"And the Winner is....."

I recently submitted my newest book entitled "At the End of the Day" for nomination to The Minnesota Book Awards. I haven't received my official e-mail  confirmation yet, but I'm fairly confident that my package of five books with nomination form and entry fee have made it safely to St. Paul, MN.  

I go into this with the full realization that I haven't got the slightest chance in hell of ever winning this thing, but I figure that at least it will get some good exposure for my new book. I'm not trying to be overly modest or anything here, I'm just being realistic. Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised...but don't count on it.

We all like to be recognized for our talents. Most artist, whether they admit to it or not, can trace their passion for what they do back to a need to be noticed. I can trace my own  identity as an artist back to kindergarten when my teacher gathered the entire class around me during art period and proclaimed  "Looks like we have quite the little artist here!"  I had found my purpose.

Randolph Caldecott

In the world of children's book illustration, the Randolph Caldecott Medal is as good as it gets. Winning the Caldecott gives an illustrator instant recognition, countless new admirers and a whole lot of reasons to be noticed!  When my first book "I Hear the Wind" was in production, I dreamed about it somehow beating the odds and winning the Caldecott! My rise to the top of the literary world would be the stuff of legend! My name would suddenly be mentioned in the same context as Maurice Sendak, Chris Van Allsburg or David Wiesner. I would be immortal! I then read the submission guidelines... 

Only hardcover books were eligible for consideration. My book had been hastily released in softcover after being delayed for almost two years, I was in fact, ineligible. I was crushed. It was eligible for The Minnesota Book Awards, much to my relief, and so I sent it in hoping for the best.  And guess what? It didn't win a thing! Not even honorable mention!!


And so again I will try for literary immortality and hope the judges decide in my favor. This book was released in hardcover, so I may even submit it for the Caldecott Medal this year. Keep your fingers crossed...but don't hold your breath!





 

"My Little Corner of the World"

This is what I call my creative place, my atelier...my studio.

In this little 5 x 6 ft. space, tucked neatly between the upstairs railing and the wall, I sit and create artwork for my various book projects. The space itself could be considered wasted space by most people, I suppose one could shove a dresser or bookcase back there, but it just seems a little, oh I don't know...out of the way.

My drafting table was a cast off from my wife's workplace, no one else wanted it, so she brought it home. It fits perfectly between the railing and the wall! My cheap, imitation wood, three drawer filing cabinet, (I've had that thing for years, I think I bought it at Shopko) also fit like a glove. Even the office chair was a freebie...my entire studio just sort of fell together, a bunch of rejects that fit perfectly in a wasted space, just wonderful!

I have a little radio/cd player tucked under the drafting table for music, though I usually hear every sound that goes on downstairs from the open stairwell directly to my right anyways, I've dropped more than a few paintbrushes and pencils down those stairs. I have a window a little off to the right as well, we had to put a tiny jog in the railing to compensate for it, otherwise the railing would have ended up in the middle of said window. But that's okay! That tiny jog allowed the perfect spot for my cheap, imitation wood, Shopko filing cabinet. Things do happen for a reason.

And so there I sit, wedged in the corner between the stairway and an over sized dresser at the end of our upstairs bedroom. It is rather cozy I must say, sometimes a bit of a squeeze to maneuver around in that tiny space, considering that I am not the most compact person on the face of the earth. But it's my space, my place to create, to paint, to think...to dream. I should really go there more often, but sometimes the ambition to get up there needs a little prodding.

I sorely realize that I would be a much better artist if I would only sit down and sketch once in awhile, just do a painting for God's sake!! I seem to be a binge artist... I can spend months away from my drawing board, but once I get in the groove of doing some illustrations I can spend countless hours involved in my work. I feel a little rusty at first, but as soon as I get back into the swing of things I seem to make some artistic progress. But once the project it complete, I'll be gone for another couple months, that just seems to be my way of doing things.

Typically I get back into the mood to paint at this time of year, which seems to be happening now, I've got a number of illustrative ideas running around in my head right at this very instant!!

I hope to tackle an older story this winter, I created a number of illustrations for this story in the past...most of which don't impress me anymore. I thought I was done with this story a couple years back, but now I know I can do better...it's time to get back into that wasted space and start working again!!

"November"

I had forgotten about November, with her lonely grey eyes, she waits in silence for her time to begin. She has always been known as a rather quiet child, so somber, so patient, so glum.

Who can compare to October and the splendor of fall or the spectacle we call Halloween. November has charms, though they are earthy and quiet, more of a feeling than things that are seen.

I had forgotten about November, with her soft cloudy hair, it covered the sun like a shroud. She speaks in a voice that is often times mute, but some times it rumbles and howls!

So we welcome November as she slowly glides in, like a fog or a mist or a rain. For the time of November is a time to reflect... a time to remember again.

"My New Book Has Arrived!!!"

Well...here it is!!!  Fresh from the printer and ready for the best seller list! Well at least hopefully to a bookstore near you.

It was a long wait, but I'm thrilled with how well it turned out, the colors are fantastic!  My next plan of action is to send it out for hopefully some good reviews and to submit it to the Minnesota Book Awards and hope they see some merit in it. Would be a nice honor to win, can't say my chances are all that great, but you never know unless you try.


This book was originally slated for release last spring, but due to circumstances beyond our control, it was delayed until late October. 

So to all my loyal fans out there, here it is...enjoy!!!!

