Goat on a Trike

 

Ok, this one's because I need a laugh. I found it on my computer recently, but this is a doodle I drew a long time ago for a friend who used to jokingly say "Do my homework!"  And whenever she said that, I would grab a pen and scribble something as silly as I could come up with on the nearest piece of paper (usually a cafeteria napkin, but this one happened to survive and be scanned because it was on an actual piece of printer paper), label it "So-and-so's Homework, by Elizabeth," and hand it to her. That particular time we had been talking about goats and bicycles for some reason....

Edit: This sketch is now available on a coffee mug, just because. Find it here.

The Angel's Name--Inspiration

The angel in this picture next to the printed copy of The Angel's Name is the one from my grandpa's tree--it actually used to be on top of my grandma's electric organ around Christmas when I was a kid, and I have a foggy memory of insisting that she ought to have a name. I don't remember how old I was, but for some reason I thought she looked like either a Susie or a Betty....  My grandma told me that she didn't need a name, but that might have been because I wanted to name the angel before eating a dinner that was already getting cold! It was some kind of awkward time for it, at least, though I don't remember precisely why. She isn't made of glass, obviously (she's wire and netting with a plastic head and a few miniature light bulbs), but she does seem to be part of the inspiration for the angel in the story.  Anyway, a tree topper angel with no name was the first thing that popped into my head a few years ago when a third-grader handed me a pencil and demanded that I write a story on the spot. I only had about five minutes before I was scheduled to work in a different classroom, but I took the pencil and scribbled down what eventually became the first page of text in The Angel's Name.

The Angel's Name--Available!

It's done! The Angel's Name (click to see the listing) is finally available to order. It's only possible to get it directly from CreateSpace at the moment, but it's supposed to also show up on Amazon in 3-5 business days. Royalties are better for books ordered from CreateSpace, anyway (fewer middlemen), but of course more people have an Amazon account.  I keep  meaning to post pictures of the proof copies, but I've been rather busy. There were quite a few changes that I needed to make to the illustrations after I saw how they actually printed out, and I thought that since I just missed Christmas with this book I might as well try to get it out by New Year's.  There were also a few formatting changes, but I'm pretty happy with it now. It feels great to have finished the project!