contests, chickens, jury duty, and a ton of industry links

Guess where I am today (today being tomorrow, but I'm posting this early)?



While I’m away, the chickens have asked me to remind everyone that the deadline for their contest is Thursday, May 7, at 10pm EST. What can you win? The coolest little ceramic sculpture of a skeleton in a chicken suit, like the ones in the picture with me above (see below for a real picture).

All you have to do is comment on this post and tell me what you will name your chicken and his little sidekick. A random drawing picks the winner, and 2 bonus prizes will be awarded for the most creative names that aren’t picked in the drawing. Here’s a picture of the ceramic chicken – isn’t he cute?



Since I’m going to be having fun at jury duty all day (and maybe several more days … I hope not), I thought I’d leave some fun links for you all to check out.

Over at The Five Randoms, Amanda Marrone talks about her hook compared to her agent's hook for her first book, UNINVITED. You should check this out if you're subbing to editors or agents.

There's an auction/benefit for author and teen librarian, Bridget Zinn, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

There are a ton of art director and publisher interviews on childrensillustrators.com. If you're looking for who likes what, art-wise, check them out.

Like contests and have a great opeining? There's an openings contest at The Write Game blog - winner receives first chapter critique.

Want to see a video of author/illustrator Meghan McCarthy painting? It's posted it on the Blue Rose Girls blog. It's really cool - check it out!

Editor Cheryl Klein blogged about the process behind editing the book, MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD.

If you want to make graphic novels, here are some great tutorials from Kazu Kibuishi:
Flatting (preparing line art to color in Photoshop) and a step by step making of his online comic, Copper

I read 2 great webcomics articles recently, the first one is on Visual and Technological Advances in Comics, and the second one is about Author-Reader Relationships and Finances.

Enjoy the links and don't forget to enter the contest to win your very own ceramic chicken. What will you name him or her and the sidekick?