I think I'll stop throwing out timelines for this one :o)

Well, hello again... been a while. This is just a short update. Hickory lives... he is progressing, but he will not be available for the end of the year as I had hoped. I'm still having difficulty with the need for an illustrator... and no current funds to hire one.

I'm continuing the story, but it's had to take a backseat to my Treasures of Darkness treasures of Light series as I felt a need to push that one through for this holiday season. The upshot is... I'm almost ready. The eBook should be available within a week, and the print book hopefully before Christmas.

That's about all the time I have, my daughter is waking up. So, I'll end with this:

I did a little more playing around with drawing things for Hickory... Here's what I came up with...

It's possible I may still choose to illustrate this book myself, but that will delay it significantly, considering the length of time this image took. Still I'm very pleased with the whimsical nature of the picture. So, we'll see. There's a possibility my niece may do the art. She's going to sketch a few things and we'll see.

Alrighty... I'll update you on Hickory again when there's something to share.

Have an excelent day!

Geno

Well... My timeline was a little off...

Hello again.... Uh... been a while. This is just a quick update on where My Hickory project is at. I took a bit of a forced writing hiatus. My mom passed away and my drive to write took a dive. It's been a few months and I'm just climbing back in the saddle. I just finished chapter 13 and am rolling on chapter 14 (expecting it to land around 20 - 22 chapters.)

I've had a setback with regard to the art. The cover image I posted was something I did to inspire myself to writing more... and my mother was hoping to illustrate the book. She was trying to learn digital illustration in order to simplify the process. She'd dabbled in any number of artistic mediums in her life and made her living in two different artistic arenas in different seasons of her life (was relatively famous in the porcelain doll art/sculpting arena).

Needless to say not having my mom is hard. Not having my mom to illustrate makes me sad in a way I did not expect and has made it difficult to continue (i'd been reading each chapter to her as they were finished).

Since I was so happy with the cover I'd done, I thought maybe I could do the illustrations as well. But, the reality is... I just don't have the time... and I really don't have the skill (it took more than a week to get the sketch right for that cover).

That's all the time I have right now (my 10 month old wants to play with my tablet).

So... things are progressing... life is slowly returning to whatever normal is after loosing your last parent. Hickory Dock is continuing his adventure and my hope is to be ready to publish before the year is out.

I'll update again soon. Blessings to you each!

Geno