Donkey Nanny On The Lamb
Somebody Write This Book
Hi! Hello! I’m Kirk Reedstrom and this is the Squiggle Party newsletter where I send monthly-ish, occasionally (okay, okay—often) absurd creative prompts to your inbox. You probably signed up for this on my website or on Twitter. If you’d like to unsubscribe, just click that link at the bottom of the newsletter. One click, all done, goodbye and sayonara.
Before we get started, I have so much Duck & Moose news! So much! Ack! You can read more news at the bottom of the email, but the first two books in the series are publishing on March 5, and you can preorder them right now.
Prompt:
The Donkey Nanny
Did you know that donkey nannies are a thing in Italy? They cart young lambs across pastures who are too little to make the trek on their own. Adorable! At first, I was overwhelmed by the cuteness, then I got to thinking about my own experiences as a kid and then as a babysitter and thought “well, that’s a picture book.” So let’s draw a squiggle and turn it into a lamb for that donkey nanny.
Here’s my squiggle:
Here’s my lamb:
That’s an innocent-but-secretly-mischievous-looking dude! If you want to keep trotting along with this story, here are some questions to ask yourself:
What was the most fun you had as a child when your parents were gone for the night?
What was the most trouble you got in when you had a babysitter?
What was the worst experience you had when YOU were a babysitter?
Try setting a timer for 23 minutes and free write a little story that’s about 100-200 words from the perspective of the donkey nanny or lamb. You can go over or under that word count. You can write for a longer or shorter amount of time. Stories aren’t your thing? Try writing a poem or four panel comic. There aren’t any rules here.
Save The Date:
Duck & Moose Graphic Novels Debut On March 5:
It’s true! My early reader graphic novel series, Duck & Moose is coming out in less than a month! Did you hear that distant, anxiety-riddled scream? That was me. If you preorder the books from Blue Willow Bookshop, my home bookstore, you’ll get a signed print. If you’re in the Houston area, I’ll be launching the books at Blue Willow on March 2nd at 5pm. I’m just about at the pre-launch stage where I’m having nightmares that the only people who show up to the launch are me, and the ghosts of my dead pets, so please RSVP!
Three Neat Things:
Reviews! Reviews! Reviews!
Reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal have come in. Kirkus likes the books, and SLJ gave both of them starred reviews, which is huge! Spectacular! Unfathomable for this doodle hermit, but I am so happy that my wacky stories are resonating with readers.
Website Redesign:
My wife, Sarah Duet, who happens to be a much more talented painter, writer, and designer than me, redesigned my website, and it looks sooo good! Look at my website and then go marvel at Sarah’s own work, and get her book of blackout poetry.
Eames Institute Of Infinite Curiosity:
I am unabashedly a huge fan of the work of Charles & Ray Eames, and when I heard Llisa Demetrios, granddaughter of the Eameses (AND Virginia Lee Burton, who made classic children’s books like Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel), discussing the work she was doing at the excellently named Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity on the podcast, Scratching The Surface, I knew I needed to follow them. The institute’s website is a treasure trove of information about Charles & Ray Eames, and I can’t stop flipping through this beautifully made catalog about Saul Steinberg’s visit with the Eames.
Thanks for reading. If you’re hankering for more prompts, you can read the archives here. If you really enjoyed it, forward this email to a friend or arch nemesis.
If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time (Hello friend or nemesis!), you can subscribe here.
-Kirk
www.kirkreedstrom.com