"Time is the Best Editor" - Excellent Advice from Author/Illustrator Eugene Yelchin

Eugene Yelchin, an equally adept author and illustrator, is a National Book Award finalist for The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, co-authored with M. T. Anderson,

and the recipient of the Newbery Honor for Breaking Stalin’s Nose.

He received the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for The Haunting of Falcon House,

the National Jewish Book Award for illustrating The Rooster Prince of Breslov,

and SCBWI’s Tomie DePaola Award!

In a breakout session at this past weekend's #LA19SCBWI, Eugene gave a talk about time in picture books that I attended. He's brilliant, and one of the most resonant pieces of advice he shared was this:

Take your story as far as you can bring it, and then stop.
Let it sit for several months.
Five or six months later, look at it.
You'll see what it needs.

"Time is the best editor."

Great advice, and I can vouch from personal experience that it works.

Thanks, Eugene!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee