So now that I’ve finally gotten The Girl Who Would Be King back out to my agent and have settled in for the inevitable “long wait” that is a natural but sometimes frustrating part of the process, I can finally get back to work on NEW work…which is always really fun.

This is my favorite part of the process, when everything is shiny and new.  I suspect that’s true for most creators – whether building houses, or writing novels.

On deck right now are two YA novels I’m very excited about. They’re both very different and I’m having trouble deciding which one to push forward…but that my friends, is a great problem to have.

Anyway, I just wanted to let all of you know that one of the projects I’m deciding between is this one, which some of you so kindly offered encouraging feedback on a few months ago.  I did in fact decide to push forward with it as a novel, and thus, below, meet Tessa and ‘The Black Dove’ (that’s the name of her axe).

Tessa and "The Black Dove"

The other YA novel it’s up against has been in my head for more than 12 years, though it originally was going to be a comic book in my mind, it has since turned into a great concept for a novel series.  I love the characters and the concept, but I confess that the world building (which is major) frightens me a bit.  Still, here’s a peek at an old sketch of the main character Berkeley:

Berkeley 'Berks' Grey

Also in the pipeline, though always more complicated since I’m not enough of an artist (these days especially) to draw my own comics, is a comics mini-series/OGN I’m prepping to pitch.  And here’s an old sketch of that character.  Her name is Emma Elliot and she doesn’t have a badass weapon, but she DOES have a very disturbing magic box. Which is…not a euphemism.  Oh god…stop thinking bad things!  You’re all bad and you need a time out.  Go to your corners!

You're going to have to trust me that there's a very good reason that Emma is in her bra...I promise you it all comes around!

Clearly my poor ladies of The Jilted League are getting jilted yet again.  Val has been right about me all along, I’m a jerk. 

But still…EXCITING SHINY NEW PROJECTS!!!!  WHEE!!!!