BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD written and illustrated by Sandra Salsbury
One of the goals that I’ve had for this blog is to share with fellow writers and illustrators the grit, determination, and dash of luck that happens for a book to come to life. I’m absolutely THRILLED to share the first spotlight on this blog featuring an author AND illustrator, Sandra Salsbury!
Her beautifully written and illustrated book BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD is like a warm snuggle for the eyes and brain.
Sandra is an author-illustrator living in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, a lot of houseplants, and even more spiders.
Basically, she resides in a Ghibli story.
Now onto the interview (eeeee!) …
Sandra, thank you so much for sharing your journey, especially as an author-illustrator. What is the story behind your story? What sparked your story concept?
Once when I was a child, I took a walk in the woods, much like my main character, and I found a stick. It had two types of moss, a weird pokey part, and it was just the right length to swing around and accidentally hit things. It was perfect. However, my father did not enjoy being accidentally hit with a stick and threw it away.
I cried. A lot.
I don’t know what it was that made me emotionally bond with a stick, but the memory of cherishing a random found object has stuck with me ever since.
Ah, poor stick! And poor you. How long did it take from idea to book?
It will be about 5 years from the inkling of an idea to the book being on the shelf. Over 30 years if we’re going all the way back to the day I met that stick.
You honor the memory of that perfect stick with your book. What was your revision timeline?
Circa 1990: Found a stick and lost it
July 2016: Story outline and sketches. I decide I need to reinvent my illustration style and spent 8 months doing that as well as 2 months putting together a dummy
May 2017: Finish first draft. Then two months doing three more versions of the dummy and three spreads of sample art
August 2017: Dummy critique at SCBWI where I am told to tighten up the pacing and cut pages… then made 9 more dummies
October 2017: Probably should send queries, right? I guess I’ll send a few.
March 2018: Submit the dummy for the SCBWI Don Freeman Grant
October 2018: Win the grant!!?? Then I realize I want to change my ending to something better. Very Important Agent sees I won that grant and asks if my dummy is still available. I say, “Yes, but I have to change the end.”
December 2018: Submit my new version and I’m put in contact with Lindsay Auld at Writers House, who makes an offer of representation. I say yes, obviously. We change the ending AGAIN. This new ending is way better.
February 2019: Going on submission!
July 2019: An editor requests an R&R.
October 2019: Two publishers make offers (but not the editor that asked for the R&R). We accept one!
November 2019 - June 2020: Then I fiddle with the manuscript with my editor.
June 2020: I ask “When am I supposed to start the art?” My editor says, “Oh, you haven’t started yet?” So I paint the entire book in 6 weeks. And then I actually die and this summary was written by a ghost.
August 2020: Everything (cover, end papers, title page, font, etc., etc,) is finished!
Thank you, ghost, for sharing these details. As an author-illustrator, what was the hardest part of revising?
The hardest part for me is always the process of reimagining a section that isn’t working. A story has a way of embedding itself in your mind and finding the right mindset to approach the story in a new way is challenging. It’s a bit like trying to unbake a cake and rebake it into a different cake.
Mmm, at least they are all probably very tasty cakes! Did you have an ‘ah-ha!’ moment with your manuscript during the revision process? If so, what triggered it?
In an earlier version of the story, the ending was led by a secondary character and it never quite felt satisfying to me until I swapped things around and made my character lead the action at the end of the story.
What advice do you have for other writer-illustrators? Are there any resources you would recommend to help with the revision process?
Publishing is not a race. Your book and your audience deserve the sort of care that goes hand in hand with patience. #kidlitart chat on Twitter Thursdays 6pm PST/9pm EST is a wonderful place to connect with other picture book creators!
I’m SO EXCITED that Sandra was willing to share some of her process. Here are some of Sandra’s character sketches…
And the process from thumbnails, value study, color roughs to the final!
Thank you so much, Sandra!
If you haven’t connected with Sandra yet you can find more of her lovely work on her website and be sure to connect on Twitter (@SandraSalsbury) and Instagram (@SandraSalsbury).
Be sure to order this beautiful, sweet book on behalf of a forgotten stick’s memory at Bookshop.org or Sandra’s local bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway’s!
Thank you, Sandra! I really can’t wait for more of your beautiful stories.