Today's story of the week comes from our very own Sport Princess illustrator, Kristin Abbott, about her mom! I love this true story about the ultimate Sport Princess, back in the day:
"Here's a story my Dad likes to tell about my Mom. One day when she was pushing a stroller with two tots (my sister and I) through the park, a loose basketball from a pick-up game crossed her path. My eight and a half months pregnant Mom picked up the ball and executed a perfect lefty hook shot. All the guys in the game laughed and exclaimed "You could never make that shot again in a million years." "Oh yeah," said my Mom, and she proceeded to do it again, and again and again until all those guys went silent. She is an original Sports Princess -- luckily, in her home town of Gackle, North Dakota, a variety of sports were available to girls in the 1950's and she played basketball and ran hurdles and was a cheerleader. This was not true of so many places in our country back then. My mom loves sports!"
Shared by Kristin Abbott, www.abbottillustration.com
Feel free to submit a sporty picture or story for this weekly piece to sportprincesses@gmail.com and I'll share your blog or webpage along with it.
Showing posts with label sport princess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sport princess. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Vote on your favorite Sport Princess photo
Are you ready for some DARLING sport chicks? I LOVE all of these. The fun news is ... your chances are high to win, too. We decided to still follow through on the photo contest even though the publication date is being pushed back while the first Soccer Princess book is being re-illustrated:)
So on with the next step! Below are all of the pictures entered for the contest.
Starting today, June 1st, through Thursday June 10th, the VOTING period opens. You - your family - your friends - are allowed ONE VOTE on ONE PHOTO per day! One vote per household per day - so rally up the troops to vote for your Sport Princess!
The first winner will be the princess with the most votes by Thursday June 10th 12pm PST.
All remaining names will be drawn from on random.org (equal chances all around) for the second winner!
Both winners will be notified and announced on the blog on June 11th.
To vote, simply send an email to sportprincesses@gmail.com with the subject title "Photo Contest" with the Alpha Letter of the photo you're voting for in the body of the email!
Thank you for those who took pictures to send in! Yay best of luck!
p.s. special note to check out the last three listed here late. We received the entries at the very beginning of the contest and missed them!
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
M.
N.
O.
P.
Q.
R.
S.
T.
U.
V.
W.
X.
Y.
Z.
AA.
BB.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The many faces of The Soccer Princess "Jo"
I don't know why I've put this off... because from what I've heard so far, this news I'm about to share has been received enthusiastically. And now that I'm looking through older illustration examples again, I'm getting a kick out of this thing called starting over. Since getting signed with my lovely Irish Literary Agents... and in talking to several overseas publishers and marketing companies at the London Book Fair, I heard a consistent message:
"LOVE the idea. Illustrations look a little old or off for the younger target audience though. Change that and you have something that could go international, too"
And then it hits me, too, as so apparently obvious that I don't know why we didn't see it sooner. So with the big picture in mind, and what's best to get all our little girls to love sport princesses and spread the idea... we all agreed to push off the first publication date of The Soccer Princess, (still in 2010!) while we start over on the illustrations! It was perfect - blessed - timing at the Book Fair, because my publisher had just received the proof sample from the printer in Minnesota, and we were at that point to either plow forward with the printing, or make any revisions.
I'm waiting for a new sample illustration from a fantastic agented illustrator right now that we've been in negotiations with, and my publisher will be able to make that decision by the end of next week. In the meantime though, I want to show you several of the faces of Josephina that I've received since the beginning from different freelance illustrators!! The first two (uper-amatear) drawings are my own... how I initially pictured Jo. The rest are several different styles and mediums based on different artist perspectives!
Have fun looking through all these examples!! I would LOVE your feedback and opinion. Several of these are obviously not her exactly, but some are closer than I originally considered... is there a style here that you love for little girls? Is there one that you think is close? Or right on? Have your daughters look through it with you too!
"LOVE the idea. Illustrations look a little old or off for the younger target audience though. Change that and you have something that could go international, too"
And then it hits me, too, as so apparently obvious that I don't know why we didn't see it sooner. So with the big picture in mind, and what's best to get all our little girls to love sport princesses and spread the idea... we all agreed to push off the first publication date of The Soccer Princess, (still in 2010!) while we start over on the illustrations! It was perfect - blessed - timing at the Book Fair, because my publisher had just received the proof sample from the printer in Minnesota, and we were at that point to either plow forward with the printing, or make any revisions.
I'm waiting for a new sample illustration from a fantastic agented illustrator right now that we've been in negotiations with, and my publisher will be able to make that decision by the end of next week. In the meantime though, I want to show you several of the faces of Josephina that I've received since the beginning from different freelance illustrators!! The first two (uper-amatear) drawings are my own... how I initially pictured Jo. The rest are several different styles and mediums based on different artist perspectives!
Have fun looking through all these examples!! I would LOVE your feedback and opinion. Several of these are obviously not her exactly, but some are closer than I originally considered... is there a style here that you love for little girls? Is there one that you think is close? Or right on? Have your daughters look through it with you too!
