New York Times live drawing interview!

Hey everyone!
I finally get a chance to breath a little and sit down and update my blog! Phew! The past few months have been a flurry of activity and travel that I will try to catch up on in a few posts soon, but for now I wanted to share my live drawing interview that I did a few weeks ago with The New York Times Children's Book Editor Maria Russo. I still am pinching myself that it actually happened. It was such an honor and SO much fun to chat with Maria while getting to draw live in real time for Facebook. In case you missed it here's the Facebook link:

https://m.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10151146327034999

You can see me work and learn a bit about my process, upcoming project, and which animals I DON'T like to draw!

More to come soon on my other recent activities... stay tuned!

jxoxo

Laundry Day Book Launch and Youthcare Drive!

Wow! It's already time to welcome my third picture book, Laundry Day, into the world! It will be held at Secret Garden Books in Seattle on February 7th at 7pm. Not only will I be doing a book reading and giving out goodies, but I am also organizing a donation drive at the launch for YouthCare, a Seattle non-profit that helps homeless youth in the city. If you plan on coming, see if you could bring one (or more) of the items below. We'll be clipping up the donated items to a laundry line in the store in conjunction with my book's theme- hanging up laundry!

Any donations will be so greatly appreciated for this truly heroic Seattle institution! Here's a current list of items that YouthCare needs:

New underwear
New socks
Backpacks
Jeans and coats
Alarm clocks
Plus sized clothing & shoes
Reusable Water Bottles
Sleeping bags
Blankets
Travel-size hygiene supplies
New razors
Dental Supplies
Gift cards (Target, Fred Meyer, QFC, etc.)
Orca cards & bus tickets

I hope you can make it to the launch!

For more info about YouthCare, visit: http://www.youthcare.org/

2017 and... we're OFF!

Aye Carumba! It's already 2017 and I am already behind on my blogging. (Good thing I didn't make it a new year's resolution to blog more!)

I'm so happy to start off the new year with some fun news!


On January 28th form 9-10am, I'll be participating in a webinar series for SCBWI (YAY!). I'm joining such children's books greats as Tara Lazar, Josh Funk, and Linda Ashman!

I'll be chatting away about polishing person style (for your books that is). Finding your voice both visually and with words is no easy task, but we all have it in us! Here's a link for more information and how to register for the webinars:

https://inlandnw.scbwi.org/events/from-bright-idea-to-the-final-page-turn/

I'm always excited at ANY opportunity to geek out and talk about picture books and the craft of making them. So join me and the other amazing writers for some serious geek out time!



There's more to chat about, but I'll just make another post, so I feel more encouraged that I'm blogging more. ;)


Happy 2017!
jx

Urban Craft Uprising this weekend!

Hey all!
I wanted to mention that I'll be signing and selling copies of Before I Leave this weekend at the Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle! (UCU is an AMAZING and huge indie craft show where you can buy oodles of amazing wares from crafters both local and abroad.) I'll be there to draw in books and I'll have some fun little giveaways for folks to enjoy too!

Also, my husband Aaron Bagley will be drawing in copies of the book Rocking Fatherhood which he illustrated. The books author, Kris Kornelis will be there signing as well!

So come on out for some book and crafting fun. The signing schedule is below. We'll be at the UCU booth. Hope to see you there.

Thank YOU!

Hey everyone!
I've been meaning to write a little something about my amazing school visits that I went to during February and March. I went to the Silverwood and Pearson schools in Washington and then was down in Portland and visited Jason Lee K-8, Hiteon Elementary, and my alma mater Chehalem Elementary! I talked to over 250 kids among the 10 class presentations spanning k-5th grade. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I loved getting to share my books and my book making process with so many awesome kids. All of the classes were so engaged and respectful and they asked great questions. They even sent me stacks of amazing thank you letters and drawings! Opening the mail was like Christmas morning!!!

It was such a fun experience especially to go back to my old elementary school and walk the halls where I spent 1st-6th grade. So much had changed and yet so much was different. I even gave a presentation in my old 5th grade classroom! Needless to say that was a surreal experience being in the same place I once was 24 years ago-sitting on the carpet watching a picture book illustrator talk about their books and book making process- but now I was the one standing up in front of the class talking about my very own books. (AND they let me go in the Teacher's Lounge and have Rice Krispy treats!-BOOYA!)

The privilege of making picture books has been one of the highlights of my life- achieving a lifelong dream and getting to share it with the world is something that is hard for me to put into words. And it turns out the sharing part was even more rewarding than I'd hoped it could be. I loved every second of sharing my passions with kids and I hope that they took away even the smallest bit of inspiration from my visit. I looked out onto a sea of little faces, and saw myself staring back at me. It was a moment that transcended time. Rarely does one get such an opportunity to experience their life in such a full circle manner, and I am forever grateful to have had the chance.

