I think it’s pretty much there. It’s surreal to say, but i think my children’s book is finished.

Surreal because back in november, when it was cheerfully announced to me that this book would need to be finished by the end of february, i’ll happily admit to being more than a little freaked out. And maybe when you see the book, you’ll see why. It’s packed, i mean PACKED, full of brightly coloured wonder, and it’s the kind of work I’d have estimated I’d need a good 8 or 9 months to get done. Not 3. And what was I going to do about earning money in that time, when I’d be so full-time on making the book? (as it turns out, i spent 95% of my time on the book. I got 5% of time to do a few paid things inbetween).

I don’t know if its the same for other artists, but when I look at a large body of work I’ve completed, I wonder if I’d ever have started it, if I’d known just how much needed to be done. Conveniently, I seem to forget this every new project I start, otherwise I’d be too terrified to start anything. And while I say the book is finished, there’s still bits here and there to be done on it of course, with a week and a half left till the deadline the publisher now steps in to kick it into shape. Although, thankfully, all through the process they’ve let me run riot and write, draw and design pretty much the whole book how I want it. So if this bombs, it’s all on me :p

Also, this process brought me an agent. i’ve never had one before, I’ve worked for over a decade without one and managed to get by (though, it must be said, after 10 years work i’d hope my bank account will finally one day get above zero. pfft. where’s the glamour?). With only three weeks till our deadline, most of the work done, and the contract still not signed (leaving it a bit late, yeah i know) i was advised to get an adult to deal with the legal stuff rather than my meat-fists trying to wade through it. So I suddenly found myself sitting in the office of a rather wonderful agent (more on this later), agreeing to sort this out together, and now feeling remarkably more comfortable that someone’s looking out for me. I almost feel like a professional.

So there we go. I’m over the moon this book is finished, but at the same time I’ve enjoyed it a lot more than you might expect give the workload. It’s been such a joy to work on, and hopefully that’ll show when you read it. It’s scheduled for a release in summer this year, everyflippingwhere. Hopefully it’ll be announced soon and then I can actually say what it’s about C’MON GEEZ i wanna say WHO IT’S ABOUT!

I’m so bloody excited I could burst an eyeball.

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