You are about to be redirected to my new website. Things are a little crazy-go-nuts over there still.....

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I don't know if I'll write a recap about the NY SCBWI Winter conference. I just want to say that what a treat it is to meet people in person after getting to know them online. How wonderful to have a base line for friendship of common interests, mutual passion and shared dreams. I have a favorite show of all time, Northern Exposure. There's an episode where the young Shaman Ed, takes Dr. Joel Fleischman into the woods at night and shows him a clearing covered with phosphorescent mushrooms. He explains that why they glow is that under the soil- they all share the same root system. - every single SCBWI conference I think of this episode. - Because we are connected we all glow a little brighter.

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Yes- you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. BUT - expect it to take a long time and lots of treats.I have been trying to learn WordPress with the intent of consolidating my online "presence".Oy to the Vey!!You can watch the carnage over at kellylight.com. It's slooowly taking shape.When the time comes, dear Blogger, we shall part.So heads up!Prepare for the move. Start packing up around here.I'll let you know when it's done. - Kelly

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Yup. I'm kinda happy 2011 is gone. I felt like crap all year. The holidaze came and found my right hand, the hand I draw with- shriveled. My middle finger decided to turn into a cooked shrimp in my palm. All of the tendons tightened and it locked in and out of place along with a lot of pain.

Thing about the ever useful middle finger is- it drags it's neighbors down with it.

I could not draw. I tried. I got frustrated. I drew the holiday card down below by taping the wacom pen to a splint.

Good times!

Not being able to draw is inconceivable to me.

So - I have had some health issues for a very long time. I have been to many many doctors who have pretty much told me I was nuts. I chose to go to a doctor that was non traditional. She told me I was not nuts. This week I went on thyroid medication. As a result, my finger uncurled.

My finger is now free to flip the bird.

Yes - 3 days and it moves and doesn't lock up! Such a small movement- allows you to do or not do so much. Couldn't braid my daughter's hair, open a jar, go to the gym.... such a small body part caused all kinds of frustration and worry and now.. relief. Ahhhhhhhhh....

If you see me and I flip you the bird, take no offense please. I'm really just rejoicing in the motor skill freedom I have regained!

So I doodled today for the first time.

Who else is watching Downton Abbey!?!?!?  Who else freakin LOVES it?  It has got to be a cut above the average historic costume drama- cause my husband usually runs screaming from them to the safety of his sci fi movies. He's hooked. My Mom's hooked. So many friends are hooked.

And out of all of this Turn of the Century British Greatness- rises the greatest of all. Maggie Smith.

I love her and always have but- she seems to get better and better.

So I doodled her. It's what came out of the hand- maybe I'll take it further, but I am rusty. I usually don't show stuff this rough but- today, I am thrilled by the act of drawing- and don't care a fig about the results!!

I hope we all have healthy , happy, productive, art filled - 2012's !!!!

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PiBoIdMo?  Tuning in your station?

What do I mean?

I collect old radios. I’m a nut about them. Here’s my favorite.

My radio is a 1940 Zenith 12-s-471 black dial with 3 waves. It sits in my living room. I love it. So much. Sometimes I kiss it... (I digress....)


SO -  It's an old tube radio.
It has a tuning eye. When you turn it on, it takes a minute or two to warm up the tubes and the tuning eye slowly glows as a hum builds. Slowly turning the dial - in and out come the AM radio stations. In between the stations are the crackles and static.






The month of PiBoIdMo - has been all about tuning in to our own stations. Finding that sweet spot on the dial where our imaginations and our uniqueness is loud and clear may be heard amidst the crackle and static of everyday life.

When we sat down to write, we were like an old radio.

As we turned that knob, we heard the usual different distractions that can stop us from creating. The pitch people calling out to us of the status of industry, the odds against us, what is “in” right now in publishing, to write fewer and fewer words and that pink is always the “new pink”. There are also the stand out radio shows that seem to blast at us - crime dramas like ,“The Online Time Burglar” and our own scary mystery... “The Show of DOOM”. (The voice of self doubt sounds kinda like OrsonWelles)

That hum when our tubes are warming up is a perfect time to ask ourselves- "What should I write about?""What do I know for sure? or "What do I want to know more about?" "What do I know I am good at?" and "What do I know I need to work on?""Where can I go today?" "Who is this character going with me?"

