New projects, old projects...

I swear, I'll have some more plushies and stuff to show soon! I haven't really been wanting to be in the studio lately, with trying to get that novel done and all that. Now that it is done I've been bitten by the writing and drawing bug. I think that even with all the hair-pulling and frustration that the novel brought on I still really enjoyed it. And it's nice to actually see that finished book and know that, hey, I MADE that! It's mine, and I worked hard for it! Now I just need to get out there and get other people to enjoy it too.

There's still a lot of work to be done, though. I need to take pre-orders and decide on the official release date, then order the pre-order books and get them signed and mailed off to the people that ordered them. Before that can happen though, hubby and I are trying to get the redone website up, possibly with a shopping cart so I can take pre-orders through the site. If that doesn't happen then I won't be upset, but it will be nice to have one spot with information on it that I can send people to. With all this web-site redesigning going on, I've been redoing the old character pictures from the site to fit with my new style. And, frankly, it was really nice to do color work after so long of doing black and white!

So, what's on the horizon? Getting the sequel done. The rough draft of the sequel is what I was working on for NaNoWriMo last year, so it needs fleshing out and then editing. Lots of editing. OMG, so much editing. One of the first things I'm doing when I get the means to is hiring an editor to do this crap for me. I've been reading over the sequel the past few days though, and the story is pretty solid considering that I didn't know what the antagonists were up to for most of the time I was writing it. It still has all the mistakes I noticed when I was editing my first novel: overused commas, too many dashes (I seem to love those stupid dashes...), using five words when one will do, not giving enough description... Oh well, I'll bang the problem areas out, add on some new parts to make it even better, and give it a fresh coat of paint and it will be right as rain.

In addition to wanting to put out more novels, I definitely want to put out this webcomic that I've had the storyline planned for years. I think it's going to be awesome, always have, and I haven't seen a web-comic like it ever. I've been working on the script the past few days and have about 26 pages written, but there's still a lot of designs and details I need to bang out. For one thing, the comic is heavily mechanical, featuring cars, motorcycles, and giant fighting robots, and I can't draw any of those things well enough to suit my tastes.

But, this is also the comic that my Etsy shop logo comes from. Yes, this is where Sarah, the nerdy-but-kinda-goth girl wearing the fishnet gloves is from. That character was never supposed to be a logo for anything, just a character in a role-play that I was doing with my husband. That role-play has been adapted and turned in to the comic that I'm wanting to draw next though. I've felt really strongly about the story for the comic for a long time. I think it's awesome, and that may be a bit biased, but it's true. As I said before, I haven't seen a comic like it myself, and while I'm sure there are some out there that aren't very different in themes, I bet there aren't any *exactly* like the one I'm planning.

So, it all comes down to being able to draw motorcycles, cars, and giant alien robots that kick the crap out of each other. This is something I'll have to work on, so don't be surprised if you see a lot of it in the next few months. Especially since one of my new friends in the area is a huge Transformers nerd and is going to help me out!

But, since I have no awesome mecha to show you, I'll leave you with a preliminary for the robot from the comic that I did this past week.