It's no secret that I love tea. This obsession is almost equaled by my fascination with teapots. A distant third is my constant delight with fluffy socks. (That's a whole other story - but who doesn't love fluffy socks?) I'm not a collector by nature, and yet I find myself with a collection of tea from different lands and an equally diverse assortment of teapots. The following meme essentially sums up my feelings on the subject (minus the fluffy socks): Truth in a teapot

Ever wonder what the design process is for a comic book or graphic novel? Even if you don't read them, you may know someone who does (children, grandchildren, neighbor's kids...)  It starts off with a vague idea and a few characters in my head. Gradually, after some back-and-forth with myself, I settle on a basic outline -- nothing too detailed -- and set out to write the script. I dictate the first draft, then slog through the results to clean it up. I use FadeIn, a software designed for script writers. While it doesn't write the script for me, it definitely makes it easier to put it into a format the artist can use. Here's a sample from Monsters on a Train , the first book in The Realm Seekers series: Script of p1, panel 1 of Monsters on a Train I then send the script and character concepts to Cynthia Kerich , my super talented artist and graphic designer. She uses a three step approach. First is the back-of-envelope sketch for the page  to indicate the general layou...