This week the Kickstarter campaign for the graphic story collection will launch, and it's given me a chance to reflect on the process.
In 2018 when I started this project of adapting some of my short stories into graphic form, I couldn't have known it would take six years to get to this point. Recently I keep coming back to this image by Kevin Phillips for the story "Cri de Coeur" because that's what this whole adventure feels like to me, my heart in my hands, a feeling everyone knows, when something on which you've spent so much time and energy is about to go into the world.Working on it has been a challenge in the best of ways--learning a new art form, getting to collaborate with incredible artists, and giving myself a distraction. This book has been with me through a new job, through Covid, and through dealing with the ongoing loss of two siblings, a niece, and others.
I've had to steal time from other responsibilities and projects for it, but it has been a source of joy, and I've been surprised to find that, more than I've experienced with any other writing project, I've held close its initial point of inspiration, that moment of pure excitement I felt on that hike up Paradise Ridge when I first had the idea for the book.
Looking forward to seeing what response there will be. So many hours spent thinking about and working on these stories, it's hard to encapsulate it now with the finishing line in sight.
More soon.
