In 1997, the most amazing thing happened… my 11-year-old daughter and I swept the first place awards at the Marin County Fair’s Cartoon Contest. The local newspaper, Marin Independent Journal, ran a full-page article on the triumph, including samples of Fiona’s cartoons. She was thrilled, but then disappointed when the prize money turned out to be half of what it was advertised to be. Our entreaties to the Fair office went unheeded, so I contacted Channel 7’s Mike Finney, who hosted a “7 on Your Side” feature that famously righted minor injustices. This story was like candy for the evening news. After Fiona and I were interviewed by the reporters, and the feature ran on television, we were immediately contacted by the Fair office to make amends, and she received the missing half of her winnings.
Of course, the story was seen all over Northern California, and one of those who saw it was the director of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. She contacted us, and offered the unimaginable: would Fiona like to have an exhibit of her cartoons at the museum? Absolutely! The dates were set, and the exhibit installed, and her cartoons were seen by hundreds of visitors, including famous cartoonists! I was so proud of Fiona that I attempted to leverage her newfound fame, by developing a comic strip that emphasized the themes of childhood and fantasy. Calvin & Hobbes was very popular at the time, so I thought of a similar idea, about a little girl whose toys come to life, and cause all sorts of mayhem.
The promotional package, excerpts from which may be seen below, was mailed out to all the major (and minor) syndicates. We got lots of sweet, personal notes from the editors…written on the bottom of the usual rejection letters. It seemed that our luck had run out, and the world just wasn’t ready for Fiona just yet. Later, she would publish her own children’s books: The Turtle Queen, and Kuya Hugs, proving that she had broader skills than I ever imagined. Those editors didn’t know what they were missing!
