I was reading last week about the great discoveries Sir Isaac Newton made when the bubonic plague struck England, and the students at his college were all sent home. He made some great discoveries during his “plague vacation.” I’ve tried to make good use of my own time in relative isolation. I can’t say I got as much done as Sir Isaac did, but I have been working on three main projects:
- The Intrepid Force Graphic Novel: I’ve been working on a computer-generated comic book version of Intrepid Force for quite some time now, and I’ve gotten farther faster with this new one than any of the previous attempts. I have 17 completed pages now and have built or purchased models for more of them.
- The Personality Book. I started it in April of 2019 and have mostly finished the third draft now. I want to touch up the first and last chapters, but that massive project is mostly done.
- Intrepid Force III: I’ve been going round-and-round with the third Intrepid Force novel for quite a while now, and I still am. When I started writing, my life was one way, but life changes made it hard for me to reconnect with the old self that wrote the previous versions for a while. I think it’s coming on together now.
My goal is to finish all three of these projects by the end of 2020. I do have some other ideas on the back burner. I heard a presentation about audiobooks a few weeks ago that reawakened my interest in doing audiobook versions of all of my published books. I bought the equipment too years ago, but lost confidence. My confidence has returned, and audiobooks are now on my to-do list.
For now, though, I’ll give you some snippets from the projects I’m already working on. At the top of this post is a collage of panels from the new Intrepid Force graphic novel. You’ll notice the more lifelike figures. I bought some of the elements ready-made but made others (including the DeFalco sign, the Venus base, and the characters’ helmets) from scratch in Lightwave. If you look closely enough, you can also see reflections on Mr. DeFalco’s desk in the bottom left panel. The version of my 3D posing/rendering software I’m using now can do reflections. That’s really a plus with some of the scenes.
It’s good to be around people again, even if our interaction is still a bit limited. I’m ready for potlucks and people actually being able to touch each other, and I’m definitely ready to be able to teach my classes without wearing a mask.
Thanks for checking in! I’ll try not to go so long between posts.