Art imitates Life

All it needs to complete the match is the cat, a mouse and a toy train.

Happy Holidays!

Here's wishing Happy Holidays to the faithful readers of my blog!  Thanks for reading my little old blogger blog.

On the 7th day of Christmas...

On the 7th day of Christmas the USPS gave to me... 2 winners to the Goodreads giveaway. Soon copies of 'Mouse's Christmas Cookie' will be jetting off at Santa-Speed to West Virginia and North Carolina.

Meanwhile I have accomplished near biblical miracles of shopping, thanks to modern online technology. I have barely set foot in a mall. Whew!

A delightful book event at Parkplace Books

A delightful evening was had by all at the Parkplace Books holiday event in Kirkland. A group of live musicians (Ostgard) played wonderful quiet holiday music in the background while patrons nibbled cookies and sipped wine and cocoa.

I had a marvelous evening of interesting book chat with local authors. Nina Laden was there with her amazing book collection. I sat with local book makers brimming with the excitement of being an author. And why shouldn't authors get a little recognition? We spend out lives in total isolation - never getting the applause that actors or musicians receive and require to keep them inspired. Even though a picture book artist does everything that a movie-maker does - creating characters, costumes, dialogue, emotions, directing and choreography... we never get invited to any Oscar parties.

It's sad that events like this are so rare here. My neighborhood doesn't even have a bookstore anymore. So last night was wonderful to be in a place where books are as important as designer furniture.

Beware! Peter Panda may be hurtling towards you!

What's is this? A christmas tree ornament? A countdown to new years? I'd guess it's the world of Peter Panda bouncing into bookstores in the not too distant future.

Beware! In a nearby galaxy Peter Panda may be hurtling towards you! (I rarely get to use hurtling in a sentence) but in this instance it is justified.

Who says illustrators don't get Holiday parties?

Who says illustrators don't get Holiday parties? Well... after going for two decades and 30 books without a Holiday party, I've finally been invited to one. Imagine that!