Denise: Reading stories to your child is something he/she will always remember. But you took it a step further by writing a book for your daughter. Did you write it because you wanted her to have her own special story? Was it a way of sharing your creativity and perhaps motivating her to write or draw in the future?
Joe: I wrote books for my daughter, my son and my wife. I did it for them and for myself. Patti got "I Love You More Than Broccoli" and "Born Again, Only Taller." John and Norah each got a personal alphabet book and several others. (I should have had my own imprint.) When they (the kids, not Patti) outgrew picture books, I realized buying chapter books was much easier than writing personal ones for them.
Yes, I did it so they could have their own "special" stories and I've always enjoyed amusing people, making them laugh. It's probably that birth-order-second-child thing.
I don't think it had anything to do with trying to motivate John or Norah to write or draw. Neither draws, both write and both have great senses of humor.
Denise: Now that Norah is all grown up, what does she think of your gift to her now being shared by other parents and their children?
Joe: Norah will be sending you the answer to this one. I quit answering questions for her when she was four.
Denise: It's obvious that you love being an illustrator. Was being both the writer and illustrator of "The Elephant Walk" something that you simply had to do? How long did it take from idea to production to finished product? Were the illustrations created with computer software or by hand?
Joe: It never crossed my mind to have someone else do either part of the project. However...during a last minute edit, a children's book editor, Michelle McCann, was hired by the publisher to help with the text. I'm more of a one-or two-sentence cartoon writer. Michelle was quite helpful, making the book much better than it otherwise would have been.
From the "idea to production to finished product" took about...oh, 21 years. Or so. I wrote "Elephant Walk" for Norah as a birthday present when she was two-years-old. She's now 23. My wife, Patti, I and Norah would often go for walks in our neighborhood and Norah loved elephants. I painted a 4-foot tall, dancing elephant on the wall of her bedroom and her mom knitted her an elephant sweater - the left or right shoulder (I can't remember which) was the elephant's head and the arm was the elephant's trunk. A great sweater. Anyway, the walks and the elephants just sort of merged.
The illustrations were first drawn in pencil, in pieces. For instance, on the cover, the elephant and the tree he (or she) was hiding behind were drawn as one element. Each house was drawn separately. Norah, Patti and I were each drawn separately.
I then went over the pencil drawings in ink, erased the pencil, and scanned the drawings. Next, I used Adobe Streamline (what a great program) to convert the bitmap files into raster art which I then brought into Adobe Illustrator for coloring, grouping and arranging. The real nice thing about doing my illustrations this way is for editing. If Norah needed to be moved over a quarter of an inch, I wouldn't have to redo the entire drawing. I'd click on Norah and...move her a quarter of an inch.
Denise: How many publishers did you send it to before a contract was offered?
Joe: As I said, the book was a present for Norah on her second birthday. Four or five (six?) years later, I expanded the text, redid the illustrations and submitted the package to several publishers. I got some very promising rejection notices.
Two years ago, a friend of mine, Steve Duin, was in the process of getting a book published (a collection of columns he had written for The Oregonian, columns dealing with his family) and asked the publisher, Arnica, if I could do the illustrations for his book. The publisher requested to see some samples of my work. Among the samples were the illustrations and the manuscript for "Elephant Walk," Arnica said it would like to publish "Elephant Walk" if it...had an ending. I wrote an ending and the publisher liked it.
Denise:What was your publishing experience like?
Joe: The initial process was extremely frustrating. (That would go without saying, except, I just said it.) From what I remember, most of the publishers to whom I wanted to submit the story needed to have it done through an agent and most of the agents I contacted wanted to work with previously published authors. And if it hadn't been for Steve, the "Elephant Walk" project would probably still be sitting on one of my many cluttered shelves.
Denise: Will you be writing other children's books?
Joe: I'm working on two of them.
Denise: How are you promoting "The Elephant Walk?"
Joe: The publisher is having a book-release party in a week and a half in downtown Portland, at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Steve (whose book came out the same week mind did..wait, mine came out the same week his did) and I are contacting one of the local news anchors (a friend of ours) about doing a story about us. I'll be visiting a number of Portland public schools (and probably, one or two private ones) and doing presentations. And every small book store I pass, I stop in at. (Patti and I are going to Washington, D.C. in a few weeks and I'll stop at book stores there, too.
Denise:Tell us about the other illustrations you've created and sold to various publications?
Joe: Years ago I had a cartoon published in Saturday Review and one in Esquire, but never was able to really break into the gag-cartoon business. I've done quite a bit of local work, for businesses and publications and have done a weekly cartoon feature, "Mr. Portland," for The Oregonian for the past 10 years. I think (actually, I'm pretty sure) I've been able to do this work, not because of my drawing skills (which are getting better) but because of my sense of humor.
Denise: Have you joined any organizations or egroups for authors of Children's books?
Joe: I haven't done anything with children's book groups, but I have been associated, for five or six years, with Portland's Community of Writers, a group that helps promote and teach writing to grade-school students in and around the Portland metropolitan area.
Denise: Can you share a few tips for future Children's Book authors?
Joe: Present your work as best you can to look like a finished product. I used Quark XPress to make a facsimile of the book, took it to a copy place and got a color laser print out made. Also, have a friend who knows a publisher - that helps quite a bit.
Thank you, Joe! Best of luck with your next two books.
--Denise Fleischer
