Followers of the blog will notice that the past week was pretty heavy on my installments of the Five Talents audiobook. I decided to push myself and focus intensely on completing it for a few reasons:
First, my cover artist is nearing completion of the cover design for the paperback/Kindle editions, which is ready to be published as soon as that art is completed. This here is the rough sketch layout she and I agreed on. Naturally, I’m excited to see the final. Second, as I reiterate often, is my value of being able to focus singularly on a project. With the recording work to be done these past couple weeks, I haven’t achieved the level of focus or gained the kind of momentum I wanted for Unicorns & Satellites. So, rather than half assing Unicorns, I decided to focus on the audiobook which is now done.
An unforeseen occurrence, due to the fact that I can’t “not write” for extended periods, was Drawful the Awful– which I’ve come up with a full arc for, and I’m leaning towards making my next project and sharing the drafting live on the blog as complete installments.
Drawful has been a lot of fun, and I’m excited about the ideas I have for where he and Princess Brooke’s misadventures take them. Drawful also led me to a little epiphany that I think is a necessary lesson and meditation for myself and my style before approaching Unicorns again: I’m at my best when I’m keeping it light and funny.
While I’m proud of Beneath the Wood and don’t think I’m incapable of dramatic/serious genre fiction, I’m definitely a much more engaging, readable and enjoyable writer when I’m giving things a lighter tone and letting my insights come through with a grin and a chuckle.
That’s leading me to some really great thoughts and notes on how to approach Unicorns that I’m letting compile and marinade for the coming weeks, and in the meantime, I’ll be enjoying taking Drawful and the Princess Brooke on their journey.
Sooner than that, though, I’ll be laying Five Talents completely to rest- so watch this space. As ever and always: we move forward. Onto the next odyssey.
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