Envelope, please...

Thank you (applause), Thank you (applause)...

It has taken me way too long to get back to the contest from last week!

I apologize for my brain fart!

But, there are TWO winners!!
I had to throw out the last question, "Which of these have I not done?!"

When I originally ran this quiz...yes, it was on old one...you could have gone back a year or so and peeked! :) ...I had not  yet gotten my tattoo so THAT was the thing I hadn't done.

But last summer, on my 39th birthday, my BFFs took me for my tattoo!

See...

So, if I throw out the last question, HALLY and JULIEinPA win! Both of you! :) Please email me at michellebrownlow@yahoo.com with your mailing address so I can send you your ORIGINAL, SIGNED MKB ILLUSTRATION! YAY!

A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Meet Sarah.

You may find her on a BOOKSHELF NEAR YOU in the near future!

I have a lot of exciting info to share over the next few months so STAY TUNED!

At my art table...

Well, here I am back at my art table (WITH caffeine in my favorite cup - it's my own design!)...ready to dedicate the entire day (well, at least until the pre-school bus comes) to my latest project...

A BOOK DUMMY FOR SIMON & SCHUSTER

I want to thank all of you for supporting me through this publishing journey. So many of you contact me and ask WHERE you can buy my books. I don't have any published but I have many written and even more partially written. I have notebooks FILLED with simple ideas that would make a one-of-a-kind, quirky story! I will never live long enough to write every one of them!

This current project is a first for me. I am submitting as an AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR! Yep, I am taking your advice! I have been thinking all along that I wanted to just concentrate on ONE or the OTHER....writing OR illustrating. Come to find out, it make my writing SO much better when I can use MY OWN illustrations to SHOW the story. It's cleaner. Clearer. It feels like I have found my niche.

I recently had a review with an art rep from NYC who selected a few illustrations in my portfolio and said it was such a unique style that I needed to "run with it!" You can read more about that meeting HERE at my children's book blog.

OK! Back to work (and my coffee!) before I get sucked in chatting with you!

(Not that that's a bad thing!)

Peace.

Happy 300 to Me!!

**UPDATED** Yep! My 300th post! Wow, I am chatty! LOL! I chose this alter-ego of mine (Mimi has my original) as my illustration as this is how I skipped through my SCBWI conference yesterday! "I'm a writer! Look at me! I'm a writer!" I am secure in calling myself a writer but sharing breathing space with some of the most creative and talented people on the planet just brings it all home! -----------o0o------------ Well, thanks to those of you who commented prior to even knowing what the contest was. So, here's the scoop. As always, I am writing, writing, writing...I have numerous kids books written, all of which have passed with flying colors if you ask my writing instructors, my critique groups and other writer friends. FLYING COLORS I TELL YOU! Just haven't matched with the right agent. I have spent hours writing books for kids, I have polished them, re-written them, scrapped some and started series for others. I have characters such as Macy-Sue LaRue, Morton the Moose, Henrietta Hamsterface, Lola Littleton and even a Doogie Howser-esque kid named Jake. But I am patient, my day will come. I dream of that day when I can sit at Barnes & Noble and look out across a sea of little faces as they giggle at my words. I think about the fun activities I will do with them after the book. Cute tie-ins for holidays and the changing seasons. The teacher in me thinks a lot about the last part. I am friends with children's authors and we chat quite often about cool ideas and trends. Peter H. Reynolds, Linda Oatman-High and Elizabeth Kann are only some of my sounding boards on any given day! I vent to them when I am frustrated with my thousandth rejection (I don't really have that many) and I throw out ideas to them and ask them about their agents and publishers. I don't spend all this time writing and researching for any other reason than...children are my passion. They always have been. Children are like little sponges. They soak it all in. There is so much out there in today's world that I hope mine don't soak up. So much hate and evil. If one child can get lost in any one of my books and feel like they have a place to go when their day is less than something to smile about...then I have succeeded. So, on that note...this CONTEST is going to be fun! It is going to take a little work on your part but you will enjoy the fruits of your labors. I want to CELEBRATE all the amazing children's authors that help kids escape when they need to. I would like for each of you to choose your favorite children's book (from your childhood or something out now) and write a post on YOUR blog about WHY it's your favorite. Please, include a cover photo and link to it on Amazon. Don't forget to link back to me and invite your readers to join in the fun. Comment on this post so I know we can ALL come peek when you have your choice up. It will be like a virtual tour of the best of the best of the children's section of the library. The person who chooses one of my top 3 favorites (which you will only know if you live in MY head and although there are lots of voices up there...I don't think any of them are yours) will win an original illustration from Moi...cuz I'm all artsy, too. I apologize to those of you who don't have a blog. Maybe you need to start one of your own!!! :) Get busy! Go find your favorites and inspire us! You have until Friday....get movin' people!

