I just found this in The Toymaker newsletter from last month (yeah, I'm a little slow with reading my email). I hope it's ok to post it here.
A long time ago, when I was getting ready to start college, I met with the admissions counselor and she asked me what my major was. I remember summoning up as much courage and conviction as my eighteen-year old nerd girl self could, and squeaking, "My name is Marilyn and I'm going to be a children's book illustrator." The counselor rolled her eyes and replied something like, "Yeah, sure." and slapped me in a string of general ed classes. Since that day I've had a lot of jobs in the arts, draftsman, magazine work, clothing designer, art teacher, art director... but always in the back of my mind was a super secret wish.
So now, every morning when I pick up my pencil, I am very grateful and say with all the courage and conviction of a much older nerd mom self, "My name is Marilyn and I am a children's book illustrator.
"I encourage you to see if there is any super secret wish that you've had smushed and shoved away in a closet. Take it out and give it a shake. Be brave. Try the things that you really want to do. You never know where it might take you.
Just so you know, Marilyn is now working on a book for Scholastic.
You should visit her website (she has otter paperdolls and cool things to print out) and her blog.
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