From Liz (age 15), Brazil, who says, "Well, I thought my own country could be a wonderful place for a Skary vacation, so my artwork is in Rio and the kid is looking to the dead child she just buried in the sand, the parents looking for him behind. Kinda creepy, I think my grandma didn't like it, but I did. I used acrylic colors to paint it, hope you like my first Skary drawing :)"

Liz, you get your choice of any Skary print, signed by me. Check your email for details!

Of course, every entry I received was absolutely wonderful. I might be biased, but even so, we all got a good chuckle out of these as we were judging them. It was hard to make a choice! All the other entries are proudly displayed within the Fan Art gallery. Much applause for each of you!

There are many other new fan art submissions unrelated to the contest that have just been added to the gallery, so be sure to check 'em all out! They're really quite snazzy. (Is it appropriate to label drawings of wicked, deadly weaponry-toting little children as "snazzy"?)

You have until 12am, Monday the 22nd to send me a Skary picture in any medium (digitally drawn, pencil, paint, Crayon, photo, whatever you like). But the theme, you see, is vacation. How would a Skary child enjoy a trip away from home? Send me your picture using the fan art form. Judging will take place all next week, and the winner will receive any print of his/her choice (signed, of course) from the Skary ImageKind store!

Rules (gotta have 'em):

• Your artwork must be original and by you and you alone!
• You must use a current email address when you submit your pic. Your email won't be shared with anyone, but I need a way to get in touch with you should you win!
• File type must be jpg, gif or png. No bitmaps, please!
• Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world
• Theme must be "Skary vacation"

Remember: the deadline is 12am, March 22nd, 2010. No exceptions!

I've written a book.

GUESS WHAT ELSE.

I've gotten a deal with the Knopf imprint of Random House for two middle grade children's novels.

GUESS WHAT ELSE ELSE.

I'm illustrating them too.

This, of course, means you'll have to read them or, at the very least, put them out on the coffee table for company. But that day is still some time off - possibly in the fall of 2011 for the first one - so here's a little info to salivate over in the mean time.

The first book is tentatively titled Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow. It's not quite finished, but I can tell you with certainty that it will fulfill your wishes for disappearing people, frightful things in the woods, cursed towns and dark, dark times. And then there are the children.

The children in this tale are a bit different from the Childrin you're used to; they're older for one thing, and they've got a whole new kind of oddness about them. Oh, but I think you'll like them. I'm not sure I'd want to cross their paths if you didn't is all I'm saying.

As I mentioned above, you've still got quite a wait ahead of you, but you'll undoubtedly hear me talking about it here, there and everywhere along the way. You're welcome to talk about it here, there and everywhere along the way too! I wouldn't dare stop you.

(You know where else to find updates, don't you? Of course you do. It's only for those other people that I'm mentioning Twitter and Facebook)