I've started using Scrivener to keep all my notes all organized and whatnot. Last time, I used several paper journals, index cards, sometimes napkins, Google Docs, and Word. Those work, of course, and it feels more authentic, but Scrivener does actually speed the process up a bit, I find. And I can never be one of those authentic writer types anyway. I'm more like some girl at the mall. "OMG! So, like, this character said this, right? And then this other character was all like, 'I'm gonna rip out your guts and feed them to the hounds!' and then I was like, wait, would that character actually say that?" You know.

My new store page also has easy links to buy books and t-shirts. Speaking of t-shirts: a lot of the smaller sizes are sold out or almost sold out at the moment. They'll come back at a later date. If you want to snag the few that are left before the wait, better hop on it!

After I wrote my last one, a lot of you were curious about the writing and illustrating process. It's really pretty simple. You write and illustrate the thing. You edit the thing. The thing gets printed. You scramble at the last minute to promote the thing because you didn't plan ahead when you were writing the thing. Then, if you're lucky, you get to do it again with another book, and you change the way you did some things before because maybe now you've learned some lessons but probably haven't. That's it in a nutshell.

The long version is what I'll be posting to this blog every now and then in the weeks and months to come! No sneak peeks at the book for now, though. I can't even really tell you a whole lot about it just yet except that it's spooky and sad. But you knew that.

So far, I've finished two chapters. It took me way longer than it did to write the first two chapters of Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow, but that's because I rewrote these from start to finish about four times. I've also got this nagging voice in my head that keeps telling me "It has to be better than the last one! It has to!" There are other nagging voices, but their goals are so lofty it's a little easier to laugh them off. I can't be president of the world because of one novel; that's ridiculous! (Wait. Can I?)

Now on to chapter three.

Part 1 - "Death 'n' Elsie"

Part 2 - "An Elephant's Memory"

Part 3 - "A Parting Gift"