This is the first page of Hendrik Willem van Loon’s The Story of Mankind, published in 1921. Van Loon wrote and illustrated the book with his own pen drawings — in two months — and it was the first winner of the Newbury Medal in 1922. Helluva way to start a story.
I will not argue with strangers on the internet
All advice is autobiographical. A reader tweeted this page from my own book this week:
You’re going to see a lot of stupid stuff out there and you’re going to feel like you need to correct it. One time I was up late on my laptop and my wife yelled at me, “Quit picking fights on Twitter and go make something.”
I still fail at this at least weekly, but to quote Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction, “I’m trying Ringo. I’m trying, real hard.”
Nothing in common
Kafka: “I have hardly anything in common with myself…”
The perfect writing desk
The perfect writing desk is an open American Heritage (buy a paper dictionary!) on top of my kitchen table.
Orchestrated drawings
Some fun: photocopy a drawing by an older kid, and have a younger kid color it.
My son Jules (2 1/2) recently discovered drawing and he loves music like his brother, Owen (he’ll be 5 next month), so I photocopied a drawing of an orchestra Owen made back in May, and Jules went to town on the photocopies with Slick Stix, Do-A-Dots, and some other markers.
They’re my new favorite drawings.
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