How do I find my own station on this crowded dial? I think about what I love to do. What I love to see. What I love to hear. What I loved as a kid and who I loved as a kid. What I wanted as a kid and how badly I wanted it. What was challenging as a kid? What was weird or silly or wacky? All of that stuff feeds my creative soul and my imagination.

I can also tune OUT what I do not want to listen to. I am trying to tune out more and more on that crowded dial, so that my station comes in loud and clear, and through this wonky old radio- I can sound all warm and full and resonate out on those airwaves - uniquely, my own call letters.- WKLT.

I took the month of PiBoIdMo to jot down every single idea that popped into my head and organize them along with the 15 that I already had been playing with. First I scribbled, stream of Consciousness gobbly gook- one idea to a piece of paper. Then I created a journal. I organized them thoughtfully in order of what I felt were viable to create dummies from. The ones that I felt would flow easily

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It's Turkey Week.

The day of Thanksgiving is a day that is supposed to be filled with family and food and cozy naps when you're exploding from too much food...

I, will be on a ginormous boat on the high seas. My Thanksgiving may be filled with me on the bathroom floor- sea sick. I am going on a week long cruise with my In Laws. It was left in my husband's Grandmother's will- that we should all go, all expenses paid - on Thanksgiving- on this cruise. I know- don't look a gift cruise ship in the mouth. It just feels so wrong to be cruising in the Caribbean so far away from home on the day that defines home.

Yet, when I think of Nana Gerri and her dying wish, it warms my heart.  So, I am going- to reflect on being Thankful for that lovely woman who welcomed me, a shiksa, into her ample Bubelah bosom. She was the member of the family that made me feel loved. For her yiddish, her appliqued effervescence, and her matzoh ball soup,I am truly Thankful.

I do like that we reflect on gratitude for the things that matter this week. There are many things to be thankful for!

This Week I am very Thankful for a new undertaking...

PICTURE THIS

Picture This is a Tumblr blog - one stop blog for all your Kid Lit Link needs!
Casey Girard and Dani Jones were brainstorming this last week and asked me and Diandra Mae to join in the fun. We, along with all the kidlitosphere... will provide content in one, concise stream pertaining to the world of Childrens' Publishing.  We are taking submissions of links, check out the form and read the info. It's a fun, easy way - to gather the "Goings On" and "Gather Together"-you know like that Thanksgiving  song...

While I am riding the Gratitude Train...

Always thankful for my friends over at The Sketchables! - these ladies keep me on my drawing toes. Not that I draw with my toes... but maybe I should try to....

I am also quite, quite thankful for my writing crit group. Just joining them in this journey has boosted my confidence as a writer.  We have had some "hangouts" at night- that tho' we are spread across the country, feel like we are sitting around my coffee table. Thanks Bonnie Adamson, Nina Crittendon, Diandra Mae, Courtney Pippin-Mathur and Angela Matteson.

I am Thankful for the friendships that I have with fellow illustrators - it has filled a void that I don't think I could ever measure. Especially the one I sat down next to by fate's design, I am sure...Kathy Blackmore. We have had some adventures in art together!

Who isn't thankful for NPR? NPR - I love you.
I was listening today driving home from the gym,  to a chef talk about the spiritual fulfillment of everyday tasks...like chopping onions, "There is a Zen saying, "Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water.""  

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I love Ghost Stories. I always have. When I was a kid, I read The Canterbury Ghost over and over. One of my favorite things to watch was the "Creature Feature" on TV.  Don't even get me started on Edgar Allan Poe!...  (they are making a movie- John Cusack as Poe... (Poe is suddenly sexy? I'll go with that, Mr. Cusack... I've been waiting for you to call me for like 30 years)

I am MADLY anticipating Daniel Radcliffe in THIS . - ghost stories... not gore, not slash- I have no interest in "Saw Anything".... but give me a creepy, old, dilapidated house at the end of the block.... and I'm there.

My daughter, Mags, has a best friend who devours the Goose Bumps books. Mags thinks they are too scary- ???? - crazy kid. Last Year for Halloween, I gave her this book:

by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Kelly Murphy, Antoine Revoy

She loved it.