"Lives Well Spent"

Ernest Peter

I was saddened to hear the news of the death of Mr. Ernest Peter last week. Ernest left this earth after 93 well spent years, quite an envious accomplishment in my book.  
Ernest, along with his wife Judith, have been the driving force behind Stemmer House Publishers since 2003. It was also that same year that Stemmer House agreed to publish my first book entitled "I Hear the Wind", it would be the first book for the new ownership. 

Craig Thorn IV

The editor-in-chief at that time was Mr. Craig Thorn IV. It was Craig who first showed interest in my work. Every other publishing house I submitted "I Hear the Wind" to sent me rejection letters, but Craig saw something in those black and white illustrations that he liked.  
Not only was he the acting editor at Stemmer House, he was also a member of the English department at Phillips Academy in Andover. 
The e-mails and phone conversations we shared while editing this book were an exciting learning experience for me. He made me feel like my words were actually worth reading. He made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could be a writer. 
It was after the editing process was finished and the book was in production that Craig informed me that due to health issues he wouldn't be active in the day to day operations anymore, that was in late April...he died of cancer in June.

Both these men gave me an opportunity at something I had only dreamed of, a chance to be published and a chance to share my words and pictures with the world. 

After Craig died, Ernest believed enough in my work to publish two more of my books, with the prospect of doing a fourth. Now with his passing, his wife Judith seems poised to carry on. I haven't heard any definite plans, but they are moving forward with my newest book entitled "At the End of the Day".  Time will tell as to what will be the future of Stemmer House, I can always speculate...but that would be a waste of time.

For now, I take time to salute these two men who believed in me and decided to give me a chance. 

For this...I am forever grateful. 

Thank you.

"So When Is This New Book Coming Out?"

Okay...so I lied. The new book didn't come out in late spring like I promised, it didn't come out in early summer, or even mid summer!  And the way things look, late summer is looking pretty frickin' shaky as well. Let's face it, I have no idea when this thing is going to see the light of day!!

Well that's not exactly true. I was informed by my wonderful compositor Michel Newkirk that it was indeed either going to or is at a printer somewhere in the U.S.A. That much I know is true. So I will sit and wait with the rest of the world until that fateful day when my twelve author copies (as stipulated in my contract mind you!) arrive on my doorstep. Michel has been a wonder through this whole project, my lifeline to the status of my book. She has supplied me with countless e-mails that have led me through the entire lay-out process for the book, for that I am forever grateful!

The proofs she sent me were amazing! I'm really excited to see this thing become real and not just a PDF file on my computer. My only hope is that the printer is able to do justice to the full, deep color of the original artwork, something I was not totally over joyed with on my last book entitled "Still (A Winter's Journey)". "Still" looked okay...sort of like old sepia tone photographs. But when I realized how much of the varied blues tones didn't come through in the final printing, I was a little heart broken.

But I've come to realize, unfortunately, that sometimes things don't work out they way you would like them to. 
I wish my first book entitled "I Hear the Wind" would have been released in hardcover as originally planned. Even my publisher has agreed to that fact, he now admits that not releasing that book in hardcover was a mistake. 
I wish that at least one of my books would have been included in the Library of Congress catalog, all the other books released by Stemmer House at the same time were, but not mine. 
I wish my publisher would be a little more motivated on my newest book. They haven't even submitted an image to Amazon yet for the books page, and the book description from the publisher states... "Reflections on the passing of summer's day."  REALLY?!! That's the best you could come up with?!! I was extremely underwhelmed with that lack of effort. They even had the title of the book listed wrong...it's called "AT the End of the Day" not "The End of the Day".
I wish my books could have had more national exposure and been sent to Publisher's Weekly or Booklist for review. I am eternally grateful to the smaller yet just as important book review sites that have reviewed my books, but getting a starred review from Booklist can have libraries all over the country buying your books.

I'm sorry for coming off as a bit of a sour puss on this subject, I guess I've dealt with and accepted these realities over the last five years, I should keep listening to those inner voices that tell me..."You should consider yourself lucky and be grateful for all the success you've had... at least you've been able to get published!!!!" But sometimes isn't it nice to maybe, just maybe, get what you really want instead of settling with what you're given? Maybe on the next book...

So when is the new book coming out? Hopefully soon...I'll try to keep you posted!!!  

Take care
Greg 

"Where Has The Time Gone!"

It suddenly dawned on me one day...don't I have a blog or something like that out there?  I seemed to have woefully forgotten about this whole blog thing I started. 

So I decided I'd better revisit this thing and see if I even remember how to post on here. Obviously I did, so here goes nothing.

I am currently wrapping up work on my newest book entitled "At The End Of The Day" which will tentatively be released some time this spring...most likely late spring, say like sometime in June. The editing process went on a little longer than I'd like, a lot of major changes where made, but I think we finally reached an agreement on the text.  I then set about the task of doing the illustrations, which included rethinking some of the already completed illustrations. I needed to see if they still fit into the revamped manuscript.

Being able to work on this full time would have been wonderful, but since I'm restricted to working on this in the evening and on weekends, my time is somewhat limited. The process went well and I am now working on the final illustration, I'm thinking it will involve fireflies, something magical and captivating I hope.


I have posted above a close-up from one of the newest illustrations. It involves dandelions as you can see and it really turned out well in my opinion. So I hope to finish up soon and get this all off to my publisher so they can get this book going. 


Well, I'd best close here, but I promise to keep all of my loyal blog fans up to date with all things Greg Budig!! You are eight of the greatest blog followers around!!!!


take care
Greg