Illustrating and Middle Grade Novels

 I've been illustrating projects over the past year and have a bunch more to do, but I'm realizing that my style is too detailed and specific and it takes me so long. I'm thinking I should loosen up a bit and try learning to develop a simpler style. More of a cartoony style. The only way I can increase my productivity is to do things faster without losing quality. Therefore, that means I have to change my style.

Here is a sample of my current style:

Not only that, but the series of middle grade novels I want to put out over the next year (and next few years) will need approximately 10 illustrations in them, and if I can use a simpler style, it might be easier to hire someone (as in work for hire full time) to use my designed skeletons and styles to specify and finalize the art for the books.

Although, because I enjoy it, I would probably just hire someone to take over another aspect of my work.

My goal for 2027 is to really focus on middle grade books because that is where I find the most joy in writing. In fact, that's how I initially started writing. First with children's stories (getting published in Highlights and by CTB-McGraw Hill) and then as middle grade chapter books, then young adult novels, and then adult novels. It's like my stories grew up.

But now I am excited again about writing for younger audiences. It's so freeing and so much fun because it's kinda like reliving my childhood. Except sillier lol.

In other news . . . 

I've decided that the only way to keep up with this blog is to treat it as a daily diary and write in it while I have my morning coffee.

It Has Been A Week

 Yes, I'm aware I've only made it to Wednesday thus far. I managed to redesign both covers in the first two books of the Zoey series (under the name Aspen Faraway).

I wanted to modernize them a bit since the previous covers were hand-drawn by me. The previous ones featured a handpainted city beneath handwritten font I did in Procreate. Let's just say it didn't come out exactly as I'd wanted. It took me forever to get around to designing new covers for them, but not of course before someone bought a copy of each with the older covers.

These are the older covers:

I decided to spruce up the covers since I've been working on the outline for book 3 in the series. But, I cannot get to that until I finish the illustrated project I'm working on. And then I have a middle grade series I want to write. I've written the first book already, but want to do some illustrations for the beginning of each chapter and through the longer chapters.

So, needless to say, my work is cut out for me for the next two years. I have a mile-long list of book ideas that I cannot keep up with. My brain keeps coming up with new ideas but my fingers can only type so fast! For the record, I can type 2000 words per hour if I know what I want to say. Usually, I do.

From 2012 to about 2018, I would regularly write 50k words in a week, just writing around the clock. That's how I write though. I cannot pace myself. I just have an on/off switch. I'm either eat-breathe-sleep the book, or want to do absolutely nothing.

Being a procrastinator does not help. For instance, at this very moment, I should be finishing up some illustrations for a picture book but here I am, writing this.

I've decided to go back to writing here more often. I will try at least several times a week. Maybe daily.  At least daily is a goal, like a daily diary.

For people who have been following my writing career since around 2012, you know how I've struggled with blogging. I have been unable to do it. I think I can do better now.

It's nearly 1 a.m. and I've just finished my long-forgotten cold cup of coffee that I'd made about five hours ago. I suppose it's time to head to bed so I can wake up in the morning and get back to the thing I'm most excited about. Starting a brand new novel!