Book Events

Hey everyone!
Things have been BONKERS busy the past few weeks since my book launch! Most notably I have some super fun book events coming up... like starting tomorrow!!! I'll cut straight to it and not waste more time and list them here:

March 5th- Storytime, Third Place Books, Ravenna, WA 12pm
March 6th- Storytime, Once Upon a Time, Queen Anne, WA 12pm
March 12th- Storytime, Powell's Books, Portland, OR 12pm
March 19th- Storytime, King's English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, 11am
March 26th- Storytime, Mockingbird Books, Seattle, WA 11am

Notice that I do have a book event coming up in Portland as well as Salt Lake City! Come on out with the little ones for reading, drawing, signing, and some fun giveaways!

Hope to see you!
jx

Two weeks until the book launch!

Hey all! 

Just two weeks until Before I Leave makes it way into the world! I'm super excited and have a bunch of fun school visits and readings planned after the launch! I'll post the schedule in the next week or so. For now, here are my most recent hedgies from my hedgehog a day postings!

Nine days of hedgehogs!

Hey everyone!

The book launch for my second picture book Before I Leave is just a few weeks away and I've been sharing out a drawing a day of Zelda the hedgehog on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as a way to celebrate the leading up to the launch. Here are my hedgies from the last nine days. Enjoy! And find me on those other platforms to follow along! 

It's 2016 ALREADY?!

Wowza wowza! Where did the time go? I feel like I just posted in my blog and it's already been over two months! So much has happened in my little corner of the world. The holidays were so much fun, a bit of a blur now, but I really did savor every second as much as possible. I was even fortunate enough to do a couple of interviews over the past couple of months. I was on the Podcast Storybook Spotlight hosted by Karen Santhanam.

It's sad to 2015 go because it was the best year of my life so far, but 2016 is already off to a great start!

In book world, there was much talk about Boats for Papa and the infamous Caldecott Medal, but alas, it was not meant to be. It was so exciting and flattering to be included in conversations with some of my favorite illustrators, it made me feel like a winner! I DID however get listed as one of the Notable Children's Books for 2016 by the ALA- such a HUGE honor!!!

I have to also make a special call out Sam Juliano for his generous and loving review of Boats for Papa on his blog. It was such a special review, I was truly touched.

And with the new year comes the launch of my second picture book, Before I Leave, staring the adorable hedgehog Zelda (pictured above). I've been lucky to receive a couple of starred reviews already from the School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly and a lovely review from Kirkus! This was such a fun and sweet book to work on I'm excited for the world to see it on February 16th! As always you can pre-order through Amazon, but whenever possible, buy local and support your indy bookstores! And if you are in Seattle on February 16th, I am having a book launch for my book at Secret Garden Books in Ballard at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

AND in leading up to my book release, I will be posting a hedgehog a day until February 16th.

So much more to come for 2016! I can't wait. I hope you have a happy happy new year!

PiBoIdMo!

Hey everyone
Happy fall! You might already know that November is National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo) where you take on the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Pretty awesome I know! Well, it's also Picture Book Idea Month-or PiBoIdMo. PiBoIdMo's challenge is to come up with a picture book idea every single day for the month of November.

It's very fun and freeing to just let your ideas flow without letting them get too precious or (like me) end up stifling your creativity. So I'm participating in PiBoIdMo this year AND today (Day 7 of the challenge) I am guest blogging on the site! Check it out:

http://taralazar.com/2015/11/07/piboidmo-day-7-jessixa-bagley-activates-her-muse-plus-a-prize/


Thanks so much to Tara Lazar for asking me to chat about my inspiration!
jx

Intentions

Whoa I know- two blog posts in one day- I'm probably blowing your mind. But this came up in a conversation earlier today with a friend and he encouraged me to share it. The conversation was about my audience for Boats for Papa. It's come up several times that there is some question about who the book works best for- children or adults. So here were my thoughts on the matter:


"I genuinely created this book with children in mind. I myself was basically Buckley, and I know there are many children out there who have absence in their life. I felt so different from others because my father wasn't there everyday. But my mother was-something I only began to realize and appreciate the depth of once I became an adult. So by sharing my story, I hoped to create something that would make a child connect to the content in some way-so that they would feel safe and loved and not alone. Absence takes so many shapes and means different things for everyone, and maybe some young children don't have personal experience with it, but knowing you have love still around you is something I feel that every child (and adult) can benefit from. And hopefully creates conversations about compassion for others who do have personal experience with it. So I hoped that even if absence isn't a connection for the reader, that love is.

The overwhelming byproduct of this book touching adults in an emotional way has been beautiful, but wasn't the motivation for the work. I honestly had no clue that adults would feel so strongly about it. I felt I had created something that was touching, and I hope that everyone who reads it at least understands its heart in some way, but adults weren't the target at all. I just got a letter from a friend who shared that he wished he had this book when he lost his father when he was 6. And so many others have shared they felt a level of personal healing from reading it and yes- these were adults. But another friend says every time they read the book and they get to the part when Buckley thanks his mama, he turns around and kisses her!  And I just read a Facebook post about a friend of a friend who's son "finally connected with a book about grief" and he asked her to read it twice and then he made a boat. I totally lost it. I understand that a child emotional depth is different than an adult-but something made him feel and connect when he read it. And that is what I am so humbled and honored to be apart of. Whether I'm helping the 6 year old in real life or the 6 year old inside an adult, I can't tell you how much that touches my soul."



