Call Me Crazy...

...but I'm pretty excited for classes to begin again!

I'm SO bad at getting things done on my own without having someone over my shoulder, cracking a whip, and the fear of disappointed teachers to push me forward.* I'm glad I know this about myself, but I think it makes me anxious that I am this way... How clever of me to figure out that the anxiety leaves when I get things done! Hurrah!

I've been preparing myself over the summer for the Dummy Book (or Book Dummy...potato, potAHto) course by not following my carefully plotted schedule in order or in the correct timing. Apparently I do my best work by going with the flow, whatever that may be at the time. Some days I go to work, yearning to be in my studio, and some days I have entirely off... and don't set my foot in the darned thing. Perhaps it has something to do with what I eat? They say cheese before bedtime will make you dream some weird stuff... Who knows? As long as I have some sort of plan for when I am in the mood, and a checklist to keep me moving forward!

Things I have accomplished for my Dummy Book:

• A completed manuscript.
• Text layout and pacing, in full-size, printed and in my binder.
• Shrunken (1/4" size) text layout pages to use for detailed thumbnails, printed and in my binder.
• A bit of experimentation with style and techniques. (notice above image...)
• Some research and sketches.
• Lots and lots of nifty ideas that I can't wait to implement!

Things I have yet to accomplish for my Dummy Book:

• Wait, this list is too scary to put here.
• Maybe we should just close our eyes for now and wait for it to pass...

Yes, there is still a lot to do, but I'm chiseling away at each piece little by little. And I'm recognizing that I need a sort of boss/teacher/someone-to-look-up-to sort of person to keep me focused, (because I'm so bad at that) so I am also thinking that finding an agent would be a good idea. That's my next goal, after January's SCBWI conference...find an agent!

Oh! And I thought of something dorky the other day...but I still love it anyway:

risd is my Hogwarts

Now who's going to turn that into a T-shirt for me??

*Something sounds off-ish about that sentence... MSWord didn't catch anything...but I bet WordyBirdy could figure out why!