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Me
Want the longer version? Are you a glutton for punishment? Ok, go here

This is me, a few years ago. I guess I slept in odd places when I was a little kid.

Probably there weren't enough beds to go around. (Big family)
(Actually my favorite bed was the triple bunkbed, but it had a downside -- besides
the edge, I mean -- there was very little space between the top bunk and the ceiling)

Notice the book. :)  I still like to fall asleep with a book at my fingertips.

                                                        

What it took to get published

My work
I worked 17 years for a major university doing all sorts of advertising-related stuff.
I loved my job and it was very stressful.
I quit about 13 years ago to work out of my home, doing freelance design and illustration.
My tools
I sketch with a pen, rarely a pencil. I'm partial to expensive,
luxurious Moleskine sketchbooks but will use anything, including homemade booklets.

My dreams
I've always created little books -- stories I wrote and illustrated for small audiences.
And I've always carried a sketchbook everywhere -- school, vacations, the playground.
I have chronicled my life in a sketchbook almost daily since I was 15. But creating real
books for real publishers seemed so ridiculously pie-in-the-sky-dreaming to me that
I barely considered it. I bought books about writing and illustrating kids' books, and would
gaze longingly at them and wonder if I would ever have the courage to try it.

My family
I'm married with four kids (23, 20, 17, 9) and one grandson (4), and a bunch of pets.

My book
I got serious about writing/illustrating kids' books four years ago.
I went to the big SCBWI MidWinter Conference in Feb 2005, sketched everything I saw,
came home and put it all online. It created a buzz... writer and illustrator friends urged me
to create books for kids in the same style as my NYC sketchbook. So I am.

It's exciting work; I can't imagine being happier doing anything else.

                                                        

It seems to me
artists are
a weird mix
of ego
and
low
self
confidence.

 I always knew my art was good,
but I didn't go to art school ($$$)
so I didn't know how good it was, or
how it measured up to anyone else's,
or what I could do with it.
I got very creative in advertising
on a shoestring budget,
and longed for the "big" time,
but felt unworthy.
Eventually I decided I could do
ANYthing I believed I could do.
So now, I am making up for lost time.

And I am telling anyone who will listen to follow their dreams,
and have faith that the money will follow.
I've had lean times, but it has paid off. :)
And -- don't listen to the nay-sayers.
Because they're WRONG.

<- me now

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email me: ruthexpress@aol.com

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