Steampunk'd

Yes yes, Happy New Year and all that, I really don't have time to wish you all the love, happiness and success in 2010 (although I still do anyway - I have a feeling it's going to be a brilliant year for you. Yes, you!). Anyway, words cannot be wasted, for I'm locked in literary combat with my friend Chris for our New Year Novel Duel. Read all about my story here at our blog. It's bloody good if I say so myself (and I do as this is my blog), but I'm up against stiff competition. Can't let myself slacken-off. My fiction-writing foe is a crafty sort who's likely to write a bit of story while I'm not looking. Ah-ha!

Anyway, this is a cartoon blog, so I thought I'd connect the two by showing you some drawings I've done to aid me in the writing of my novel. If possible I like to have a picture of something to look at. It helps me get the best out of myself when describing it. And when I'm trying to write about fictional things like ray guns and clockwork carriages I like to draw them so I can describe them. Seeing the image cements it in my head and adds some depth to the world I'm writing about. So here are three designs for things that you'll read about in the novel: a ray gun, a clockwork carriage, and Spring-Heeled Jack's Armour. Click on them for a lovely big view. You'll also be able to see them in the Scrapbook section of the other blog soon. Enjoy! I hope they get you excited for the coming novel, and don't forget to follow my progress and cheer one/both of us on at the Duel blog!

A Rather Special Announcement...

Today Chris and I are officially announcing The New Year Novel Duel, a mighty duel between the two of us to see who can write the best novel over the course of an entire year. The details about it are on the New Year Novel Duel blog we've created to launch and chronicle the event as it happens throughout all of 2010 (and a very handsome blog it is too, what with his knowledge of Wordpress and my snazzy logo). It's where you can see how the duel works, information about the duelists (we're both posing with my Star Wars guns, it's great), catch up on our individual and collective progress, read extracts from the novels as they grow, and view the pictures, quotes and cartoons that are helping to inspire our work. And you'll also be able to follow us on Twitter (yes, even I will be Tweeting! I put an app on my iPod and everything!). The contest between us starts on New Year's Day 2010 and ends at the stroke of midnight December 31st as 2011 rolls in.

The whole duel idea was Chris' and I've been excited about it for weeks now since he told me. It's not only a great way to keep us both writing, but it means that we'll be able to write those books we've been meaning to get around to writing, but are always putting off. Hopefully you'll find it entertaining to watch and read our progress, plus, at the end of it there'll be two great novels to read.

So head on over to the blog now to read the introduction to it all and subscribe to the feed so you'll have a front row seat of the action when it all starts on January 1st 2010. Not long to go now!