Another One Down

My latest “SOP” Project is finally finished! For the past few weeks I’ve stolen a moment here and a few moments there while at work and in my home office late at night to work on my most recently finished “Training Wheels” story. This one (the longest one so far) is called ‘The Stilt Garage,’ a strange title, no doubt, until you’ve read the story. I debuted it officially the other night to my two daughters at bed time and was impressed (and a little surprised) at how much of it my 6-year-old understood. As she always does at the end, she eagerly repeated to me what she had understood to be the underlying plot, moral, and varying details of this new story. My 4-year-old, on the other hand, had fallen asleep during the reading. Nice. Ah, well….she is only 4.

I’ve already got an idea for the next two stories that I’ll be writing soon. In the meantime, as they develop, I think maybe I’ll start illustrating my first one now that I have several stories finished. Believe it or not, I think illustrating them will be the hard part for me – fun - but a bit of a challenge. I’ve flirted with the idea of hiring another artist to illustrate them simple to have them get done sooner. I’ve enjoyed writing them so much that illustrating them has seemed almost a chore. Last night, however, while discussing this point with my better half, I was reminded about dumb I would feel having a series of books on the market who’s cover said, “Written by Ty Harmon and illustrated by Mr. Some Other Dude.” A good point. She’s totally right. No matter how long it takes me to illustrate them, I NEED to be the one do it.