Some Fishy Advice
In the movie Finding Nemo, Marlin and Dory have just lost their only connection to finding Nemo. Marlin is despondent but the oblivious and optimistic Dory asks “When life gets you down, do you know what you’ve got to do?” Marlin does not want to know. “Just keep swimming.” she offers, cheerfully singing it over and over.
It’s her mantra. She uses it to calm herself and give her the strength to not give up. The phrase embodies the message of resilience, hope, and perseverance in the face of challenges.
In the movie, their problems and complications continue to pile up. The solution to these problems is not clear but they keep swimming, moving forward, not giving up. They make minor headways as they go. With time, effort and good fortune,solutions present themselves and each problem is eventually overcome.
The truth is, Marlin had every reason to be negative and righteous in his anger and self pity. But if he had stayed in this state, he would never have gotten to the place where he was eventually able to find his son.
I can personally get stuck in this way of thinking, that I’m right or something isn’t fair. But life isn’t fair. The karma police aren’t showing up to right wrongs. I was complaining to my brother about not being able to find the proper sized jeans. He responded that I’d better write to my senator about it. It was a lovely burn and meaningful reminder. Do I want to spend my time complaining about whatever or accept it and move on to finding a solution?
Just keep swimming.
Favorite Thing I Drew This Month
I’m selling stickers! I liked stickers as a kid and I like stickers as an adult. Nowadays I put them on my drink bottles and sketchbooks. I’d been wanting to make my own for some time and now I’ve finally done it. I’ve made a number of different designs, a few of which you can see below. And it’s free shipping 🙂
Favorite Thing I Didn’t Draw
The Little Friends of Printmaking. JW and Melissa Buchanan are silkscreen artists. They design posters and other fun works. I came across their work at L.A. Times Festival of Books.
News
My agent reached out a couple of months ago to inform me that the publisher for Woodland Hills has decided to go in a different direction. Moving forward, they are planning on only publishing IP/licensed work. They will no longer be publishing Woodland Hills (and a number of other books they had lined up.)
Am I disappointed Woodland Hills won’t be coming out on its original release date? Yes, but that does not mean it won’t be published. My agent has been working with the publisher to wrap things up and revert the rights back to me. That is all pretty much done now. I can’t tell you how much it pays to have an amazing agent.
I will miss working with my editor. I really appreciated her thoughtful feedback and genuine love and enthusiasm for the characters and story. She really understood the heart of Woodland Hills.
In the coming weeks, we will be submitting again to different publishers. Fingers crossed that we’ll find someone new that falls in love with it. I can’t wait for the world to see Woodland Hills!
Just keep swimming!
Family Stuff
We went to the aforementioned L.A. Times Festival of Books again this year and had a grand time. It was a perfect day for being outdoors. We did a lot of walking, had ice cream, bought lots of children’s books and even a few for ourselves.
The festival is quite large in scale and separated into different areas by category. There’s a graphic novel/comic book section and a really large children’s section. I wonder what it would be like to exhibit there. I chatted with an exhibitor and he said it was over $1000 for a booth. That is a lot of books to sell just to make that back. Not sure how cost effective that is for individuals and small publishers. That foot traffic is quite impressive. Who knows, maybe someday?
Thanks for reading!
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