The Work Continues...

This is a status update, the first of what will hopefully be a regular series. I find it much easier to blog about past efforts, mistakes I've made and things I've learned than to tell about the things I’m doing today. I guess I figure it would be more interesting to read about if there’s some kind of conclusion. Well, misgivings aside, here goes:

I am making my way through the internal illustrations for my first novel, doing little pictures for the beginning of each chapter like the Harry Potter books. It’s challenging trying to pull an image from the text that resonates and encompasses the spirit of the writing without giving too much away. I also want to avoid too many character drawings because I want the reader to develop their own images (which is hard for a former comic book artist). So far I have drawn six new pictures and pirated one image from one of my unpublished comic issues. I also did a big city map that will be opposite the Chapter One page, so the reader gets a gander at the setting of the book. It was done more loosely than the ones in the comic book, so it should not be relied upon as a street atlas for the casual tourist.

I have finally cajoled Microsoft Word into formatting the book to my liking, coming in at 356 story pages. Headers and footers gave me the most trouble, making me cry and pound my head on the desk throughout the night. Eventually I overcame the odds and figured it out.

The biggest thing looming in the future is the cover. It will have to be dazzling yet simple, something that is easy to describe yet hard to forget. I want it to be a real piece of fantasy art too; the kind of thing that can be used as a poster, banner or computer wallpaper. It’s going to be a challenge to be sure.

Because the text is locked down and no more content edits will be made, I will be ready to do the audio book recording in the next month. I am really looking forward to that since I haven’t performed as a voice actor since my ‘dungeon master’ days.

Oh, and I will soon be taking a road trip to meet one of my favorite (living) authors Kim Harrison on her Pale Demon release tour! We’ve had a correspondence for a few years and collaborated on a project together but this will be the first time I meet her in person. Happy dance for that! I will post photos after the event.

That’s all for now...