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31-05-2015

Once again I am sitting staring at a blank page and wondering what the hell to do.

Having finished my second novel I need to get cracking on the cover for it now. This is always a painful process for me. As the Ladyfriend will attest to I am downright dreadful at drawing something I like once and sticking with it. The cover for the first Filthy Henry novel went through ten rough sketches and fourteen finished designs before I settled on one.

One that some people will claim is just me in profile but that was just a happy accident. Although there is a picture floating around that seems to back up this theory.

The problem this time around is that I honestly never thought I would get a second novel completed. Not for any particular reason but I just thought getting one out there was going to be enough work. A second one? Madness. So now I am sitting here staring at the blank page and trying to come up with a design.

There are a few problems now with this situation. Firstly I need to have a design done by the end of June, because I am going to be at this year's Dublin Comic Con. This means I can't just drag my feet like last time. Pencil must meet paper and create a cover in a short time frame.

No pressure.

Secondly, while I loved the final design that Filthy Henry eventually ended up with I now reckon it needs redoing. As a standalone novel the strange half-colour half-silhouette design worked well. But in what I am trying to make an ongoing series? There are only so many shadow designs you can do. So while coming up with my second cover I need to make sure that it fits with the first, or is a design that the first can be updated with so they all line up.

If only I knew a hungry artist that I could pay in noodles to handle all this for me.

On the plus side the Ladyfriend is giving the novel a second set of eyes reading. This works out well for me because the story has been swirling around in my head for so long at this stage that I think my brain was filling in any plot holes I found. All in all the end date for having the book finished and off to the printers is the end of June. I need to just check the print times for the con, but I reckon a month before should be loads of time.

Plus I have to start fine tuning the plot for the third one. The idea has been around for years but now that Filthy Henry has worked out so well it needs a bit of an overhaul.

Who said this writing lark was a relaxing hobby? It's like a second job!

Blue_jester