And I will add that I didn't write the book expecting children to cry when they read it. I know that is more of an adult reaction to the story. 

Hopefully that can shed some extra light. I know though that art is only part what the creator intends and the rest is what the world feels from receiving it. I think that is an exciting and beautiful process and I welcome the discourse.


jx

One crazy summer!

Well summer, she came and went, and I'm left looking back wondering how/where did the time go?!!!

So I'll step back and do a catch up just so I know what happened over the last few months:

So June 30th was my amazing, fun, and emotional book launch for Boats for Papa! (I sort of dropped off the blogging radar after it happened). It was, in short, one of the best moments in my entire life. I was surrounded by friends and family all sharing in the exciting culmination of a life's work. 

Here is a me with Neal Porter (Roaring Brook Press) my AMAZING editor who surprised me and flew out for the book launch. Needless to say there were many tears of joy hat night. 

It was one of those nights that I wish I could relive over and over again! So much fun! AND I even made a cake shaped like a boat (like Buckley's Mama makes in the book).

After the book launch, I took a bit of a breather-for like a day- but I really was working hard already on Laundry Day, my third picture book. So was basically doing that for the rest of the summer. 

I recently did Story time at Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle for Boats for Papa! It was very fun and I have never been so nervous in front of a group children under the age of 4. 

Also this summer, SO MUCH great press for Boats for Papa has been pouring in. It was reviewed in the School Library Journal Boston Globe, Washington Post, listed on Huffington Post's top 50 picture books of 2015 list, and then a month ago it was reviewed in the NY Times Sunday Book Review! I'm just floored and humbled by the love its received. I couldn't be happier!

In between the book work (evenings & weekends), and my day job, I spent the summer with my husband and my son as much as possible. The rigors of working on a book sometimes mean little time for play, but I tried as best I could to maintain a good life/work balance. I've also been writing a lot. Trying to keep new ideas churning for future books.

And the just finished Laundry Day and sent it off to my publisher last week-YAY! I loved working on such a fun book about two little mischievous badgers. It's totally different that my other two books in a really fun way. 

My second book Before I Leave comes out in February which blows my mind! So I'll have to gear up for that in the upcoming months. I have some other pots on the stove for sure. But for the time being, I am going to try and breath, relax, and celebrate being finished with my book!

I'm sure there are more things in between that happened the past few month. But that's all my brain can recall at the moment...

I have learned though that emailing and blogging were the great sufferers of my time slicing-hence the terrible delay in blogging. But I'm slowly catching up.

I hope you all had a great summer and are as excited as I am that it's fall!

Jx

Final boat-final day-BOOK LAUNCH DAY!

It's finally here! BOOK LAUNCH DAY! My number one & last boat of #30boatsin30days is ready to set sail! Thanks for following along this past month! Now the excitement really begins!!! #BoatsforPapa is officially out in the world! Grab a copy at your local bookstore!!!

It is also available online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Nobel! 

This has been such a fun project this past month as I've geared up towards the big day. I'm soooooo excited to have reached this milestone moment in my life! Today is the birth of my picture book career and the culmination of my dreams and hard work from my entire life. It's all I've ever wanted to do. It's this such special moment in time and I've made the best book I could make to start my journey. It's a part of my heart and soul and I'm honored and humbled that I get to share it with the world and leave it behind for others to experience. And if I'm dreaming, don't wake me up.

2 days until launch!

Today's#BoatsforPapa #30boatsin30days is a galley ship. It's a sailing vessel that is propelled mostly by rowing! 

 

Only 3 days left!

Today's #30boatsin30days boat is a 19th century warship called "Frigate." #BoatsforPapa

These are some of my most favorite boats. They make me think of pirates and the movie "The Goonies."

7 days!

Today's #30boatsin30days boat is a Bermuda Sloop- a sailing vessel from Bermuda in the 17th century! #boatsforpapa 

Yo ho ho!8 days to go!

Today's #BoatsForPapa #30boatsin30days Boat fact: When pirates seized a ship they'd have to ready it for piracy by reinforcing the decks to support the weight of heavy cannons. 

9 days left!

#30boatsin30days Boat fact:If you see the nautical flag pictured here (representing the letter H) then it means a pilot is on the ship. #boatsforpapa 

New website!

Hey all!
jessixa.com just got a much needed makeover. I've updated everything so it's all shiny and new! Sadly, gone are the day's of my hotdog gifs that I worked so hard to create, but life continues to move and change, so my website must change with it! So have a looksee when you can!

jessixa.com

And there is still one cute animation of a bear fishing that can entertain you while you browse my work.

Enjoy!
jx

Repost: 15 days

So there were some technical difficulties and I realized that day 15 didn't post. So in case you missed it on Intagram or Facebook, here it is:

I can't believe I'm halfway there.It's exactly two weeks until my book hits the shelves! #30boatsin30days #boatsforpapa