According to American Heritage Dictionary, to doodle means:
V.
- To scribble aimlessly, especially when preoccupied.
- To kill time.
When Ruth McNally Barshaw doodles, there's nothing aimless about it. But she did decide to kill a little time with me, discussing her fantastic new children's book, Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel.
I love the look of your book, Ellie McDoodle. Are you Ellie?
Thank you! Halfway through working on the book, my agent and editor both declared I am Ellie, which made me laugh. She's me, but she is also a bit of each of my three daughters. She has the self-confidence they had as kids but that I lacked. And she's probably more wise than I'll ever be. I have always observed and analyzed people, and drew and read nonstop, just like Ellie. I grew up
with many of the same challenges as she has: Family issues, pranks, teasing, loss. And I was scared to death of that frog pond, and mortified when someone else found my private work. And, my first love at camp was a boy named Scott. Those parts of Ellie are me.
How is Ellie McDoodle different from past projects?
Well, for one thing, I am getting paid well to do it, I have total creative freedom, the people I am working with are brilliant and they think I am also, and I get help sharing the load when I need it. I have validation and support from my family, and I get lots of fan mail. I'm being asked to appear at events and sign books... This volume of good stuff is pretty unusual for me. I'm much more accustomed to feeling rejected from life.
Before starting Ellie, I was sure I'd make my mark on the publishing world with picture books. Ellie's a nonstandard graphic novel -- they're calling it a highly-illustrated middle grade novel, and a graphic novel hybrid. It's done in a very simple black and white quick-sketching style. The picture books were all a bit more labor-intensive and aimed at younger kids. I was at the personal rejections stage with picture books when the idea for Ellie came along. But Ellie's actually a throwback to my dream, the one I typed up and pasted to my computer desk many years ago: I longed to do "art for the world in my humorous cartoony-sketchy style, and to get paid a fair wage." I didn't know how to make that dream come true, and tried many things. Now that this one has worked out, it's sometimes overwhelming but always very gratifying.
What are your favorite things to sketch?
Kids, people, animals, contraptions, emotions, and anything I see while touring, whether it's New York City or the local zoo. I go on a lot of field trips with my kids' classes and I love sketching what we learn, and sharing the sketches with the teachers and kids. I've sketched weddings and funerals and a couple births. I like sketching momentous occasions to remember later, but I also like finding something special in the mundane.
How did you transition from keeping a daily sketch diary to writing and illustrating for a large publisher?
I took the sketchbook on my first trip to New York City, for a national SCBWI conference in 2005, and drew as much as I could. Upon returning home I put all 180 sketchbook pages on my website and sent the link around to fellow writers and illustrators, so that those who went would have a souvenir of their trip and those who couldn't go would see what it was like. An avalanche of email followed, many of them from writers telling me to do a children's book in that same sketchy style. I argued that the world wouldn't buy my books in that style since I'd struck out with comic strips, rubber stamp companies, Disney World sketches... But they persisted so I started a book. Within a week an agent contacted me. I signed with her, and she sold my book to Bloomsbury a few months later. It changed my life so completely. My life is a Cinderella story.
What forthcoming projects are in the works?
I'm so excited about what's coming next! I'm working on the sequel to the Ellie book, where Ellie moves to a new city and school, and has to make new friends. That book will come out in July, 2008 and the first draft is due to the publisher right NOW, so I am scrambling to finish. In between deadlines on that, I'll be working on a couple other book projects. One is a character-driven picture book, about a girl who is a tree. It's very funny and silly. My agent asked if I'd like to illustrate other people's words, in picture books and chapter books, and I said YES! So I hope a few of those projects will land on my doorstep too.