[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-grumpycorns-writing-cottage":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"You know what really inspired GRUMPYCORN? The most inspiring things of all... a DEADLINE. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/621240_original-46431223ea.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's what happened: I was travelling from London to meet up with my family in \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seldovia,_Alaska\">Seldovia, Alaska\u003C/a>. It's a long journey and I was very conscious that I had a picture book text due when I got back. I thought, \u003Ci>I really ought to make good use of the time\u003C/i>, but you know how your brain gets into a sort of fug when you're travelling for too long? Mine was like that, and I couldn't think of anything. I didn't even have my sketchbook; I'd accidentally packed it in checked luggage. So I got out my phone and started typing into it the first thing I thought of, a story starting with someone who couldn't think of a story idea.\\r\n\\r\nAnd then I thought it would be funnier if the story's main character, the one who couldn't think of an idea, was a Unicorn. When I got to Alaska, I was further inspired by all the beautiful houses on stilts in the water. Here are a couple paintings I made of them.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/683185_original-9f1de245cb.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI thought, \u003Ci>if there was anywhere that would be a dream writing retreat kind of place, it would be Seldovia.\u003C/i> So that's where I set Unicorn's writing cottage. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/682910_original-90e571625a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nWhile I was there, I met artist and children's book illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/valisahigman/\">Valisa Higman\u003C/a>, who rows to work every day, from Seldovia around the headland to the floating studio her dad built, years ago. (You can read another \u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.livejournal.com/782987.html\">blog post about it here\u003C/a>.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/683404_original-c86b49fc88.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nValisa often posts Instagram photos of the animals she passes on her waterway commute, or who come up and sunbath on the studio dock. It made me laugh, thinking how distracted I could get if there was a cute sea otter right outside my door. And that made it into the book; Unicorn keeps having guests show up at his cottage: a narwhal, a mermaid and an unnaturally cute jellyfish. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/valisahigman\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/685383_original-e10dda95a6.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nSometimes a clean white sheet of sketchbook paper can be a little intimidating and a fun thing I found in Seldovia was that, when my drawings weren't working out so well, I didn't even have to draw on paper, I could doodle things on beach pebbles. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/695944_original-449e7b8491.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nBut the whole point of the \u003Ci>Grumpycorn\u003C/i> book turns out to be that we \u003Ci>\u003Cb>don't \u003C/b>\u003C/i>need a perfect setting to create something. We can start with whatever we have. So while a writing cottage in Seldovia with visiting otters would be ideal, I can create something wherever I am. In the story, Narwhal realises that, and he starts writing about exactly what is happening in front of him, just like I did on that fuggy airplane. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/696291_original-c16ba2e06f.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI'm going back to Seldovia this year for their summer arts festival, and I'm excited to take my book back to the place where it started. And I really \u003Ci>do\u003C/i> hope a friendly sea otter comes by to distract me. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cb>GRUMPYCORN\u003C/b> is available in \u003Ca href=\"https://www.page45.com/store/Philip-Reeve-And-Sarah-McIntyre.html\">hardcover and paperback through supportive and reliable independent bookshop Page 45\u003C/a> (with a special bookplate edition for the first 100 orders!), via \u003Ca href=\"https://www.foyles.co.uk/all?term=grumpycorn\">Foyles\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/grumpycorn\">Waterstones\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.hive.co.uk/Search/Keyword?keyword=grumpycorn&productType=0\">Hive Books\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grumpycorn-Sarah-McIntyre/dp/1407180835/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=grumpycorn&qid=1554218977&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr\">Amazon\u003C/a>, and of course you can request it at your local bookshop or library!\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nYou can follow Valisa Higman \u003Ca href=\"http://instagram.com/valisahigman/\">on Instagram\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/artbyvalisa/\">on Facebook\u003C/a> and visit \u003Ca href=\"https://www.etsy.com/shop/Artbyvalisa?fbclid=IwAR3lQULmG6CBsSL19kklnrpLUj0_dv-prSHI5Hwpo1CrXnux1Dexp3MIrO4\">her Etsy shop\u003C/a>.","2019-04-19T09:00:00.000Z","grumpycorns-writing-cottage",[],"GRUMPYCORN's writing cottage",1776628730153]