Hugo the book, Hugo the movie

It took me a while to see the movie, but I read the book, Hugo, by Brian Selznick, not long after it came out in 2007. I was lucky to pick up a signed copy soon after its release - at a bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I was temporarily living at the time.

I was enthralled. A graphic novel, Hugo was an experience that seemed to transcend the medium of literature and transport itself into a film-like realm. The book itself is cinematic - the page turns of Selznick's successive drawings are action sequences like frames in a movie. And of course, the story is inundated with film references). Fast forward (that's film talk) a few years later. I learned Martin Scorsese was directing the film adaptation.

I gave my son the book a long time ago and I'd been nagging him to read it ever since. Then came the Oscars. The movie was still in theaters, but for how much longer? Shane finally read Hugo - and loved it. Just last Sunday afternoon, mere hours after he turned the last page, and a few years after I had, we saw the movie together. The story was fresh and vivid in Shane's mind but the details were a little more vague in my memory. Even so, we both had the same reaction. The movie was wonderful - but the book was visionary. If you haven't see Hugo the movie yet - make sure you read the book first. It doesn't take long. There are a lot of pictures!

BTW - here's a fascinating story I read in the Sunday New York Times about a guardian of conventional books who is saving them in a vault after they are digitized - a literary Noah's Ark.

What's your favorite film adaptation of a children's - or any book?

On art and inspiration

Detail of a painting - Sandra Gallegos

You may have noticed a recurring theme on these virtual pages - my fascination with the creative process - and how I'm constantly shifting between writing and painting while seeking inspiration for both. Although I haven't been focusing on writing nearly as much as I should in the last while, I'm currently taking a wonderful painting class with Quinton Bemiller, a Los Angeles abstract artist.

Every Saturday morning, a small group of devotees meets in his downtown studio to pursue our own individual projects and experiment with exciting new media and techniques Quinton demonstrates.

Paintings - Dan Sweetman 

After class one day, Quinton took us to visit the studios of some local artists. I was intrigued by the insights they shared on their backgrounds, art and processes.  It was especially interesting to see their work stacked against the walls, the books on their shelves, and all the little treasured objects and ephemera they'd collected and placed on display - their own personal sources of creative inspiration.

The home of Jamie and Dan Sweetman is full of Dan's plein air figure paintings of Southern California scenes, including his amusing series from a nude beach.  His wife, Jamie Sweetman, draws precision tree roots and anatomically detailed figures, inspired by a collection of tangled roots, and skeletons which have escaped the closet, instead hanging out in the open around the studio.

The abstract composite paintings of Sandra Gallegos incorporate patterns from multiple sources - motifs from rugs, vessels, vases, flowers and other found objects - "stuff I find on the sidewalk," she says. Her greatest inspiration is the work of Henri Matisse.

Art - Richard Osaka

Richard Osaka showed us how his highly successful career as a commercial artist has informed his fine art. He employs repeated patterns, words forming cryptic messages, a vivid palette, high gloss resin-coated surfaces and enamel paints to create high impact images.

I took many away many gems from that day - bits of inspiration to be stored away for the future.

Do you surround yourself with special things that inspire you - catalysts for creativity? If so, do tell.

On art, literature & collaboration

I recently read Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's YA novel, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (sophisticated, witty, poignant). I picked it up at SCBWI-LA Writer's Day last spring, where Rachel Cohn spoke about how she and David Levithan tag team wrote this book, as well their earlier novel, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Their process involved writing alternating chapters from the various POVs of their characters.

Now, I'm reading Why We Broke Up, the new YA novel by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), with art by Maira Kalman. I'm captivated by the story, the characters - and the art. A different form of collaboration, obviously, from that of Cohn and Levithan's, but in this case, Kalman's art brings a rich added dimension to the story. I'm a huge fan of Maira Kalman, who has illustrated several books and New Yorker covers, wrote two illustrated blogs for the New York Times, and whose marvelous 2010/2011 exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center I wrote about here.

A few days ago, I sat in on a writing session with two other journalists as we tossed ideas around and argued about word choice and syntax. All of this to say - I'm intrigued by the idea of collaborating on a major writing project, and would love to try it some day.

I'm constantly juggling my passions for art and literature, and try to marry the two by writing about art. Los Angeles is a great place for an art critic to be right now. Pacific Standard Time, the collaborative (there's that term again) retrospective of more than 60 cultural institutions celebrating the evolution of the Los Angeles art scene, began in October, and I've been going to a lot of art exhibits.  Here's a link to my most recent article published in WhiteHot Magazine of Contemporary Art - a review of Lisa Adams' exhibit, Paradise Notwithstanding at CB1 Gallery, and an interview with the artist.

If you've had any experience collaborating on a creative project, I'd love to know about it - negative or positive. Please share.

Books come alive

In case you missed it - in this magical video, books come alive after dark at Type, a Toronto bookstore I'd like to visit someday. What an imaginative way to capture the wonderful worlds we enter through reading.

The video was created by animator Sean Ohlenkamp and his wife. For more, read the Publisher's Weekly Tip sheet interview about the genesis of the film.

(click on the heading, The Joy of Books - on the upper left - to see the video in a larger format on Youtube)

New Year's Resolutions

Today I resolve to write my New Year's Resolutions for 2012. First I will go back and look at the resolutions I made for 2011. I recall starting off with determination and gusto last year - but somewhere along the way, I went off-track. The challenge is to figure out how to stay resolved, to focus on what works. The exciting thing is that the new Year represents a blank slate, a fresh start - a new opportunity.

