Looking for an Illustrator

My book is about Fitzhugh "Big Main" Davis. He is a fat 4th grader from South Memphis. Big Main lives with his grandmother who is a retired cook. They are not poor but a cook's pension does not go a long way. So, he takes it upon himself to earn money with his new dog walking service. He lands one client. That's Brutus, a large and destructive Great Dane. You know the drill! The walking service turns diastrous. Instead of making money, Big Main ends up with a debt that must be paid. Brutus destroys Ms. Beryl Miller's rose bushes. She is old, cranky and walks on a walker. Her favorite TV show is Wheel of Fortune. Ms. Miller wants her money! Ugh! What will Big Main do? As a chapter book (10,000 words) I will still need illustrations. It is not my job as a writer to find an illustrator. However, if I could pick an illustrator of my choice I would pick Robb Armstrong for his comic strip style. I would pick Shadra Strickland if using pencil or pen as a medium. I would pick Kadir Nelson if using acrylics and realistic forms. And if I had the opportunity to discover new talent I would select Morris Howard from Memphis. His major focus is portraits but I believe he is the making of a great book illustrator as well. If you are writing picture books identify ideal illustrators. However, leave it up to the editors. Like you, they want what is best for your book. They will not stir you in the wrong direction. And as the wheel continues to spin, YOU WILL get that Kadir Nelson cover. I'm praying I will! In the mean time, share your illustrator search with me. Or, the horror and hell of your search. I knew this artist who agreed to do a picture book. The publisher paid him. He never finished the book and to the writer's great distress and grief it was 4 years before the book was published and illustrated by a second artist. Share your stories.

Read This First!

Who am I? My name is A.E. Anderson. I am a children's author who is about to break into print just as soon as I find an agent and publisher. When I was a college student I always dreamed of becoming a writer. Like Eudora Welty I was born in the South. I've got Southern Roots.

Sometimes they are nappy but always Southern. Before my grandparents moved to Memphis they lived along Highway 64 in Eads, TN. The Anderson Family owned farmland in Eads. As a child I loved to ride from South Memphis to the country. Couldn't wait to eat my Aunt B's BBQ goat meat sandwiches. But God deliver me from Aunt Erma's house! Her bathroom was a woodshed in a field and this was the early 80's. You did not ask for my pedigree. I'm just trying to say that having roots in the rural South qualifies me to be a Southern Writer. However, I never thought it was possible until four months ago. I started writing a children's novel called WALKING THE DOG. It is about this fat black kid named Fitzhugh Edmund Davis, Jr. He's a kid for the New Millennium. He's urban, smart and full of self-doubt. I couldn't shake this story. I had to tell it. I finished WALKING THE DOG this November. Now I am in pursuit of an agent and an editor. This blog will track my journey in finding both. It will track the path I take from "Ms. Nobody" to "Published Author". I will tell you about the submission process. The rejection. The editing process. I will tell you about people's reaction and criticism to my story. At the same time I want to hear about your writing and submission process. Let's encourage one another as we master the art of manipulating words and breaking into print. Keep one thing in mind as we share this journey. Good writing rises to the top!