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November 29, 2005

Melody and Elegy (Nini Stays Home Sick)

DREW OUT SOME MORE of Eli's neighborhood, by hand. Still thinking about what styles I want to try out for the illos. This map is just so I can write accurately from a map. Although i hope to do a version for the endpaper, like the Hobbit books and other such books with maps. Eager to start on painting the cover. The cover I have online is temporary and I think may yet still replace it with another Temp cover, as it is. I whipped that one together pretty quickly, so they could take a temp cover to Frankfurt Book Fair.

On page 178. I still see another forty or fifty pages, if I'm not wrong. We'll see. Can't truncate the arc. Even if pages get cut, must first let the story be told to the length it wants. Definitely closing in. Few more days. Taking a lot of energy. A lot of hard concentrating. Becoming more and more of a task to hold it all in my head. Lots of notes tacked around, diagrams, drawings. footnotes, scribblings, Post-it notes. Searching for holes, trying to write them all full.

Skeleton starting to take place for second book. I'm diggin what I'm thinkin. connecting this quest to that one, one leads into the other. one made necessary by fraying ends of first one. Huge opportunity for other world, rules, geography, laws, physics, race....visuals, traps, treasures, tricks, tests. A trek through the metaphorical den of Smaug. city as lair, i see hot orange, brown, black for colors. fast, whirring, dangerous movement through the air. big red sun. we'll see. my mind painting pieces in the background. we're still in book one, and i haven't even brought them to the meadow, yet, where it all ends. almost.

Early day tomorrow. Would like to make it to, at least, page 190.

Goodnight.

joaquín ramón herrera writes for children, adults, and other humans found elsewhere in the continuum of development. He is also an illustrator, musician, and surprise protagonist. If you have found his glasses, wallet, or keys, please contact him here.

(neuralpermalink established at 21:57)