Only 63 Days Left!

The Heart Witch of Speckled Hound Hollow comes out August 13th!

Can we talk about book illustrations for a moment?

I’ve spent far too much time trying to figure out an art style for illustrations, and despite numerous creative attempts, I haven’t found a style that fits the mood I’m going for.

While the art is a mismatch, making it has been fun. I now have a strange collection of “this isn’t the thing” moments from my book.

With only 63 days left, I’ve decided to let the illustrations go for now. One of the delights of being in charge of your own project is knowing you can always make an illustrated edition later and get out of your own way in the meantime… because there’s still so much to do.

The finished book cover artwork, a stunning original oil painting by Tiffany Dae, is currently in my possession, and I have the privilege of staring at it daily in awe. I’m so excited to share it with you and the cover release!

But not quite yet. Here’s a sneak peak of the painting’s underpainting instead:

Other elements in play include:

• a talented fantasy cartographer out of the UK who has the interior map underway

• all the final edits of the work complete

• my sister, who’s been reading my stories since they were crayon drawings, writing the book’s Foreword

• my writing group ready to look over the dust jacket copy

• plans to spend much of my time these next weeks hiding in a sound-proof yet acoustically pleasing closet to record the audiobook

• a dear friend and I making arrangements for a private launch party

By the end of the month, you’ll be able to preorder the book in its various forms (print, ebook, audiobook), and I will be more exhausted then than I am now (which, for the record, is quite spent).

I’ve picked up one other talent along the way (or perhaps my dog Brontë has): I can now type and support her sweet wee head at the same time, a situation not entirely comfortable to either of us, but here we are.

This is us at this exact moment, to be precise.

And no, I haven’t forgotten about the launch of the goal-setting course. Quite the opposite, I’ve pulled my usual shenanies and have decided to add a few more elements to it like someone who wants nothing more than to drown in undone work.

That’s all for now, my darklings! With gratitude from the bottom of my dark heart, which currently resides beneath a mountain of to dos,

♡ Iza