It’s finally happened… I’ve set a deadline for my book! It’s in November, and that’s exciting and scary at the same time. I’ve been so busy drawing illustrations for “The Secrets of Shadywoods,” I haven’t done much else, including updating my website. So here’s my little update for this week.

I have a few more chapters to go with my illustrations, and that will be my focus in the coming days. I’m enjoying creating Maggie and Darlene’s world, complete with their surroundings and the characters that live there. The illustrations are from Maggie’s sketchbook, and she’s eleven, so I’m trying not to make them too complicated. As I learn more about illustrating, I keep going back to “fix” certain aspects of the earlier chapters’ pictures. It’s a bit like editing as you write, and it takes longer in some ways, but I just can’t help myself.

Planning for my book launch party is also in the works, and I’ll be so excited to announce it… as soon as I have a concrete date and place. There will be lots of fun things for kids and kids-at-heart to do and plenty of copies of my book as well. It’s going to be a blast!

Along with my book launch party, a couple of writer friends and I plan to feature our work at two local events in November. I’m thrilled to be able to reach out in the community to share Maggie and Darlene’s adventures!

November is going to be a busy month, so that means September and October will be a flurry of activity making preparations. I know it will fly by, so I’ll sign off for now.

The book release and launch party dates will be announced soon. Hope to see you in November!