"The Unknowns" Is On The Clock

About a week and a half ago my agent let me know that The Unknowns had been sent out to publishers for consideration for publication. I thought once the book finally got out there and was being looked at by publishers that I would feel a bit more sane about the process. You know, just knowing that the final clock was ticking. Instead, I've found the whole experience to be much more exhilarating and nerve racking than I thought. The thought that this idea I came up with three and a half years ago while sitting in a laundry-mat is out there being seriously considered by some of the biggest publishers in the world, has me altogether humbled.

Comics have been a childhood dream I've clung to far longer than good sense would usually keep people going. I've pressed on despite the ridicule of some of my art teachers, friends and even family. It is a passion to which I know of no real sedative. If anything I know I've gotten farther than many ever have. Merely because I kept going.

I don't know how I will feel once all of the tallies have come in from across the publishing world. I suspect now is a time for dreaming and hoping rather than preparing. But I think most of all I think I will keep going. Just like I always have. Regardless. Why? Because I don't know any better. And because I feel at home when I make my silly picture books. So, cheers to the jitters. You remind me I still care.

I also sat back down recently (as in finished it today) and reread my fifth draft of The Unknowns book 1. During my time away from it I had started to come up with all of these little scenes I thought should be added. As I read it again, I started to think otherwise. This book is the tightly spun story I think it should be. It's no Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in length, but it doesn't need to be either. It sets up the world and the conflict very quickly and establishes the boundaries of our characters. A lot of the character building stuff I had in mind I felt could perfectly wait until a later volume and quite honestly it would be better served there. This book needs to be a hook and as such it needs to causes us all to wonder what's going on in the house of our next door neighbor. And to that end I think it is successful.

I have a ton of corrections and ommitences to take from the text still, but I think that will wait. I want to give myself some time to read some more of the book "100 Cupboards" by N D Wilson before I get ready to pass out. This book is awesome guys. I may have found a new favorite author!

At any rate. I won't be saying much else on the progress of The Unknowns until I know exactly what is happening with it. But in the meantime, I will be busy praying, biting my nails and trying to stay busy with the other ideas coming from my brain. And finishing From Death Til Now.