Step One

"Writing is the first step of the journey. Rewriting completes it."
—Mike Rich*

Bike and biplane bookplate by Kamil Lhoták

*Via Scholastic, The Writing Process
 

The Writing Apprenticeship

"I never have found out all I want to know about writing and realize I never will."
—Lloyd Alexander*

Cannon with bird's nest bookplate
by Belgian-Canadian artist André Linglet
Courtesy Frederikshavn Art Museum

*Via Kidsreads

The Lilt of Your Voice

"Voice is like an accent. You never hear your own. But that doesn't mean you don't have one." 
—S.P. Bowers

Color landscape bookplate by Peter Dietzsch
Courtesy Frederikshavn Museum

The Artistic Gap

"It's only by actually going through a volume of work that...the work you are making will be as good as your ambitions."
—Ira Glass*

Bookplate from the British Museum,
via Pinterest

*Brain Pickings

Who's Stealing Your Joy?

 "The only writer to whom I should be comparing myself is the writer I was yesterday." 

—Emma Dryden

Art Nouveau style bookplate by Ludwig Hohlwein
Courtesy Iparmuveszéti Múzeum

Portfolio Perspective

“If you can look at your earlier work and cringe a little, that means you’ve improved.”
—Dan Santat*

Library Trees bookplate by Melanie Amaral

*Via SCBWI: The Blog

Narration Is About Gesture*

"You really can accomplish a lot if you are willing to get up out of your chair, change your environment, and act out scenes in your book."
—Will Terry**

The Dance Teacher, bookplate by Elita Viliama
Via Pinterest

*also a quote from Will.
**Via Tara Lazar

Cultivate Your Artistic Pursuits

"Courage...[is]...making choices that move you toward your goal despite the fear. As an artist, I have to cultivate practices that create fear resilience...so that fear doesn't paralyze me."

—Ria Sharon*

Technically not a bookplate, but a great motif to make your own.
Ancient Tree from RubberStamps.com

*Via Sketchbook Magic II

Big Plans, Small Steps

"Dream big and make plans to move toward them, but appreciate the journey along the way."

—Jennifer Chambliss Bertman*

Girl looking out to sea bookplate
Can anyone identify this artist's signature?

*Via jenniferchamblissbertman.com

Cure For Artists' Block

"Make a mark on the page. And then make another one. And another one. And another one. That's the way you start."
—Chris Riddell*

Violin ex-music bookplate by C. Gladys Muñoz

*Via Your Creative Push

Resistance Is Fertile

"Just because you meet resistance doesn’t mean you should quit. It just means you need to update your plan."*

Book and flower vase bookplate by Max von Esterle
Via The Museum of Applied Arts

*Via WritersVillage

A New Tactic

"Procrastination does not mean you're broken. It means you're trying to force something through willpower alone that takes a plan and structure to achieve."
—Jessica Abel*

Kangaroo bookplate by Geoffrey Ricardo
Courtesy Museums Victoria

*Via Growing Gills

Willing To Work?

"Creation, whatever its form, is not an act of will, but an act of faith."
—Lloyd Alexander*

Man and mammoth bookplate by Kurt Leyde

*Via The Story Within, by Laura Oliver

Managing Your Next Project

"The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and then starting on that first one."
—Probably not Mark Twain*

Village bookplate by Hubert Wilm
Via Europeana Collections

*Via Brainy Quotes. See The Quote Investigator

Give Yourself A Break

"For me, writing always begins with self-forgiveness."
—Daniel José Older*

Tree of Knowledge bookplate
Via Pinterest

*Via Seven Scribes

Eye-Opening Books

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
—Marcel Proust*

Galleon bookplate by Franklin Booth 

*From Remembrance of Things Past via age-of-the-sage

Reading in Bed

"A full stomach, a soft mattress, a feather comforter, a pillow, a long candle and nobody to tell you what to do. ...Heaven must be something like that."
—Sarah Ellis*

Reading chair bookplate
from University of Delaware Library Digital Collections
via Pinterest

*From The Several Lives of Orphan Jack

Transported Through Books

"We must remember that children don’t read books, they inhabit them."

—Eric Rohmann*

Open Window bookplate via Pratt Institute Library

*Via Highlights Foundation

Magnificent Devices*

"A book is a device to ignite the imagination."

—Alan Bennett**

Red Typewriter bookplate courtesy Mac and Ninny

*Apologies to Shelley Adina
**Via YourStory

Picture Book Recipe

"The ingredients are simple: words and pictures and page turns. Stir in the magic of a story read aloud, a lap to sit on, a story circle to be part of, a nap time, a private space –– and a picture book can be a force that shapes us, changes us, and never quite releases its grip on our heart."

–Marla Frazee*

Via Pinterest

*Via Picture Book Month