This year - we will read by the fireplace  in the dark....





by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Brett Helquist

The fun! The Thrills! The Chills!


Give your kid a real TREAT this Halloween... give them a -scary- book!

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Today's doodle was brought to you by my husband. In a vain attempt to hold on to his Sci-Fi dominance over our child, He told her a mash-up Austen/Star Wars bed time story last night.

As he turned out the light and said "Sweet Dreams".... the 11 year old turned over on her pillow and said, "That was the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

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You are cordially invited to a Dinner Party in The Hereafter

Friday Night
5:30 PM cocktails
7:00 PM Dinner


Attire- come as you are for it is just how I like you.


I’m having a dinner party in The Hereafter.

My guest list tickles me so.

There will be such talk and an abundance of laughter and perhaps a bit of friendly debate.

The table will be large and round. The room is lit by the stars.

The menu is of no matter- we each shall have our favorites.

You are all the center pieces of my table.

I shall set our your place cards, if only to be able to write your names- but do, feel free to move about.

There need be no end to our fun, as time no longer matters.

The Guest List to whet your appetite:



John Lennon

Norman Rockwell

Jane Austen

Maxfield Parrish

Charles Schulz

Chuck Jones

Walt Disney

Jesse Wilcox Smith

Harvey Pikar

Steve Jobs

Lucille Ball

Oscar Wilde

George Harrison

Audrey Hepburn


Emily Dickinson

Jimmy Stewart

Billy Holiday

George Gerswhin

Al Hirschfeld

Walt Kelly

Beatrix Potter

Theodor Geisel

Coco Chanel

Katherine Hepburn

Humphrey Bogart

Mel Blanc

Julia Childs

Jackie Gleason




Mrs. Stevens (my first grade teacher- she was a hoot)



I anticipate the evening and imagine the limitless eternity of fun.

Until then, your host, Kelly Light





Who would you invite to your dinner party in The Hereafter?


I did not include family- that would be for Holidays. This is all about selfish, indulgent dreams and desires.

Ahhh... just the thought.

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  I wrote a letter to the President today about THIS


It moved me to do something I never do. Write the President. Speak out.




Dear President Obama,

"Starving Artist", ring any bells? Imagine, if you will -  prosperous economic times. I know it's hard to these days, but we have had some. During these prosperous economic times, a middle class father and mother save for their talented child to go to college and study art. They support that child's talent, passion and drive to make themselves the best creator they can be. They know, full well, that their child will never be rich. They hope for the best, but face the reality of the worst- that child will have a huge ,life long struggle to balance the pursuit of art, the thing they love to do and making a living.
These are not prosperous times. Most artists I know, and I am one, struggle more than ever to hold tight to their passion and create not only for themselves but for the enjoyment of others. We face many a client who wishes to convince us to work for little or no money because we will somehow - get exposure through their project.
Exposure - you cannot eat. Exposure does not give you shelter. Exposure is not fair pay. All of those jobless, homeless people out there in 2011, how many are artists?
I am insulted by this project, President Obama. You insult the struggling. How many millions will you raise for your campaign- and from that you can not pay a freelance rate for these posters? You will sell these posters to help that campaign?
This is exploitation of artists. It’s considered kind of unethical in the world of the freelance artist. I did vote for you. I did hope with you. I will not create for you because art, sir, is my job and you -wish me to do it for free. That would make me, jobless.



I don't think there is a problem with asking artists to do this in a different way, for a different reason. certainly not to raise money for your campaign. Yet perhaps- you could pay them a fair hourly freelance rate, as an example of creating jobs. create jobs through creating art for the people. 
Why we as a country are so oblivious to the truly spectacular moments of our past and do not draw inspiration from them- is beyond me. The WPA created such tremendous creations that lifted up the spirits of the people at a time of great "depression". Art, today, could certainly be used to do the same. This could have been handled in a much more "community building" way than in the way it was actually worded and presented. Not so much to create art for the president- but to create art for the people. Drawing, most timely, on the calls of the protesters about our nation. Not so clearly attached to one political agenda, but to the needs and the passion of the people. 


On WPA works: "They stand as a reminder of a time in our country’s history when dreams were not allowed to be destroyed by economic disaster." see - http://www.wpamurals.com/