Around (again)

 Facebook informs me I haven't posted to my page in a while. That must mean it's been an extra long while. 


I haven't done a good job juggling my online presence. For a bit there, I was using Instagram about once week, definitely once every other week. I felt good about that, and really good that I can't completely recall all the work I've posted there. I saw an interview once with a navy S.E.A.L. about the work and the rigor, and he explained that looking far down the road can make the task seem overwhelming, so his advice was instead to focus only on the next step. Then the next step. Then the next. I like it, but maybe I agree because it fits my process. 


Speaking of, I had a conversation with my cover artist, and that went really productively. I continue to be amazed at his progress. He told me talking things out with his clients helped him develop ideas in his mind. I told him I wanted to do whatever I could to take advantage of the energy I saw in some of his other work. It's been really well-timed, I think. The next book is the last book I was able to put out before the previous publisher went under. The situation created an impediment, a line that I could not advance beyond. I've written a lot of words since then, but because I am so negligent with my social media, no one will ever know unless I put covers on them and push them out into the world. So, the next cover, the next book, is the new starting line, and it's taken me years to get back to it. 


On the topic of the latest book though, here is an interesting bit of process. 



Here are two concepts he developed from conversations we had initially. 


As the main characters are cops, and one of them has not completely human, I wanted to use the red and blue of the emergency lights and the warm and cold of the human/supernatural dichotomy. I'm really looking forward to see what comes now that we've advanced to having actual meetings and more interactive exchanges. He asked good questions, and I was happy to be able to give him substantive answers. 


While all this has been going on, I have come up with some new ideas, some new stories. Right this second, I feel like I know what the next project will be, when all of this is done. But I'm trying to keep my head down to mind my feet. 

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