboat with Sam Clemmens.
    As for whether kids will like the book - I think you'll have a lot of boys enjoying it. My son and his buddies were seriously into knights and castles and stuff when they were kids. We have a castle nearby that was moved from Ireland to New Hampshire and in Magnolia, MA there is the Hammond Castle, a castle that is made up of bits and pieces of castles from all over the world. My son and his friends loved to go there. Let us know how things go with the book

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  6. I'd love to visit with Galileo the day he first pointed a telescope to the skies!!
    Clear Skies!!

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