Chocolate Croissants & Pink Dresses

(This image was the original concept design for the JBTM cover sleeve- however due to the change in the story I am rethinking a new cover and may save this for book 2 of volume 1- there is an incomplete computer colored version as well of just the front half. I may post that at some point as well.)

Today I went to a book signing for Cornelia Funke's new novel "Reckless" and I must say the Ms. Funke is so far the author I can most relate to. Originally an illustrator for children's stories she decided to write to give more depth to the ideas she had been illustrating. Luckily for her however, she found it easier to get published than I am. None the less writing never comes easy and sometimes you just have to keep editing (for example "14 times" for a single chapter).

Ms. Funke along with her co-author (and film producer) Lionel Wigram read part of chapter 1 of the novel (which has plans for a trilogy), talked about their collaboration in writing it and answered audience questions. Then came the signing.

Ms. Funke was a very lovely woman and Mr. Wigram, well to be honest he didn't talk much, but his smile showed warmth and when Ms. Funke read he closed his eyes and you could tell he was being brought back to that place they had met many times in coming up with their tale.

There may have been roughly 25 people/kids there for the signing which was kind of sad but it was made up for by their love of her books, especially the woman in the pink (hot pink... or maybe it was salmon) colored dress. A teacher for the fifth grade and a woman very passionate about reading and writing. Her favorite teaching tool was/is The InkWorld series, especially because of the quotes at the beginning of every chapter from other novels written by other authors. She compared herself to Aunt Elinor because she just loved books and loved to collect them.
I seriously wish I had a teacher like her when I was in school. I really do.

So here is to Ms. Funke, Mr. Wigram, Ms. Funke's Publisher (who made the signing despite canceled flights from Germany) and the teacher. Thank you and best of luck in the future for all and all they do.

PS- While waiting for the signing to begin I got a good chapter and a half edited before getting stuck with the changes I've made... and a dead battery. If only I was lucky enough to have some one to bounce my ideas off of like Ms. Funke was with Mr. Wigram.