Peter Taylor

Thanks! Are you a collect/hoarder, too? Anything in particular?

One of the worst experiences I can think of would be packing to move house.

My studio...

Brilliant!!!

These fungi are gorgeous!

Greetings from Australia.
Love it! Thanks for your kind comment on mine, too. One of the great things about cut and torn-paper art is that kids who see it are inspired to be creative and try to use a similar technique themselves.
My son cut paper animals to talk to characters in published books.

#KidLitArtPostcard
Dummy in progress... My first self-illustrated picture book?

#amquerying (my agent for 10 yrs has retired).

My non-traditional art:
writing-for-children.com/gallery/
mainly calligraphy, technical, borders, capitals, lettering and more to encourage children to be creative.

I got my first agent by carrying my book.

She said at a talk, 'No poetry, no how-to'. Later, in the social, she saw my pub'd calligraphy manual in my bag. 'Oh,' she said, 'but I love paper-crafts.'

We partnered for 10 years, but she's retired. Sigh! #amquerying ...& taking my books to talks.

It's one of the world's great a mysteries for me that, in these days of AI, kerning in fonts remains imperfect. How hard can it be to create visually equal spaces inside and between letters in words?

Don't people notice? We calligraphers do, and try hard to get it right, especially for covers🙂

Hello Writing Community! We are delighted to announce our Second Official Bluesky *** #MSWL Day *** February 26, 2026. 🎉🎉🎉

Agents + editors can post what they ✨wish✨ they had in their inboxes; writers can find their next best fit for querying.

Learn more: manuscriptwishlist.com/2025/01/the-...

This sandstone boulder was in a landscaping heap delivered to my home in Brisbane, Australia. The paddle-like flippers look to have been covered in tiny scales, so I presume it was an aquatic reptile. It's worthless to the museum without knowing the original location.
#fossilfriday

Can I say I'm a children's book author/illustrator when I only illustrate my own non-fiction and how-to books, not #PB stories? I do write MG and PBs. Do #LiteraryAgents for author/illustrators only ever want artists for PB stories? What else should I call myself?

#KidLitArt #AskAgent #LitAgent

Sorry, I consider Public Domain Day is sad.

If you build a house, you're not forced to let someone else use it after X years, or rooms for a while without payment as 'Fair Use'. And you can pass it on to descendants to profit from.

The stories & useful non-fiction I build are mine.

#copyright

Unpublished, I went to an event where an established author was soon aware that I was new, and knew no one. He introduced me to his group of well-published friends and treated me the same.

Without this kindness, I could easily have gone home and given up writing, feeling I didn't belong.

This New Year card in my grandmother's scrapbook album was probably printed in about 1900. They had a strange taste in humour back then! Hopefully it will be included in the 'Book of Small Things' I'm compiling.

Wishing you a more normal 2026, with lots to enjoy.

#NewYear

Show me what you can do with just a pen...

My book on calligraphy for greetings cards and scrapbooking was 'banned' before it was published. Scrapbooking groups wouldn't let me join—they believed the book would encourage people to d-i-y, & they had members with shops that sold products like rubber stamps with lettering.

Now out of print.

The dark shading is the previous interpretation of the coast, with China extending below the equator, inhabited by Seres people.

The paler shading shows the new revised coastline with a little of Australia. I wonder who surveyed this #map, when (early 1700's?) and if anyone used it. Any ideas?

I hike for longer when boots are comfortable.

I can't get into a library book I've borrowed that has 16 words per line, tightly packed lines of small type, narrow margins, 42 lines per page, 20 line paragraphs... and it's on the History of the Book.

You'd think they'd have learned from history.

It's time to query a picture book.

Does anyone else buy hand-puppets of the characters before the book deal? It may never become a book.

Hmm, I think kids need to make up their own key to the map, based on the illustrated the scenery in the story.

#PB #AmQuerying

Who broke Mrs. Moody's eggs? She’s so cross & cranky, the foxes are frightened & can only say ‘Yelp, yelp!’. She’s so angry & agitated, the pigs are petrified...

I only created these pictures for fun, but a publisher has requested a dummy. Maybe, with help? Wish I'd practiced sketching animals.

I know how much your advice has benefitted many creators, but does it preclude you from considering the work for representation?

My agent for 10 years has retired...sigh! I hope you open to queries soon.

Best wishes,
Peter Taylor ...former science, art and occasional math teacher

Yes, you can read the whole 1873 newspaper if you have good eyesight or a hand lens.

Was it meant to be read, or was it just an advert for Dallastype printing process, patented by Duncan C. Dallas?

For my proposed Book of Small Things for kids 11+

#Vintage #Typography #Typesetting #Kidlit

Hoping that children will be encouraged to experiment and have fun with letters.

#WorldCalligraphyDay

In WWII, my uncle helped pay for a temple elephant to take part in a parade in Arokonam #Arakkonam in India on August 5, 1944.

I wonder if the parade is still held... #WorldElephantDay

Thanks so much! Let me know if there's ever a way I can help you, and if your 6th graders want ideas. Maybe I should start a YouTube channel on all kinds of creative possibilities, like easy artistic papermaking and...

I learnt to write Italic at school when I was 9 in the UK. It can be addictive 😀

Love this - thanks for posting Victoria!

Traditionally created art that's different, plus self-illustration with photography

My agent for 10 years has retired...seeking a new one.

#BP, #MG & #YA author + how-to for adults.

#kidlitpostcard #kidlitartpostcardday #kidlitartpostcard
#calligraphy

Going through my grandmother's #scrapbook album from about 1885.

Not what we would send as a New Year card...

#Vintage #Antique #Victoriana

#AmQuerying my idea and sample sections for a Giant Book of Small Things children's parents, grandparents and ancestors may have owned or used.

THE GIANT BOOK OF SMALL THINGS: a self-illustrated #MG #YA compendium of tiny objects kids' parents, grandparents or ancestors may have owned or used. It includes world record holders for the smallest of their kind. A 1994 Uzbekistan 1 tyin coin was worth $1/200,000, £1/303,000.

Working on THE GIANT BOOK OF SMALL THINGS: a self-illustrated #MG #YA compendium of tiny objects kids' parents, grandparents or ancestors may have owned or used, including world record holders for the smallest of their kind. #KidLit #NF #AmQuerying #Vintage Sample chapters & proposal completed.

In about 1980, I was given these prints—taken off the original #ThomasBewick woodblocks.

Can anyone please tell me if they were printed in a book, or books, and which one/ones (not Select Fables or History of Quadrupeds, I believe)?

Thank you!
#Illustration
@sandbish.bsky.social

Recorded family history is valued. Love my G-grandfather's diary of his wedding. Recorded anecdotes can later be used in stories, too.
My favorite activity for #schoolVisits:
Describe something funny a neighbor has done an add it inside a folding card of their house. We create a story streetscape.