A Quarantine Reading of A Rather Round Alphabet

For some reason I decided to video (and post to YouTube) myself reading Francis S. Poesy's A Rather Round Alphabet. Maybe during the lock down parents and teachers will be able to use it to teach their kids how not to make YouTube videos. Enjoy!

A Rather Round Alphabet by Francis S. Poesy as read by Tim C.

Making booklets from packaging paper

I made a quick how to video for making booklets out of packaging paper that comes in some of our deliveries. It is one big long strip of craft paper that can be flattened out, folded, and stapled together for a bit of quarantine family fun. The video was originally longer but I ran out of space on my phone (lesson learned, delete all un-needed photos, etc before filming). There are also some things I'd change if I were to do it over again, but I think the idea comes across. Let me know what you think and if you make some booklets of your own.

Kidlit in the time of Corona Virus

The KidLit community is showing up with bells on during all the social distancing and self-isolation called for because of the Corona virus with all kinds of great book readings, talks, and activity sheets. So, far be it from me to not hop on this fun band wagon. I am periodically posting a page from my alphabet book, A Rather Round Alphabet, on Twitter here:

• https://twitter.com/tcanny/status/1242116258214133761

Also, I'm making the PDF of the self-published book available for your reading/printing pleasure. I'm not expecting a huge response as I'm not a well-known name but I figure I should do what I can. If there is any response, I may start a  collaborative effort to write and illustrate the other books I thought of doing in this vein, A Totally Triangular Alphabet and A Simply Square Alphabet. We'll see what happens. Until then, feel free to download the PDF of A Rather Round Alphabet here:

• https://www.dropbox.com/s/kydis167e7mlgr2/ARRA_2020.pdf?dl=0

Quick and Dirty Screen Printing

I recently became a member of Second State Press in Philadelphia and took their Quick & Dirty Screen Printing class. The above picture shows one of the quick & dirty two-color screen prints I made during the four hour class, featuring a couple of my 2-Bit Overlord sprites. The instructor, Ash Limés, was engaging, patient, and very knowledgeable. The class was tons of fun, I met a great bunch of fellow art makers, and I can't wait to schedule some time for a new project.

Now I just have to decide what that project is. I have so many ideas, including printing a mini-picture book!

Introducing another doodle guy

Another doodle character that might become more. Might not. We'll see what Mr. Dirty Sock Head Guy tells me about himself and if he's more interesting than he seems. I'm thinking he might be, as there is a lot of room for brains in that dirty sock head of his, you know, since he basically has no body whatsoever. Maybe he'd be a good tech helper character in the Wiener Man universe.

Sometimes I think I'm funny

Created this all-text comic (if that's even a thing) in celebration of National Handwriting Day. And yes, I created it on a computer, so please don't tell the Handwriting Police!

My 9th Annual Halloweensie Contest Entry

Here is my entry for Susanna Leonard Hill's 9th Annual Halloweensie Contest. The rules are that the story must be for children (12 and under), and has to be 100 words or less. It must include the words potion, cobweb, and trick. Of  course, it must be Halloween themed. Enjoy mine and comment with your thoughts. Then go to Susanna's website and read all the other entries! Or join in the fun. You have until Halloween at midnight to post your own Halloweensie story!

Trixie the Witch and her Halloween Tricks - Episode 13: Perfect Cobweb Potion (100 words)

Welcome to the show my creepy crones and conjurers.

It's Halloween and cobweb potion is a must for repelling those annoyingly cute trick-or-treaters.

The trick to perfect cobweb potion is using quality cobwebs.

The trick to getting quality cobwebs is finding giant spiders.

The trick to finding giant spiders is going deep into the haunted forest.

The trick to going deep into the haunted forest is not getting eaten by giant spiders.

The trick to not getting eaten by giant spiders is running away empty-handed and giving out candy to those irritatingly cute kids again this year.

Everyone needs an alter-ego!

Frank Frent is just an everyday ordinary mild-mannered actuary whose secret identity isn't that of any super hero who might go by a name that rhymes with beinerban or freinerfan or anything like that. Yup, just a normal average guy going about his business analyzing statistics and calculating insurance risks. Not fighting crime or going up against his arch-enemy whose name might rhyme with bubble-X.

National Doughnut Day!

What better way to celebrate National Doughnut Day than to plug my self-published alphabet book, A Rather Round Alphabet, which features a tasty looking doughnut for the letter D? Okay, yes, a better way to celebrate National Doughnut Day would be to eat a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts in one sitting, but it was a rhetorical question. You can find my fun little book at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Rather-Round-Alphabet-Francis-Poesy/dp/1520775849

Weiner Man and Double Trouble

I doodle a lot. And sometimes I like a doodle so much I decide to make a version of it in Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop. This is Weiner Man and his Arch-nemesis, Double Trouble (aka Double X (the X is for trouble (he always has to explain that which makes him more grumpy))). And sometimes I feel like I need to make up some stories about my doodles. We'll see where this leads. Below is the original doodle, which I did in pencil and then inked over with an Extra Fine Point Sharpie.

The Scariest Thing!

Here is my entry for Susanna Leonard Hill's 8th Annual Halloweensie Contest. The rules are that the story must be for children (12 and under), and has to be 100 words or less. It must include the words shiver, cauldron, and howl. Of  course, it must be Halloween themed. Enjoy mine and then go to Susanna's website and read all the other entries! Or join in the fun. You have until Halloween at midnight to post your own Halloweensie story!

The Scariest Thing!
(91 words)

My mom is a witch.

She cackles and screeches

And stirs her black cauldron.

She doesn't scare me.

My dad is a werewolf.

He is covered in hair

And he howls at the moon.

He doesn't scare me.

My sister is a ghost.

She shrieks in the night

And wanders through walls.

She doesn't scare me.

My brother is a bat.

He has sharp pointy teeth

And a terrible bite.

He doesn't scare me.

My teacher is human.

She makes my spine shiver.

 'Cause she can give homework,

On Halloween night!

Halloween fun

Having worked with Adobe Illustrator since it was version 1.0 I do a lot of doodling in this very popular vector artwork application. During Drawlloween 2015 I drew these two weirdos for the "candy" prompt.

And just the other day, one of my favorite artists, @scaredofbees posted a weird little candy corn character which got my brain on the candy corn train of thought. Thinking about how weird candy corn is got me thinking about what is weirder than candy corn, and I came up with the following list.

Since the idea made me think of the work of another one of my favorite artists @tomguald I attempted to copy the format of some of his cartoons, as a sort of tribute.

Happy Halloween! And let me know which of the weirdos above is your favorite.

It's January/February Pitch Pick Time!

There are five brilliant children's book pitches up at Susanna Leonard Hill's Blog that require your attention! Five writers (including me) have pitched their story ideas on Susanna's blog in hopes of getting better at pitching, an important step on the road to publication. Their reviewed and polished pitches are now ready to be voted on by you. The writer with the most votes will have their pitch read and commented on by editor Erin Molta! Follow the steps below to cast your vote before Sunday, September 9 at 9PM Eastern! And thanks for your support!

1. Go to the Pitch Pick web page
2. Read through the revised pitches
3. Choose the one you like best
4. Vote for it in the poll

Would You Read It Wednesday!

Children's book author Susanna Leonard Hill has again selected one of my picture book pitches for her latest installment of Would You Read It Wednesday! Wo0t! Go to Susanna's web site to read the pitch for my second finished-ish picture book manuscript and let me know what you think in the comments on her site! Thanks!

Creative Procrastination

A little over a year ago I decided I would buckle down and focus on writing stories for children's books. I've made progress but find one of my biggest problems is what I've decided to call creative procrastination. I come up with ideas for different things and decide they won't take up too much time. Then, with a number of these little projects piled up, I find I haven't worked on my stories.

I really enjoy the quick creative hit these little projects give me and to a certain extent they have made me stick to a schedule as I try to get things done on a daily or weekly basis. So now I just need to schedule in my story writing time.

