I had this brilliant idea to do a blog post about horses in fiction and how they are misrepresented and how to do them justice. 5,000 words later I realized what I had was a series of blog posts, and ones that would need to be heavily proofed at that. So while those are getting shaken down into something resembling coherence, here’s a look at what I’ve been doing for the past month.
Making Year of the God-Fox
This project has seriously been eating my life. After eight years of writing/illustrating Angeldevil I’ve become quite good at making comics. But God-Fox is 100% color, which makes it about three times more difficult than Angeldevil (which was almost exclusively black and white). But the finished pages are coming out marvelously. Here’s a sample from Book 3 (of 4) which I’m currently working on:
Year of the God-Fox will be available on-line later this year, and (I hope) in print no too long after. If you know of any creator-owned content publishers looking for a nice, all-ages fantasy type story, send me their info, yeah?
Around the edges I’ve also been writing a good deal, working up a nice backlog of stories to publish once I get Heliopause Productions off the ground. This is proving to be more work than I anticipated, due to having to deal with my previous accounts with Amazon, iTunes, etc. Word to the wise for indie-published writers: if you want to have a professional front (which you do), make all your accounts under that name from the start, so you don’t have to go through the head-aches I’m going through. This is also why I’m making the transition now, while the whole operation is still rather small.
Oh yes, and I’ve been doing some (volunteer) narrator work for the District of Wonders podcasts. For those interested, I have so far recorded and delivered stories for Tales to Terrify and Crime City Central, though I have no way of knowing exactly when they’ll be aired. Look for works by Anne Michaud and Keith McCarthy, respectively.
It’s been an interesting exercise in reading stories I would otherwise never read, and doing characters I would otherwise never do. It’s also helped me develop a better system for recording and editing the resulting files. Knowledge that should come in handy when Radio Grimbald starts up again.
Ah yes, about Radio Grimbald. I’ve been asked when my own podcast will be coming back, and the truth is I don’t know, except that it will be back. The landscape is this: I have a novel that’s essentially ready to be published, but I want to do it properly, with fancy illustrations and wonderful type-setting and a snazzy print edition and everything. Once that’s done I’ll be able to podcast it. But in order to have the time to do all that properly, I’ll need to not be spending six hours a day illustrating a webcomic.
So first I’ve got to get Year of the God-Fox finished, then I can concentrate on turning my novel into an actual book, and then I can record it, and then, then Radio Grimbald will be back. For real, anyway. I’ve got a few free-floating stories that may appear as interstitial episodes in the near future. Assuming I have the time.
I know it’s very frustrating when we artists wall ourselves off in our towers and work work work without ever showing you anything, but rest assured that when the gates do open there will be a flood of new material.
Next week I will be in San Jose for Further Confusion, exhibiting in the Art Show and probably yelling myself hoarse at the Karaoke on Saturday night. Should be good fun. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend picking up a day pass for either Friday or Saturday (or both). On Friday my friend 2, the Ranting Gryphon (not an actual gryphon, sadly) has a stand-up show. He is hiLARious (if not child-friendly), and I can’t recommend him enough. And on Saturday another friend, Matt Ebel is doing a concert—he’s a class act that should not be missed.
Some people make New Year’s resolution. Me, if I look too far into the future I start to whimper and cry and curl into a little ball—so I’ve been keeping my nose firmly to the grindstone, and let time bring what may.
Speaking of grindstones and noses, I should soon be putting one back to the other. Those pages won’t paint themselves!
Goldeen Ogawa is a writer and an artist whose mind makes promises her body cannot always keep. You can email her about the things in your head at goldeenogawa@gmail.com or peck at her on Twitter @GrimbyTweets.