Sun-seekers and softball players alike looked on in bewilderment as my friend Laura and I waved hand-painted signs and whooped and hollered across the well-worn grass. We were a two-person cheer squad for our friend Rachel who, in light of her first ever marathon being cancelled due to the corona virus, decided to run it anyway, solo, just this past Sunday.
I, also an avid athlete realized early on in my running career that I am not a sprinter. That's not to say I can't tear up some pavement when the finish line is in sight, but like Rachel, endurance is where I feel most at home in my sneakers. Granted, I’ve never desired to run a marathon, but four half marathons in two years taught me just as much about taking life stride by stride as the full 26.2. And lately I’ve realized those self-same lessons translate well from street to studio because when it comes to writing and illustrating children’s books, I’m in it for the long run.
As a fledgling cross country runner, I often started out too fast and was winded by mile two. And as an illustration ingenue, I also often jumped the gun, eager to paint a particular scene or realize a character in the flesh. Patience I have learned, as much with running as with illustration, is what gets you across the finish line.
Now, working on my third picture book project in two years, I understand the importance of planning. It’s an increasingly more familiar practice of putting one foot (or rather one paint stroke) in front of the other, before filling in the whole picture.
“When it comes to writing and illustrating children’s books, I’m in it for the long run.”
The rhythm of writing and illustrating a children’s book may not be as steady as the beat of my feet, but the dogged determination with which I pursue both activities is much the same. Not a day goes by that I haven’t worked both pavement and pencil.
And yet, the end goal for my artistic output remains more illusive than the brightly hued balloons we carried like an Olympic torch as Rachel crossed her finish line.
Publication can often seem like a far off horizon, a mere mirage upon the asphault on a particularly hot afternoon run. The road to a published book is full of bumps and detours and even a pothole or two that you must learn to step around. The trick I know is to take it one step at a time. It is a marathon afterall, not a sprint. And we don’t have to go it alone.