Find something only you can do
When Donald Crews’s freelancing career felt stagnant — he describes it as he wasn’t “first call” for big projects — his friend John Condon gave him some life-changing advice:
Find something that only you can do, and be the only one who can supply it.
His immediate thought was books. And the result was the Caldecott Honor winning Freight Train.
If you look at his work, you’ll see a singular voice who knows who he is. He likes to play within the tension of opposites. He likes to understand how the pieces fit into the whole picture. And he sees objects as having the rich life you expect from a main character.
One of the most important things I’ve learned in these creator studies is that to be successful at making books, you need to know who you are and be able to infuse what you make with your uniqueness.
So that’s what I’m prioritizing. And it feels like not only has it made my work better, it has made my life better. We’ll see what 2025 will bring :)