Not all writing work happens from brain to keyboard in a neat, linear process.

It is my experience that the best creations come from collaboration. And when really good collaboration happens, sometimes things get messy. Despite my love of more technical solutions, sometimes it’s best just to dig in the dirt… messy whiteboards for concept brainstorms, a messy desk cluttered with post-it notes. And here, even my kitchen table is quite a disaster – an ode to a first-ever attempt at a picture book dummy with the illustrator.

We literally took concept drawings, words, and then used scissors and tape (plus quite a lot of coffee) to try and get things just right.

explorers...

a rare purple bee...

And the beautiful mess isn’t limited to the physical. There’s an enormous challenge in negotiating which words get hacked, which illustrations get embellished, what’s the best order and placement for pacing… all of it simply trying to create the very best user experience. A picture book has many eyes to get through even before it can ever hope to find its way in front of a child.

I’ll let you know how this particular mess looks later on. We hope to submit this work sometime in the New Year.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 2:45 pm. You can leave a comment below.