Okay, so maybe I lied a little.  Just can’t stay away from the book regardless of how much work wants to monopolize my time.  Guess I’ll have to stop sleeping.  In any case, my wife and I went on a little weekend excursion for our anniversary.  In the car, on the way to the beach, I was hammering furiously away on the keyboard of my laptop computer in an effort to make some progress on the book.  My muse was with me apparently as the written element of the book came together without too much fuss.  Now, that being said, there will be rewrites, as there always are.  I’m sure things will need to be tweaked and tightened up, but I believe I’m in a good place to start the dummy book.

A dummy book, for those of you who might not be up on the verbiage, is a book of rough illustration and thumbnails based on the text.  Its purpose is to see how all the elements work together before finished illustrations begin.  Maybe, work permitting, I’ll be able to get some of this done in the next week or two.

Here is a sample from the book…

Charter Jack then said that the green men were after a special map he had hidden in a hollow oar, safe from prying eyes.  It showed the location of a treasure called the Voice of the Sea.  He told Ruby June that if the Deep Ones ever got their hands on the Voice of the Sea, that would mean “a heap o’ trouble” for everyone up on dry land.

“We need to make sure the treasure is safe, then!” said Ruby June. 

Charter Jack agreed.  The two of them, along with Charter Jack’s pet gar, Lumpy, packed some dive equipment and set sail for the treasure.

Over the sea sailed Ruby June and Charter Jack.  It wasn’t long before they found Eye Socket Island and sailed into the lagoon shown in the map.