Next is work - loads on, including many illustrations (deadlines this week and early August) and a website. The illustration work especially takes up many many hours.
Rainbow Orchid: I'm still scripting episode 6 (or episode one of part two). I've found it tough going because it kicks off a new section of the story, I don't want to lose the momentum that built up at the end of part one, and I'm feeling a bit of added pressure due to part one doing so well. There's a lot of research to do along the way, too. Then there's always the balance of trying to be entertaining but not at the expense of telling a story, and not just telling the story without being entertaining. I do actually enjoy this challenge, and one day I'll get better at it. Sometimes dialogue streams out and I know it's right, while other times a particular speech balloon will be rewritten again and again until I feel it's got the right flow, weight, meaning and character, going back to it on various days. I don't think I'm a natural at this as it feels like hard work.
Two other Orchid related items... I now have just 14 copies left of part one. When I'm down to 10 I will put a 'sold out' sign in the shop and sell the rest on ebay. Part one will not be reprinted until all three are collected together, though I still won't rule out a web appearance at some point. I've had a rethink on the collected edition of part two. I was being optimistic about its publication date being somewhere within a few weeks after Christmas. Disappointing, but best to say it now.