Here are the procrastination projects I've currently got going or had going recently:

Participation in International Pwoermd Writing Month

Saint Tweet - A Twitter tweet about a lesser known Catholic saint every day

Jubal the Early Worm web comic (posted on F. S. Poesy's Instagram, every Friday)

2-Bit Overlords ABCs of Total World Domination web comic (posted on my Instagram every Wednesday)

My International Pwoermd Writing Month pwoermds

In the words of its discoverentor Geof Huth, the pwoermd is the height of minimalism in literature. It is a one-word poem that has no title save for itself. The pwoermd must make its effects in the smallest of spaces. Read more about pwoermds here.


Please enjoy my pwoermds below from International Pwoermd Writing Month 2018:


fuul


salivery


ginocide


slieme

glomedy


dieverse


curioust


godleast


quexotic


heavyn


dipthsong


qcualm

jumup

shurg


darkleth


shadowns


sacared


torm


lethallow


9ine


flawer


mongirl


8ight


gibberwish


7even


dadabase


6ix


vitreality


5ive


goald


4our


edgelorn


isiot


cumuloss


eggrieve


unver


3hree


ovder


2wo


qwerve


1ne


0ero


finif

My #50PreciousWords 2018 Writing Challenge Entry

I've done it again! I've entered one of those fun #kidlit short-short story contests. This time it is Vivian Kirkfield's #50PreciousWords 2018 Writing Challenge. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. Also feel free to write your own entry and submit it on Vivian's website.

Here's my entry.

If I Ever Get Lost

by Francis S. Poesy (aka Tim Canny)
(50 Words)

Mom said, if I ever get lost,
I should stay put.
Look around for her.
Ask another mom for help.
Look for a police officer.
But nobody is up here.
Maybe she went downstairs.
When I find her I’m going to tell her,
this new house is just too big.

Valentiny Finalists!

Well, I didn't make it into the finals with my Valentiny story, but I am already working it into shape as a full-blown picture-book manuscript, so by my calculations I'm ahead of the game (as long as the game isn't winning the Valentiny contest.)

You should go read the finalists' stories and vote! Now!

My Valentiny Contest Entry

Here is my entry for Susanna Leonard Hill's Valentiny Writing Contest! Enjoy!

I'm Not A Hugger!

By Francis S. Poesy
(Word Count: 214)

Ugh! Another family gathering, another hug-fest.

Or more like a hug-tastrophe.

"Now when you meet your Great-Aunt Valentine, tell her you are happy to meet her and give her a big hug!"

"I'm not a hugger, Mom."

"Oh, don't be silly, sweetheart. You hug me all the time."

"Uh yeah, you're my mom."

"Well, your great-aunt is family. You should give her a hug."

*I'm not a hugger*

"Don't mumble, dear."

"I've never even met Aunt Valentine! Why should I hug her?"

"Because it's Valentine's day, and it's her 100th birthday party. It would be a nice gesture."

"It's not a nice gesture if she's not a hugger."

"Oh, honey, everyone's a hugger."

*I'm not a hugger*

"Sweetheart, stop mumbling."

I hope Aunt Valentine isn't a hugger.

---------------

"Sweetheart, this is Aunt Valentine! Do you have something to tell her?”

“Happy Birthday, Aunt Valentine. I’m happy to meet you. *I’m not a hugger*.”

“Don’t mumble, dear. Speak up so I can hear you.”

“I’M NOT A HUGGER!”

I kind of yelled that part.

“I’m not much of a hugger, either. In fact I’m about all hugged out. How about a hand shake?”

I took Aunt Valentine’s hand.

She smiled. I smiled back.

She winked at me. I winked back.

I might be a winker!

Would You Read It Wednesday!

Children's book author Susanna Leonard Hill has selected my picture book pitch for her latest installment for Would You Read It Wednesday! Wo0t! Go to Susanna's web site to read the pitch for my first finished picture book manuscript and let me know what you think in the comments on her site! Thanks!