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/

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

Ahoy!

Hey there!

Spring is upon us and for me that means one thing- by book Boats for Papa is nearly out! I've been waiting for this day, well my whole life, but for two years in publication terms. I wrote the story three years ago, signed my book deal two years ago, and finished the final art about a year and a half ago. It's been the patient waiting game ever since. And I get my advanced copy this week!!! Ack! The mail can't come soon enough!

I've already got so much good response for the book due to the early review process, so I'm anxious for its full emergence into the world! A couple of weeks ago it was reviewed on Kirkus to which it received a Starred review!!! I'm so honored! You can read the review here: 

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jessixa-bagley/boats-for-papa/

In the meantime, I'm working on my third book Laundry Day. Which is such a fun and different book than my first two. I'm just starting the paintings for the book, which is due summer 2016, I think.

Okay, better get back to it, but I just wanted to share my anxious mood with you all!

Happy spring!

Busy beaver!

Well it's been a long while since my last post. Things have been quite busy for me with having a new baby and such so I'm going to ride that excuse train on not posting sooner.

He past few months I was just enjoying lots of time with my husband and baby before I had to go back to work and get started on my new book. Now everything is back in full swing and I haven't got a square to spare! But it's all good! I'm just trying to manage the life/work balance.

As for books and such, I am just getting started with my picture book "Laundry Day." I've been getting the sketched finalized and will start painting in the next week or so. I'm excited to work on this book because it's so different than my last two books. It's funny with lots of silly details making it very fun to draw and paint. I'll be spending the bulk of the year working on it, since my time is limited at the moment.

In other news, my book "Boats for Papa" is nearly out! I've just got a few months to go, but I'm already planning for the launch! My official book launch will be at Secret Garden Books in Ballard in Seattle on Tuesday June 30th at 7pm! I'm pretty excited and am thinking of fun things to do for the event. If you can't make it on Tuesday, I'm also going to be at the Urban Craft Uprising the weekend before- June 27th & 28th at the Seattle Exhibition Hall at the Seattle center. I'll be selling and signing books. Hopefully you can make it to either event!

Also in preparation for my book coming out, I've been making these little driftwood boats! They will be shipping out to various bookstores and book buyers around the country to introduce my book! I collected the driftwood on the beaches of Seattle and handmade the little flags. The flags are the letter "B" in the nautical alphabet ('B' for Buckley)!

They are really fun to make and it's gotten me extra in touch with my character.

Other than that, my second book "Before I Leave" is off at the publisher having its magic happen. Stayed tuned for more info to come,  but it should be out early 2016!

Okay! It was great to catch up. Back to the grind I go!

Jx

Happy New Year!

 

Hey everyone!

It's a new year! It's really hard to believe. So much happened in 2014. I finished two books and had a baby! So much more little stuff happened in between that was fun and magical. And now we are starting out a new and glorious year that has so much in store. It's such a good time to look back and look forward.

 

In book news:

My first book Boats for Papa comes out June 30th! It feels like it would never get here but it's so close. Before I Leave is in the process of being finalized and will come out Spring 2016. This coming year I'm working on my next book Laundry Day, also for Roaring Brook Press, due date TBD. So many cute animals in store for me to draw! I can't wait.

In personal news:

I plan on spending as much time as possible with the cutest baby west of the Mississippi and learning him on the ways of the Jedi.

I hope you all have a lovely 2015. Be kind to yourself and others. Love what you do and do what you love. Be in the moment as much as you can.

Cheers!

jx