The Back Cover

Jul 11, 2012

By the author, Jim Doti


Although Mill City’s services include writing and designing the back cover, I wanted to maintain control so I could insure that the style and format is similar to
A Christmas Adventure in Little Italy
.

One difference, though, […]

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By Illustrator Lisa Mertins


While conceptualizing, I went back often to the photos Jim sent of Reinberg School. My favorite is above. It looks like this classroom hasn’t been updated since the time when Jimmy attended!

I used the lamps and the door style and […]

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Interior Formatting

Jul 05, 2012

By the author, Jim Doti 


Lisa and I worked very closely with my associate, Ann Cameron, who combined the text with the illustrations and created a fully assembled book.  While this is work that typically would be done by Mill City Press, it gave Lisa and me the […]

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By the author, Jim Doti


The image featured above is the earliest sketch that Lisa gave me for the cover of our book.  But as I looked at all of her initial sketches for our book, there was another one—showing Jimmy on stage with his hand thrust upward—that […]

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By the author, Jim Doti

Now that the book is nearing completion, we need to start giving more attention to the timing of its publication.  We want to make sure that it comes out in time for the holidays, and possibly even in time for a September 14-16 Orange County Book Fair being held at Chapman […]

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By the author, Jim Doti


I love Lisa’s depiction of Jimmy and his mom in her “hat room.”  The second scene in this room is of critical importance to the book, since Jimmy came up with the idea of raising his arm during the play by observing and […]

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By Lisa Mertins, the Illustrator


Jim remembers those school doors as massive, and my first sketches weren’t nailing that feeling. I struggled with keeping the doors in perspective while giving them a looming presence.

In hindsight, I could have eliminated the door surroundings to make […]

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By the author, Jim Doti


One of Lisa Mertins’ special talents is her ability to capture the essence of the storyline in her illustrations.  This is critically important, since readers—especially children—often look at the illustrations to get a visual sense of the characters and storyline.  Indeed, it’s this […]

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