I'M STILL ALIVE! I survived it you all, and I got the dummy-book and my portfolio all done at 3am in the morning of the conference. I must say i was chugging the free coffee at the conference. But you all, it was soo amazing! any of you who haven't checked out SCBWI (Society of Children's books writers and illustrators). You should totally check them out! They always have cool stuff going on. Here is they're website:
https://www.scbwi.org/
There is a membership fee but I think its totally worth it if your ready for the next level Its a good compliment to SVS. I heard SCBWI mentioned on the SVS podcast before too. SCBWI has a ton of resources available to members, and the community is so friendly, helpful and encouraging. I don't know if they do this everywhere, but down here in Nashville they also have monthly hang outs where we meet up and talk about our projects and get input!

I also got to meet @StudioLooong while at the conference too! She got honorable mention for the portfolio preview! You go girl!

I almost met @robinleigh49, but my brain was so full of fluff (kinda like Poo Bear) that I totally forgot to reach out ): I'm bummed, but I'm determined to find you next time Robin! Do you think your coming next year?

I'm going to be submitting my dummy-book to a few agents and publishers who were at the conference. I may not know anything till the end of this year, but I'm in no rush. And I'm trying not to put my hopes up too much. But its exciting to see where this project might go.

As of right now, I'm taking a break from drawing and I'm going to let this project pickle. The plan is to have people review it and give me their input on any edits I should consider before hitting the coloring stage.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me on this crazy adventure so far. It means the world to me to have such an awesome online community here! I've learned so much from you all! and if it wasn't for you all keeping me accountable, I'm sure I would not have gotten this done in time.
Go forth and be awesome art peeps!

Here are a few pics from the mock up:

Another late nighter last night, but I got the cover to a good dummy-book stage and my last minuet page finished! At lunch today I'm going to print my book out! I did some trouble shooting yesterday, so printing should be a breeze. I also printed my very first post cards too! Boom! They turned out quite nice if I must say so

last minuet added page:

Cover:

To do list for today (my last day)!

1. Print dummy-book out.
2. print out portfolio pieces
3. finish portfolio sketches and print
4. book bind dummy book
5. cut paper for portfolio background and put portfolio together

Tonight will prob be another late nighter, but so far going strong!

Now, where's my coffee. . .

Stayed up till 1am last night, but then decided I should be a wee bit healthy and get some wink eye before going to work this morning. I'm going to really need some coffee this afternoon yum.
So I got my cover to a really good place, I still want to add some detail to the squirrels, and then splash some color everywhere. But Dummy-book wise, I think it will do. "That will do pig, that will do." Oh! now I really want to watch that movie

"Here I'm Happy" is a title place holder, but it has been growing on me though. What do you all think of that title? I Googled it and I couldn't find any books with that title which is a good sign.

I also spent several hours yesterday playing with the text when I should have been drawing. Oh well, but my editor is really happy with the text now.

Oh, also since I've got the text to a good place, turns out I will be adding yet another page, so I'm gonna be doing that tonight in addition to finishing the cover and cleaning up portfolio pieces/sketching companion pieces to my portfolio pieces. Baaaaaah! Hang in there Squirrel, hang in there! Oh no! its happened! I'm talking to myself in third person! Or at least I think thats in third person? I don't know. . .

@robinleigh49 Thanks I would love to grab some coffee with you

Okay art peeps! The update is that I've totally missed my deadline and running on fumes now!
I only have 3 DAYS LEFT before my dummy book is due and it's not even printed out yet! BaaaaH!
I'm working full time by day and only have the evenings to work on my book! And on top of that I still have some portfolio pieces to clean up and print out! All nighter here I come!

Okay, I got spread 12 done! But I am still tweaking the text. I'll prob be tweaking it till its printed. (Ha tweaking! Don't worry, i'm not high, at least not on drugs, more like nerves) I just need to keep reminding myself that this is just the dummy book stage.

The cover!
I really, really want the cover to be finished and in color for the dummy book! POOP POOP! All nighter, here I come!

Yippee! congrats!

I know my deadline was Sept 1st. But I left this week (Sept 1-7) as a cushion week. In other words, I have until this weekend to start printing it out and binding it together for the dummy-book stage. So I'm still doing last minutes changes!
I also have several other additional unrelated pieces I need to finish and print for my portfolio. Originally the cushion week was really meant for finishing my portfolio pieces. Ugh! Deeps breaths Squirrel.

Here is spread 8! Its finished:

So this weekend, me and my editor were going over the text again. We went over some helpful suggestions I've gotten here on the forms and I feel like the text is really getting to a better place!
We are playing with the idea of having the beginning of the book in past tense and then the end in present tense.
We also came to the agreement that we really needed something else between spreads 11 and 12.
So I worked on several ideas, then came up with this spread below:

(The text before this spread: "And then she could be happy too")

(The text after this spread: "But when I remember her, I can be happy again")

Hey Marsha!

Here is the printer I have:

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/596464/Canon-PIXMA-Wireless-Color-Inkjet-All/?cm_mmc=PLA-_-

I live in a 18 ft camper trailer and this thing fits great! Its like a little tank. Its super compact and it can not only print good quality, but it can fax, scan and copy!
It can print on water color paper, but I have not got around to testing the printed ink if it would smudge or not when watercolor got in contact with it.

Bonus: The paper output tray stays up and out of the way until it prints something, then it pops out! Sometimes it startles me lol

Warning: Although, I've not had much trouble with it, This printer is known to be difficult to set up.

@BichonBistro Oh! I like that!

@Su Great idea! I've actually not read it aloud yet or had a friend read it aloud, I will get on it! Thanks