Book: Progress Report

Howdy pals. I hope you’re getting reading to have a great Tuesday.

Some of you have been asking about how the book progress works. Do I give it to my editor in one lump at the end? No. Neither is my editor a man behind a glass desk smoking a cigar [setting: New York] putting me on speaker phone saying, “Don’t mess this up for me, darling. You know my career is riding on this book.” My editor is named Kate and my Agent is Laurie. They are both cool, funny and encouraging.

Here’s the process breakdown:

I found out I was getting published by Plume mid-July. Since then, I’ve waited for my editor to refine my original list of 100, then I edited it, then she did, then I did. Then I was able to start drawing. I submit 10 new illustrations to her and my agent each Monday. I submit changes a few rounds later in addition to the new batch. The whole thing is due November 1st.

When I did 15 drawings in April for the blog, that was surprisingly difficult. Now I’m adding 25 more each month. Yikes! I am making leaps and bounds each week by refining my methods, but I still have a long way to go. I always assume the drawings take significantly less time than they do — I get so absorbed that time flies. I have since found each takes about two hours. One drawing and one on the computer. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW. None of it seems strenuous or time consuming. I am hoping to cut that down to half the time by the time this project is over.

I’m more excited to write about my new habits and methods, but that is for another day. Trimming the fat is one of the greatest challenges to arise from this project.