Jumping right into things . . .
The book is an actual book now and most of the backers have received their copies and I could not be happier. This is my first book featuring in equal parts my illustrations and text, and I have a different feeling about it than I've had with my novels. Between you and me, I don't think of The Cat's Pajamas as a children's book (though it is); I think of it as . . . a book. A book with both sides of my brain in it. Writing, for me, does not come easy: I have high standards for prose which, by now, I should be more comfortable falling short of. But I love to draw, and I'm content with my limitations as a drawer of things. Ladies and gentlemen, these here drawings are about the best I can do and I don't feel the need to do it much betterer. So it is a kid's book, I guess, in that it makes me feel like a kid. Happy.
Hi, folks. We have a cover. I don't know why but this is something to think about: a cover -- the very first thing a bookstore-browsing customer sees -- is the last step in the construction of a book, an illustrated children's book like this, or a novel. There's no reason to make a cover until you have something TO cover, I guess.
Hi everybody. Just a quick update. The book is nearing completion and it's remarkably wonderful, if I do say so myself. The crackjack pros over at Inkshares have taken some of my pretty skimpy drawings and turned them into a book -- a real book! Here's one the newer drawings. More soon -- and thanks again!
This is the one that's been cut:
Just a quick update. The crackerjack team of editors and book stylists Inkshares has enlisted to make The Cat's Pajamas the best book it can be has brought so much to the project -- a lot of great new drawing ideas, to start with. But some drawings have also not made the cut. This is one.