Original ARTWORK for SALE..4 the kids...

Noon UPDATE: "J" from SPICING UP THE LITTLE THINGS is the Proud Owner of THIS original piece! Thank you "J" for having a heart 4 the kids!

Once again, 4 the kids is offering this 9 x 12" original piece for the taking. 50% of the proceeds from this sale with go directly to pediatric cancer. Check out the running tally on my side bar.

The last person who purchased a 4 the kids piece had me include a notecard and send it to a friend whose daughter is battling leukemia. What a beautiful gift! I am always happy to ship anywhere (it's FREE for you) and include a gift card as well.

I am not putting a starting bid, however, go with your heart. The bidding will end tomorrow (4/25) at noon (EST).

Bookmark me so you can check back often. Forward my link or put me on your FAVES list to spread the word. I am an artist and children's illustrator so it wouldn't be unlikely for me to have 3 or 4 of these sales a week. It's all 4 the kids!

By the seat of my pants...

I've always been a free spirit...a hippy...somewhat funky... I am not a fan of meat, I recycle, I cut up my 6-pack-plastic-holder-thingies so they don't strangle sea turtles, I adopt a turkey on Thanksgiving and I find it hard to be completely serious for too long. Last night, my daughter and I had one of my top five favorite mother-daughter moments and it was evident to me that she, too, is from the same mold. My husband took the boys out for a while and my daughter was doing some research on the computer in the living room. I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and it was just entirely too quiet! I looked over and saw her intently fact-gathering so I grabbed my iPod and cranked my tunes! I scrubbed dried spaghetti out of a collander to SWITCH by Will Smith, I wiped counters to SWEET ESCAPE by Gwen Stefani, and I lost all control to THE QUESTION by Familiar 48...one of my ALL TIME favorite songs. Have you ever heard someone sing with headphones on? Scary. You become completely tone deaf when you cannot hear yourself singing. There is a reason rock stars have their voice fed into their skull through headphones during a concert. Here's the thing -I couldn't have paid for therapy that felt this good- it was so freeing to just let loose and sing at the top of my lungs and not be concerned with who heard me or what I sounded like. I sang until I was out of breath and had to skip parts of the song. I danced and spun around until I tripped - didn't matter - no one was watching. I sang into everything I picked up to put away as I danced around the kitchen. Scissors. Spatulas. Remote controls. It was like my own private rock concert. I was a star. I looked up a few times to see my daughter glancing up, smiling and shaking her head as she researched Wisconsin. She didn't seem annoyed or bothered so I continued with my therapy. I must have replayed that song (the Familiar 48 one) 25 times. Ample time for my little student to grab the camera and start taking videos. She's a sneaky one. We laughed until we almost wet ourselves later as we watched Mommy making a fool of herself on the big screen. American Idol, you have not seen anything yet. Simon, Paula and Randy would have a field day with this one. I can actually sing. I used to sing the National Anthem at school functions, I had duets in school concerts, I was ranked in our county for county and district chorus...but last night, none of that mattered. I was a HUGE GOOF, I let off a lot of steam and my only girl and I had a blast at my expense and I didn't care. Our faces hurt from laughing so hard! Isn't that what being a Mom is all about? Letting go. Being real. Embracing fun. ******************************************************************** Pay a visit to Confessions of a CF Husband and say a prayer.

You asked for it...

Alrighty....by popular request (in comments and personal emails after my 8 RANDOM THING post) here is what you asked for... **YES...my toes are ALWAYS numb, not just when I was responding to the meme...ALWAYS! Don't have a clue why (neither does my Dr.) but unless I plan to start twirling a baton with my toes - it shouldn't be a problem! **here is my 'so far' sketch of my Pop-Pop for my mom's Christmas present...can you tell which part I was nervous to do?

**and MANY of you wanted the rest of the children's stories from my "A little snippet here..." post, I will post the story that gets the most votes...so go back to that post and re-read the excerpts and then leave your "swell my head with compliments" comments and I will give you the WHOLE SHEBANG!