Hi, I recently found this site, and I'm glad. It's just what I need--something for both the published and unpublished, the writer and the illustrator (or both). Already I've learned things.
I currently live in South Carolina, but have lived oh, in a lot of places--New Jersey, Arkansas, Texas, Utah, California, Germany (my husband is a German professor), Chile, Illinois.... So, I don't know where I'm really "from," but all the places give me ideas for writing, so I guess that's good.
As to writing, I've always wanted to be a writer. In the meantime I've done editing and illustrating for a university independent study program, taught ESL (English as a Second Language), and also college-level Spanish. Right now I am a full-time mom with a kindergartner and a 3 and almost 2-year old. LOTS of fodder for picture books, but finding an uninterrupted period of time to do it is difficult, to say the least. (The natives don't sleep. EVER.) YA is my real goal, but so far it's more practical (possible?) to work on shorter stuff. Not that you don't have to work just as hard, but after the initial draft is done, I can revise in small units of time all split up. Longer fic just seems to require great, sweeping periods of time (or at least an hour that doesn't also include toddler conversation). I've just started sending things out, and gotten my first form rejection. (Henry Holt is pretty fast--about a month--in case you are wondering.) Still waiting on some other pb manuscripts. So far I'm just sending text, but I really would like to be a writer/illustrator--it just seems that those kind of books just work better (from the reader's point of view--I realize it can be a hairy issue for submissions). Thanks for the site!