Chirpbooking Images!! & Speech Writing

Hello! This past week I've been working on THE Chirpbook. It's been such a long time since I've been able to start out the morning with sketches for illustrations, and then finish the day with completed art. For about 9 months?? (From like November 2018 to June 2019.) I was working on Check, Please! Year Four in these huge swaths....a month of pencils....a month of inks....a super hectic month of coloring. And I didn't get to share any of that??? With you guys?????

THIS IS THE OPPOSITE AND I'M LIVING.

So please go through the attached gallery!! These are a few of the drawings that I'll include as in-line images in the Chripbook.

 Chripbook Stats & Facts 

• about 500 tweets from year 2/sophomore year (about 200 more than in the First Second edition book) 
• about 200 tweets from year 3 (the First Second edition has ~100 year 3 tweets?) 
• about 100 tweets from year 4 (yes, spoilers) 
•  Will be a VERY small Kickstarter. I'll launch around late October, with delivery for Spring. 
• MANY NEW IMAGES YAY
• some never-before-seen texts and group chats :^) 

Q & A & More

so I think the man in the back or the man taking the picture??

has a child who reads check please...because at NYCC 2017, someone came up to me and said "my dAD DRIVES THE ZAMBONI FOR THE RANGERS."

SOOOO.

YEAH.

Questions from Discord!

Q from Edgarallanrose on Discord: I do have a question somewhat relating to your keynote speech and SCAD workshop! (Congrats, btw!) I know you said you were asked to do the keynote speech, but for similar events or cons that you’ve been involved in, do you typically get invited? Or are you submitting yourself for consideration? Do have a manager/publisher who is promoting these kinds of opportunities? I know there’s a lot of moving pieces in this question but just kind of curious as to how it all works!

 A: Edgar Allan, this is a GREAT question! 

At this point in time, many of the conventions I attend are ones that I have been invited to. If I want to do a convention and I was not invited to it, I submit a normal application and hope they have me on! My publisher does a great job at getting me to shows to promote Check, Please. If it's a signing or bookstore even that's most definitely Macmillan. My manager does a great job at securing space for me and my fellow artists (Johnny Wander, Atomic Robo, Tess Stone, Ru Xu and Jenn Doyle) at 1 or 2 shows a year. For something like the National Book Festival or New York Public Library, that's board members/organizers reaching out to include me in the programming.

It's fair that your question has a lot of moving parts because well...there are a lot of moving parts!

Q from ForFutureReference on Discord: How does National Book Convention feel compared to the comic/fancons you been to previously? And for the events/talks you been to, what were some of your favorites (or alternatively, what did you like about each one?

A: The National Book Festival is one of the largest book festivals in the world! And it's a free public event. Therefore, it's VERY well attended. So it was packed. I think the NBF and book festivals in general feel more like TCAF (Toronto Comics Arts Festival) and maybe SPX? These events are less about fandom and more about the public engaging with creators and artists. The NBF is that times a million. Because you have people like Justice Ginsberg and David Brooks and Raina Telgemeier?

I love a fancon, but it's nice to see a totally new crowd of folks who are interesting in hearing authors speak. That's what book festivals are about!

A talk I really enjoyed giving was at Toronto Comics Festival in 2018, I believe? It was for their Word Balloon Academy. I did a presentation called "Writing What You Don't Know" which addressed writing about identities that you yourself cannot claim and how to do that with empathy, respect, and tons of research. I had a slide that addressed the fear that Tumblr Might Kill You if you "get something wrong" and how that really stinks and we shouldn't be afraid of Tumblr. We should be afraid of not doing our characters justice.

Q from ForFutureReference On Discord: I take it the "Writing What You Don't Know" presentation (especially the part about tumblr) connected well with that article you tweeted about the dangers of call-out culture?

 This was years before the Call Out Culture article was even written! But it's the same sentiment. I think my approach is giving folks the benefit of the doubt when they're incorporating characters that aren't their identity. You can really tell when someone is approaching a character with authentic respect vs a lack of research or naivety.

And then if they're doing the latter, I'd rather condemn their storytelling skills than to dismiss their entire person.