We have one son, our favorite person in the whole world -- other than each other, of course, but then ‘the two are one’ you know. We’re so proud of the man he has become; he’s in his mid-twenties, not married yet. But one of these days....
We always read to our son when he was a little boy, and I’m so glad Noe loved reading to him. Some of my favorite memories are of them reading together, as I was listening while busy doing other things around the house. There was one book called Funny Face at the Window he loved to hear over and over again, and Noe would read it every day, till they moved on to another book. They also read Wind in the Willows when he got a bit older -- somehow I missed reading that book when I was young, but then to me, it is a perfect father and son book to read together.
I count it a privilege that I was able to homeschool him, and of course, got to teach him to read. I don’t know if it’s a boy thing (since I didn’t have a daughter), or maybe just something he inherited, but he had trouble keeping his focus on words. By that I mean, he would start reading a word and then just guess what it was; there’s probably a name for that. You know, everything’s got a name these days...
Well, I worked with him, helping him to follow all the letters by having him “spell-the-word-out” for me, and little by little he stopped guessing at words. He became an excellent reader and grew to enjoy reading; as an adult he still does. His recreational bent is toward science-fiction, loves Star Trek kinda stories. Of course, like most guys, I just can’t get him to read those gadget manuals!
cindy
In our series Sarah’s World, you will notice a lack of electronic devices: no cell phones, game stations, computers, not even a TV. Not because these things don’t exist in Sarah’s World, but I wanted the stories to focus on kids and their interaction with the world around them on their own. This is not meant to be some ‘social commentary’ on the electronic gadgets that our young ones are so adept with; after all, the books we write are being offered as e-books.
No agenda at all has gone into the making of these books... rather it is a look into kids just being kids, at those times when they are not involved in other things and their time is their own and this big wonderful world has beckoned them forth.
Anyone who has children has had the experience of buying their son or daughter something that came in a BIG BOX. We excitedly give our dear child the present and anticipate the fun they are going to have with this new toy, only to see that after the initial excitement of the new toy, it has given way to the wonders of the BIG BOX and all that their imagination can make it become. (The exception to this is when the BIG BOX contains a BIKE, and then the big box has to wait a little longer.)
It is that kind of innocence and charm of children I am trying to capture in Sarah’s World.
Noe
I’ve been an avid reader all my life... wish I had as good a memory as Noe, but then again, I can pick up a book I know I’ve read and because I don’t remember exactly how it went, it’s like reading a new book!! LOL
I think having 4 older siblings helped, as well as adult family members that liked reading to us too. My uncle had a children’s set of books with lots of interesting stories in it that he would read to us, and when we got older, we read them to him. The set got lost somewhere down the road, so sad we can’t find it again. That’s a fond memory, sitting in his lap reading together.
I used the school library a lot, even got to work in it when I was in elementary school. That was back in the days of the dewey decimal system and file cards, no computers then! We had the Weekly Reader Club we could buy books from, no Amazon or Barnes & Noble. There were no video games, no VCR or DVD movies to watch whenever we felt like it, and just boring stuff to see on TV anyway except early Saturday mornings and an hour after school. One of my other uncles worked for a TV station and was the kid’s show personality for a little while too; he was called Snuffy....
Anyway, reading was a favorite pastime and I loved it. My fourth grade teacher had an exercise we did, where she picked one of us to read aloud for a page or two, and if you read without making mistakes -- not even getting to back up one word! -- you got a star for your book cover. That was fun too, and made us all strive to be good readers.
I guess I can’t say enough to parents about how important reading with your children is for them. Read to them even when they’re too little to talk, read their favorite book a thousand times - even 3 or 4 times in a row when you wish they would get tired of it because you are. That not only develops a love of reading and learning in them that will continue to grow as they do, but also creates a strong bond between you and your children that will remain all their life... and that’s one of those things you’ll forever be glad you did.
cindy
The process of illustrating our books is a collaboration from start to finish. It begins with determining what part of the book should be illustrated. For our kid’s books, we like to have five or six pictures, and sometimes one of these can be used for the cover.
Once the decisions are made on what needs to be illustrated, then I go to work sketching something out, and we both have to agree on the sketches. Let me let you in on a little secret -- Cindy has an eye for critical points that take what would pass as acceptable to an illustration worth putting in the book.
After the sketches have been approved, I ink them and add color, which again has to pass “the Cindy test”. I have told her about three hundred million times that she makes everything I do much better; and after thirty-four years of life with her, I am saying this in all sincerity and truth.
[It is something that is an irritation to me when people who are supposed to be in love put each other down and criticize one another and it's suppose to be a joke. I never joke in my praise of my Cindy... she means too much to me.]
When the colored pictures are done, she then scans them into the computer and adds more of her special touches. I am always amazed at the finished piece. Without her -- I know this is so obvious -- there could be no Noe and Cindy write.
Noe
https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write
Illustrating for the stories we’ve done is for me the other side of storytelling. Drawing is something I have always done... I cannot see a blank piece of paper without being drawn to it, to draw on it.
It has its advantages and disadvantages, though. One advantage is: we don’t have to pay an illustrator, and at this stage of our writing endeavors, that is a definite plus. Another is: when I am blocked on a story, it gives me a welcome diversion while still working on the story.
On the other side of the coin, having to illustrate when you’re only fairly good at it, as I am, is restrictive, because some things that I might wish to illustrate seem to be beyond my ability, so I am left doing without them. Then, of course, there is the time involved doing the work.
I am hoping that, as I continue to work on my books as the illustrator, I will improve. Thanks to YouTube there is plenty of instruction for a fifty-something like me to learn from. I will say this, I derive as much satisfaction and enjoyment from the artwork as I do from the writing, and I hope you do too.
Noe
