this picture book i illustrated is out today! happy book release day to me (and @Bloomsbury_Publishing - my wonderful publisher)

nothing but respect for peter brown's chapter book and illustration chops!

why though

When we breathe in, we say, "Listen, listen," and when we breathe out, we say, "This wonderful sound brings me back to my true self."

This book was a great guide to the many wonders of Big Sur. I never want to leave!

now that's a copyright notice! badass! @VikingBooks @penguinrandomhouse @penguinusa @PenguinPublishing

(I'm painting while audiobooking this one) "people like her never get any thanks for their selflessness. They are not the ones with the hardness to make others wait; they are the ones left waiting, until their souls are broken like old pieces of bread and scattered in the snow for the birds."

reading with mimosas

"The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don't know... Every book is a mystery. And if you read all the books ever written, it's like you've read one giant mystery. And no matter how much you learn, you just keep on learning there is so much more you need to learn."

"he was so boring and monotonous that he was only teaching us how to sleep with our eyes open."

"People like you must create. If you don't create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society."

just started, but this book begins with like 80 pages of praise from media. how much is too much, publishers? honestly, distracting and being told so adamantly how much I'm going to love it conversely makes me less inclined to like it.

Currently audiobooking and loving this one. It's brilliantly performed by the actress who played Luke's sister on Gilmore Girls.

"This is the voice of the city. This is your tireless doubt. The rope that tethers you to the hydrant. Your half permission. Your limiting, maddening jawn. This voice comes from the Northwest pocket, the Roxborough, of your soul."

The last 30 pages of this book are incredibly rewarding.

"We carry our ancestors in our names and sometimes we carry our ancestors through the sliding doors of emergency rooms and either way they are heavy, either way we can't escape."

currently reading! not my proudest moment as a cat lady but it seemed thematically appropriate.