Back to my desk

I've been sick with a cold for the last couple days, and haven't stepped outside my front door at all during that time. Having difficulty even getting up to get a glass of water, I let myself splurge on some more media. I watched all of season one of Veronica Mars (great ending!!), I'm almost done with Final Fantasy 4 for the DS, and I started reading John Grisham's The Firm. I became frustrated with not being able to write or draw, so even though I'm still congested I'm ready for more and am back at the studio.

After much deliberation with my agent, my friends, and some family, it's unanimously agreed upon that my book definitely needs more work! I'm ready for the challenge though, and have already begun another draft. Writing is rewriting, as they say, and here I go rewriting it again for a fourth time. It'll get there. Eventually. Wish me luck. ;)

Reman Novel finished... I think.

It's been almost two years (slightly over a year and a half), and after several false alarms, the book is now really done and sent out to my agent. There's more work -- editorial notes for when (and if?) the book gets picked up, along with creating the proposal package, but for now I'm basking in the sweet, sweet relief of this huge benchmark.

I was having fun posting all the sketches of Tabby and her friends when a whirlwind of stuff happened, some of which I'm not ready to blog about. But amongst it all, I'm still discovering fun stuff offline to keep my mind active and happy. Some things I've been enjoying:

Tiger Moon
A super wonderful book with really delicious prose. Translated from German, this is a story-within-a-story, kind of like Arabian Nights but with only one long fairy tale told over several consecutive days. I'm about 2/3 the way through finishing this, but I'm loving every single word. It's undoubtedly one of the best new books I've read of late, and I'm wondering why more people aren't talking about it. Maybe it'll just take some time...

The Sookie Stackhouse Series
A fun romp of a series, and the basis for the HBO tv show "True Blood". I haven't seen the show, but from clips I think the books are way better! They're a bunch of mysteries and romances revolving around the life of Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid from small-town Louisiana. There's shape-shifters, vampires, witches, and all kinds of supernatural creatures. Very fun!

Royksopp's new album "Junior"
This doesn't come out for a few days still (March 23), but you can listen to it all online here. Man oh man, I can't wait to own this thing! Every song is so good. I'm a huge Royksopp fan and wasn't expecting them to come out with a new album, but here they are. Couldn't be happier. Check out the magical music video for "Happy Up Here"

It's been nice relaxing for the past few days and catching up on my reading (Still on my list: Wicked, Hunger Games, Kite Runner, and 1776). I'm really amped for getting back to Rema, though, and have started brainstorming scenes for book 2. Can't wait to get there!

Kazu teaches comics

Just a quick note to promote my husband's upcoming Graphic Narrative Workshop at Gallery Nucleus. This is a serious, in-depth $500 course of five classes every Saturday, 9am-12pm, from April 18th - May 16th. He'll be doling out all his secrets -- everything he knows about storytelling, digital painting, and publishing (which is a lot!). If you're looking for a place to take your work to the next level and get some honest feedback on what you need to do to complete a comic ready for publication, this should be right up your alley.

Check out the registration link here.