Exciting Changes in the Works!

Who's that in the Cat Pajamas? is complete! The first draft and first edit are over on this children's chapter book. A rewrite occurred and one chapter was completely reworked.

What changed? You might ask. It seems that when I had a good idea, so good that I wrote it twice. When I realized that, I needed another chapter. So fleshing out began and lovely, exciting, and remarkable content filled in the blank.

We have an illustrator for Who's that in the Cat Pajamas?!

Anne Carmichael has offered to be the illustrator of this children's book and her concept drawings were brilliant. They hit on the points that I loved most about the story.  So far, I have seen 3 rough drafts and I am so impressed.  It was as if we had been sitting together brainstorming.

Making plans for the mega cover reveal which will occur soon. Watch out for notices. Of course, you will all be invited!

I am also furiously working on the YA book, Blip. It is taking on a life of its own. This is the project I will be focusing on during NaNoWriMo and I feel it is going to be a real gem.

You might remember Hiram from his little blurb last week. He is coming to life with the force of a tornado. I love when a character sits me down and tells me his story.  We are meeting a new character this week and I am already quite intrigued.  Keep talking Hiram, show me what you have in store. I am already shocked at your ingenuity. Keep us writing!

Scrivener Saturday!

Today I woke up ready to write. I chose the story that I wanted to focus on and I have focused well. I have written about 1000 words so far which doesn't take into account all the words I have deleted and changed.

I find myself editing as I go, recreating sentences several times before being satisfied. How many similar items are too many when you are making a point?  I add and subtract and then add them back in. Does anyone else second guess themselves in this manner? 

Research this morning went well and brought in a new dimension to the story. I like what I found and think it will resonate with the readers.  As this is a middle grade / YA story, I am hoping that they will enjoy the research done to make it authentic.

Research is such a fun part of writing. It allows more depth to the characters and their story.  Now to get the images created to go along with the story.  I would love to be an artist. It is a shame that the images I have in my mind are not going to be the final product. Hopefully, the final products will go above and beyond my own vision of Hiram, and his world.

I only want images to project the feel of the chapter so it isn't like producing an illustrated story.  

What are your thoughts on the number of images needed to tell a story?  Just the cover image or more?