I've had a lovely week off between contracts, and today it's back to work. I don't know what to expect - I don't even know my hours, yet! But I am trying to get the blog onto something approaching a schedule, again. I'd meant to do so much - including prepping blog posts - this last week, but it seemed every time I turned around another minor crisis was popping up and needed my full attention. I didn't get the writing done I'd wanted, either.
The state of the writer, then, is stalled. I have story lurking in the recesses of my brain, but it's been buried under mommy and wifely and just plain selfish stuff. Like house-hunting even though I know I can't do that seriously for some time yet. I want a place of my own, and it's surprising how much the impermanence of the rental bothers me. After today, when I have an idea of my schedule, and what the new job entails, I ought to be able to carve out some time to write. Being able to make a place to do it comfortably, that's another question, and I'm working on that one.
I did manage to draw a bit yesterday. We'd gone to help a friend, and although I wasn't needed, it gave me the time where I couldn't do anything else, and in that lack of distraction, I started work on the Inktail book. I've got some of the illustrations for it already, and the story notes. Mostly at this point it's illustrations, and then coloring them in. I've been debating how I want to do that - colored pencils, or digital? Or perhaps leave them monochrome for the readers to color? I feel that last choice is lazy!
Sketched, partly inked. Inktail's Egg.
So the story goes something like this: Inktail was born alone. He didn't know much, sitting in his eggshell, but he knew he was a dragon. The wise old cat, blinking great golden eyes, told him that dragons hoard. So Inktail looks around his cave for something to hoard....
He tried hoarding dust. That ended in a gigantic sneeze, and a vacuum.
He tried hoarding flowers, but they don't do well in a cave.
He tried hoarding kittens, but they grew up into cats and left him alone again.
He tried hoarding clocks, but the ticking drove him mad.
He tried hoarding balloons, but, well, that's how he learned he doesn't like to fly.
He tried hoarding keys, but everyone got mad and he had to return them all.
When he took the key back to the library, he discovered books. Books held stories, and answers to his dragonish nature, and even though Inktail now knew that dragons were supposed to hoard gold, he decided that his hoard would be... books!
I'll probably come up with some more hoarding ideas there, the kids have been helping me. It's a fun project! What do you think Inktail could try hoarding?