Around day 35, I was feeling like a gold coin, shiny and laden with potential. A few days later I felt like I'd been dropped down a well. The potential was still there, but -- AAH! -- it was going to be a lot of work to climb out of here!
I can still make it to the end of my book with 40 ideal days left, but the reality is that life sometimes throws things at you that you don't expect. I felt kind of sick for a little bit, a friend visited for a few days, I took some semi-spontaneous trips, and overall kind of threw my focus elsewhere. It's not at all a bad thing to do this -- I am delighted to spend time with my people, and when I feel ill I need to take care of myself -- but it did slow my progress. Starting up again is significantly harder than continuing something already started!
For the past three days or so I have been building the habit of consistent drawing again, and am almost done with a spread that has been pushing back at me. I regret making one of the main objects in the story a freaking milk crate, but I'm stuck with that decision now. Do you know how complicated they are to draw? So many holes and lines and details to draw every time! On nearly every page.
Turning it into a cardboard box doesn't feel right, though. I like how it looks. It adds some punch to the design of the homemade sled that the main character puts together.
Overall, I still feel on track, I just need to remember why I'm doing this in the first place!
I want to be a children's book author/illustrator.
I want to hold a physical storybook that I have created in my hands.
I want to be able to hand copies of it to the people who have supported my artwork all my life.
I want it to be something that grants me entry into the publishing world so I can do this again. And again.
All my life, I want to be telling stories with beautiful visuals.
And all I have to do to begin that is to draw 11 more spreads, a cover, and design the layout of a 36-page book.
Can I do this? Oh yes, I can. 📚