I am so proud of my Stories’ writers! Over the course of four months, they wrote, illustrated, edited and published eight books, which represent the accumulated wisdom of more than 600 years!
Stories From My Life: An Illustrated Book Workshop culminated with author readings and a publication party on December 15th. Everyone read beautifully and chose excerpts that reflected the essence of their stories. I felt so very proud of them and all the hard work and love they put into writing and illustrating their books.
What a joy meeting the writers’ families and friends, who previously had existed only as photographs and now stepped into their full, lovable dimensions!
The very best gift of the workshop, one that I will always treasure, was hearing many of the writers say that I helped bring a lifelong dream to life. That made all the hard work worth it. What a love bath! I could barely take it all in.
I want to share a note from Allison Russo, who designed Lois’s book. Other designers shared similar sentiments, but Allison’s sums up what all of us involved with the Stories workshop felt:
Would you please let Lois know that I truly enjoyed working on her book, and it inspired me to create one for my family. I spent the early part of this week with my grandmother, who is 107 years old. She has recently moved to a nursing home, and I wish that I could visit her more. Doing this book made me feel great. I feel like I helped preserve the memories of the past. They teach us so much about who we are, and who we might become.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and Hurricane Sandy was no exception. The superstorm left me with no power and no studio access for two weeks, forcing me let go of my “little red hen” ways and lean on the generosity of my book designer and editor friends. From California to London, from Tallahassee to Kenosha, they all jumped in to help bring the Stories books to life! We made the tight printing deadline thanks to the great net of love, talent, and generosity they spread beneath us!
Thanks to these amazing designers:
Christy Gray
Dean Motter
Lisa Rose
Allison G. Russo
Molly Shields
Simon Sullivan
And our eagle-eyed manuscript editors:
Lisa Hendey, Renee Schafer Horton, Karen Mahoney & Sue Stanton
And to Stories guest speakers Elizabeth Ehrlich and Erica Stoller, our talented and spritely intern Grace Rafferty, Lifetime Arts, and everyone at the Mamaroneck Public Library!
We love you all!