Falling Out of 2021

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

My favorite middle grade heroine said it best, and I really do love October. Maybe it's because I'm a fall baby, or maybe it's because Halloween is one of my absolute favorite holidays. The tenth month of 2021 proved to be very eventful for my little family. The really big news is that my long-time fella, Shawn, proposed. 

On the publishing front my first feature article for Cricket Media's Muse Magazine dropped this month! I'm really stoked about this as I grew up reading many of Cricket's magazine and love that they remain to be an ad-free space for kids. You can purchase this edition, or get an annual subscription here. 

This year I tried Inktober for the first time and really enjoyed it. It took a while for me to get my sketching muscles back. I loved drawing as a kid. I drew before I wrote. I was the kid who’s mom had to teach her to write early because she was tired of dictating all the toddler stories I told her so she could keep up with the illustrations I sped through. I was the kid that got every art award at all the schools I went to until I graduated 8th grade. Art was easy for me, it came naturally and then for some reason I can’t really figure out, I put my art aside. Coming back to it over a quarter century later is humbling. I’m so out of practice. My sketch skills aren’t close to what they were, but that’s what I like about Inktober. The stakes are low and it’s all about creating a drawing practice. I’ve gotten better at sticking to my writing practice now I’m getting this pursuit started. I’d love to eventually illustrate my #ChapBook. This has been such a great way to start a real drawing practice. Next I’m gearing up for #NanNoWriMo project which starts Monday.

✍️🎨🖌