Dear Powells,
It has been 2 weeks since I returned from Greece and I finally feel ready to go back to work, albeit it’s Friday afternoon and the weekend is about to start so… I timed that well. I have done some things; I haven’t just been reclining on my chaise lounge wearing chiffon and eating chocolates straight from the box… I’m not retired, after all.
Last week, I illustrated the back cover for a Pride and Prejudice book I’m working on and this week I roughed out the cover for the fourth Montgomery BonBon book, which I’ll be working on until Christmas. On Wednesday, I took a trip to London to see my agent, who is also called Clare, albeit she has one less letter in her name because she’s a busy lady and doesn’t have time for the ‘i’. We met to discuss The. Schedule. Even typing it makes my upper lip start to tremble and a sheen of sweat appears on my forehead. I am terrified of its rigid columns that roll on into infinity and its scary dates, some of which are written not only in CAPITALS but also in bold and—to ensure I have nightmares and sleepless nights—some are also in red and underlined. I can only look at The. Schedule in the company of Clare without the i or else I’ll have a panic attack.
Yesterday, I became a New York Times Bestselling illustrator for the second time, when the The Swifts A Gallery of Rogues zoomed into the NYT chart at #3. Today, I had an actual Zoom with my editor about the narrative for the next book in my debut series, whilst being terrorised by a fly. After that, I spent a long time trying to get the fly out of the house, bought some smoked salmon, put the dishwasher on and then I recorded this short video to introduce you to a NEW feature I am starting called Video Postcards: regular short videos of illustration related things, with any materials used listed in the show notes. The first video postcard is a dog drawing I did a few weeks ago set to jaunty French music. Et Voila! Suddenly, we have arrived at: The. Weekend.
No point starting work now - I may as well wait until Monday.
Yours, semi-retired,
Powell x
Ps. THANK YOU for all your kind comments on my last postcard, which technically was long enough to be classed as a letter. I’m happy that my detour into illustration inspired you, empowered you, or made you feel less alone. I am an open book on the topic so maybe one day we’ll do a Q&A. Let me know if that gets a thumbs up (or down) in the poll.
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