In the past, I've sometimes made my resolutions public, but I've read this can be self-defeating. The important thing is to have a personal road map, to set goals for the short and long-term - and perhaps share these goals with like-minded people, who may help motivate, inspire and prod. 

Here's a brilliant dose of inspiration from Steve Jobs, spoken after his cancer diagnosis: 


"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."


Happy New Year everyone! May 2012 be a dazzling journey filled with creativity and delight! 


Did you make New Year's Resolutions? Have they helped you stay focused in the past?

Books for the Holidays

The TBR stack on my overburdened nightstand

I've always loved giving books as presents - but now especially, I'm a fan of supporting booksellers at a time when they're struggling to stay viable.  Lately, I've come across several lists of notable books of 2011 -- helpful guides for my own reading -- as well as gift giving. In case you missed these:

* The New York Times Book Review Holiday Gift Guide: 100 Notable Books of 2011 - which includes fiction, poetry, memoir, biography and other non-fiction.

* The New York Times Book Review Holiday Gift Guide: Notable Children's Books of 2011 - including YA, middle grade and picture book titles.

* A wonderful New York Times Book Review article by Bruce Handy on Picture books about Christmas.

* Another New York Times Book Review article by NYT Children's Book editor Pamela Paul on Snowy Books for Children.

* Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2011 - across genres.

*The Los Angeles Times Holiday Books & Gift Guide which highlights thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, poetry, children's and YA, graphic novels, quirky, coffee table, non-fiction and audio books.

* The Huffington Post Holiday Gift Ideas: Forget the scented candles - 9 books to get your sister.

* Finally, I love this Los Angeles Times Jacket Copy holiday guide: 14 offbeat gifts for writers.

What books are on your holiday wish list?

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And - if you've been in the loop about all the problems I had with my blog domain the last few weeks - here's the final chapter in the story. After all the back and forth with Google about my custom domain, in the end, Google paid for a substitute name for this site, BeyondWordsandPictures - to make-up for a glitch in my account. 
I'd already renamed my blog and adjusted to the change, when, Google informed me they'd managed to buy back my original url: OnBeyondWordsandPictures.com! Google renewed both custom domains for me gratis for a ten-year period. Since then, for consistency, I've reverted to the original domain name.
Thanks for standing by while I sorted out all the publishing problems with my blog!
Happy holidays to my readers and followers! 

On Discipline - A guest post by YA author Joanna Philbin

I'm delighted to host a guest piece on the discipline of writing by Joanna Philbin, author of the YA series, The Daughters (Poppy/Little, Brown and Company).


I asked Joanna to write about discipline because I admire her very much. Her debut book, The Daughters, was released May, 2010. The second book in her series, The Daughters Break the Rules, came out November, 2010, the third, The Daughters Take the Stage, in May, 2011, and the fourth, The Daughters Join the Party, was released November 1. That's two books a year! I'm in awe, and I could use a few tips - which Joanna has generously shared.

To celebrate the release of, The Daughters Join the Party, we're having a book giveaway. To enter to win a signed copy - see below. Open to YA fans in the U.S. and Canada! 

On Discipline

Joanna Philbin

As a writer, I get the same question over and over again when people hear what I do: "How do you manage to be so... disciplined?" 

Discipline. To me, the word conjures images of little children holding out their knuckles to be smacked with rulers, or dieters carefully measuring out cereal with a measuring cup.  Not exactly the thrilling, liberating, dizzying feeling I have most days when I'm alone in my house, writing. I am addicted to this feeling. And like any good addict, I'll do whatever I can to feel that way. As Julia Cameron points out in The Artist's Way, there's discipline and there's enthusiasm, and when we talk about doing something creative that makes us happy, more often than not it's enthusiasm - that feeling of "Yes, I love this!" - that gets us to begin.  

But I admit that every once in a while, enthusiasm is a little hard to come by.  Some days I'm tired, or my brain feels completely hollowed out, or I'm possessed by the sudden urge to clean out my closet or mop the kitchen floor.  So, what, you may ask, gets me to my desk on days like this?

I remember my deadline. As a YA writer, I am always on a strict deadline. Frankly, I don't know what I'd do without them. And they remind me of two very important things: I need to meet my deadlines to get paid, and my readers want their books, and they want them NOW. No slacking!

I get out of my pajamas.  Even if I'm working at home, I try to always shower, get dressed, and brush my hair before I start to write. I know this makes me sound a little like Tracy Flick from Election, but if I get ready for work on the outside, it helps me get ready on the inside.

I light a candle and say a little prayer to the creativity gods.  I try to do this most days.  It reminds me that my output for the day is fifty percent me showing up, and fifty percent purely out of my hands.  If I can just show up, that's half the battle.   

If my mind is a blank, I write one sentence. This I got from Anne Lamott's incredible book, Bird by Bird.  Sometimes when we sit down to write the amount of what we want to say is almost overwhelming.  Or we have no idea where to start. Start anywhere, I tell myself.  Just write one line.  And then, just like eating that first potato chip, it can sometimes be hard to stop. Pretty soon the words are coming fast and furious and the characters are telling me what they're saying and then I'm deep inside a scene and boom - it happens. Writing nirvana.  Hours pass by in a blur.  People call and get my voicemail.  On some days, I'll look up and realize that it's late afternoon, and I still haven't had lunch. And this is when I think, discipline? This isn't discipline. This is the best job on earth.

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Thank you, Joanna, for the inspiration, and good luck with your new release! To learn more about Joanna, visit her website and read her blog, where she talks about the new book she's writing. It's called, The Rules of Summer. Can't wait to read it! 

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To enter to win a signed copy of The Daughters Join the Party all you have to do is leave a comment, be a follower of this blog, and live in the U.S. or Canada.