I like to say that the main reason I haven't broken into the professional world of art is because I never knew where to start, who to contact, or even where to look to find this information. And that was all true, too. The art world has this thing with mystery and elusiveness, to the point where, if it was a person, you might think it had some mental problems or a weird fetish.

Well, the clouds have finally opened and the sun of happiness and delight is shining down on me! That's right, my friend. I finally got my hands on a real live copy of the 2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market book. I'd been eyeballing this book for about a year now, and had actually seen the 2009 Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market book while I was searching for the Children's book, but I decided that I'd probably be much happier as a children's book illustrator. Lord knows I'm almost mature enough to draw for children.

I just got the book this afternoon, but just flipping through it and reading the first couple of articles has convinced me that it was a really smart purchase. It tells you a lot of things other people skip over because they figure you already know it. Like, for instance, only about 50% of book publishers will accept your work if you don't have an agent/rep. However, since you don't generally make as much with magazine deals, reps/agents won't even bother with those so anyone and their brother can submit to them.

I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. Plus it's really warm outside today, and according to my body, warm sunny days = ambition and a go-get-em attitude. Hooray for natural cycles!

If I find out any other interesting tidbits, I'm sure I'll share. But only if you're nice to me.