Oh, Hello. There I Am.

I didn't realize I've only posted twice this month. Yikes. But then it's that time of the year when I step back and ease off the gas pedal -- at least where online activity's concerned. Or blogging, anyway. This month's been surprisingly productive off-screen, if you will, with Valérian coming along pretty well, and the notes (and growing number of images for the book's future gallery page) are giving me a lot of fuel for the story's forward momentum.

Oh, hey, it's Roland! (image from Pinterest)

The story's being told from one POV this time a la Doppelgänger, and it's just as dark as said book. With any luck, I'll be able to get all of the creepy stuff out of my system by the time Camera Obscura comes around because that book's supposed to be another comedy (a complete 180 turn from the original story idea).  

I have been pretty busy scouring around for image prompts, and as mentioned before, Pinterest has been a goldmine as far as what I'm hoping to tackle after Liminal Child (in addition to other books in my queue). 

But I've also run across a few sites that have several story prompts based on genre, and I'm hoping they'll still be around once I'm ready to get started on brainstorming and note-taking. I tend to go nuts whenever inspiration strikes, and before I know it, I've got half a dozen story ideas lined up with book covers already put together. Talk about optimism, right? But those book cover images actually light the fire under me, and if I hold on to them, they're always there to remind me about whatever plotbunnies are waiting their turn to be turned into full-blown books.

As of late, I realize I've been saving images of cemetery statues -- not of angels, but something like the ones I posted previously that have gotten me going with Valérian. 

One of a dozen-plus for A House of Profane Gods (image from Pinterest)

The difference, though, is that the images (there are two) that I set aside for Valérian are strictly a solo thing, i.e., the statues represent only one person in the story. But the newer obsession I have involve multiple figures in a variety of poses that run the gamut between sad, creepy, and grotesque. And I do have the germ of a story inspired by those images; however, we're looking at a publication date that's two years from now. Will that idea stick around that long? I've already committed to the next four books on my calendar. I haven't bothered to look beyond them. In fact, I made myself stop.

But, uh... cemetery statues. They need a story.

And there's also that Cupid and Psyche retelling that I want to tackle even though I haven't gotten around to coming up with how best to do that. Too many ideas, I'm telling you, and there's only one of me.