Stay tuned as we continue the search for the right match......
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
J.
K.
L.
L.
M.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sporty surf-style clothing line... ATHLETA!
Have you seen this new magazine for women's clothing yet? I have fallen in love with it! I receive nothing from ATHLETA for making this pitch... I genuinely highly recommend ATHLETA! Here is their motto from the Design Director:"Everything that makes its way into the Athleta assortment comes from our own personal love for both fashion and sport ... Our design team is made up of women athletes and we have pretty much every sport you can imagine represented by a member of our staff"
The have loads of beautiful sun dresses... knee length shorts, skirts, beach cover ups, swimsuits. And as far as online shopping goes, it's the same shipping as with Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic etc:) You can shop by sport categories:
Yoga/Studio
Run/Walk
Hike/Explore
Gym/Training
Adventure Travel
Swim/Surf/Paddle
Golf
Tennis
Cycling
Triathlon
Check it out! http://www.athleta.com/
And lots of sporty tips and stories on their blog at http://www.athleta.net/chi/
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Go Irish! A Literary Agent Tale
London Book Fair, day one, April 19th.
The iceland volcano Eyjafjallajokull (I didn't make that up) impacted the book fair, to say the least! Empty booths and holes in once-filled schedules presented an opportunity I didn't expect.
While I went to London to attend the fair as a spectator... to learn what goes into the UK and other foreign markets, to understand "rights" and contracts and see if there is a market for Sport Princesses outside the U.S... in one of those not-so-coincidental-chance-meetings... I found my literary agent match overseas! Two agents, actually, who work together. I love them immediately, but how can you not, with that Irish accent and charm?
I was sitting on an aisle bench at the end of the day... weary... looking through old Sport Princess illustrations on my new Ipad, wondering if I change the style? When they each plopped on each side of me, delighted, asking if this is really the Ipad and could they please have a look? Turns out the Ipad is not available in Europe yet (so this wasn't my first Ipad demonstration) These gals are so witty and fun and they're asking about the illustrations and I'm showing them the book and sharing laughs before I even look at their nametags and see that they are Literary Agents. The rest clicked right away. They weren't even on my radar - and they weren't there to sign any more authors - and on their webpage they aren't even accepting manuscripts right now ... it was just meant to be. *aww*
The lovely Prizeman Kinsella gals are my new Irish go-tos, and I couldn't be more escatic about them! To be continue.
The iceland volcano Eyjafjallajokull (I didn't make that up) impacted the book fair, to say the least! Empty booths and holes in once-filled schedules presented an opportunity I didn't expect.
While I went to London to attend the fair as a spectator... to learn what goes into the UK and other foreign markets, to understand "rights" and contracts and see if there is a market for Sport Princesses outside the U.S... in one of those not-so-coincidental-chance-meetings... I found my literary agent match overseas! Two agents, actually, who work together. I love them immediately, but how can you not, with that Irish accent and charm?
I was sitting on an aisle bench at the end of the day... weary... looking through old Sport Princess illustrations on my new Ipad, wondering if I change the style? When they each plopped on each side of me, delighted, asking if this is really the Ipad and could they please have a look? Turns out the Ipad is not available in Europe yet (so this wasn't my first Ipad demonstration) These gals are so witty and fun and they're asking about the illustrations and I'm showing them the book and sharing laughs before I even look at their nametags and see that they are Literary Agents. The rest clicked right away. They weren't even on my radar - and they weren't there to sign any more authors - and on their webpage they aren't even accepting manuscripts right now ... it was just meant to be. *aww*
The lovely Prizeman Kinsella gals are my new Irish go-tos, and I couldn't be more escatic about them! To be continue.
NFL Football Draft...
So the 2010 NFL Football Draft 7th round came to an end on Saturday April 24th! ... with a few more "undrafted free agents" getting signed to teams after it was all over. Dennis Pitta from BYU went in the 4th round (pick 114 overall) to the Baltimore Ravens! Hopefully we get to see him play this year... they picked other great Tight End talent in the draft as well. 
Hey, John Beck is also a reserve quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens! He was the quarterback for BYU before Max Hall... Beck was initially drafted to the Miami Dolphins, but hasn't seen enough action yet and is now waiting with the Ravens.
Hey, John Beck is also a reserve quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens! He was the quarterback for BYU before Max Hall... Beck was initially drafted to the Miami Dolphins, but hasn't seen enough action yet and is now waiting with the Ravens. After all 7 rounds were finished, Max Hall signed an undrafted free agent rookie deal with the Arizona Cardinals. What does that mean, anyway? Well, at least he still has a shot of playing in the NFL. Anyone not drafted can then choose to become a free agent and pick a team to play on, if they are interested in them. He won't make nearly as much money as a normal drafted player... but it's not about the money! It's about the love of football! 
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