Apparently the change in temperature and associated firing-up of heaters everywhere I spend time was NOT the cause for my sniffles. In short, this isn’t a dust-induced bout with hay-fever. This is an actual rhinovirus, complete with systemic aches and pains, and it wiped me and Sandra both out today.

We’ll see if I’m too Type-A to take the day off tomorrow. Odds are good I’ll get at least a little bit of work done, but I expect that between now and Tuesday morning I’ll be getting around 30 hours of sleep.

I finished the last of the sketch editions today. That’s 979 books sketched. I still need to do #001 for the auction winner, but that one will not be a “sketch” so much as it will be “marker art.” The remaining 20 are emergency spares… except for #s 999 and 1000, which, if they’re not needed as spares, will hit the auction block.

To celebrate, I took Sandra out to dinner. Our waiter’s nametag read “Drac,” because he’s a vampire fan. He asked us if we liked Anita Blake stories by Laurell K. Hamilton. I snerked. He got worried. “Oh. You’ve heard of her and don’t like her stuff?”

“No, that’s not it at all.” I sighed and looked at Sandra, then back at ‘Drac.’ “I’m trying not to name-drop.”

“Huh?”

“Laurell K. Hamilton wrote the intro for my second book. I like her work, and she’s actually a fan of mine, too.”

Man, I can’t go ANYWHERE. (/sarcasm)

Dinner was great. We tipped our vampiric server well (gotta stimulate the local economy, right?) and headed home feeling fatly replete.

So… the books are all sketched, which is wonderful. The bad news: My shoulder and wrist hurt.
The good news: I’m not taking any ibuprofen, and the pain is quite managable with simple hot-pack or cold-pack treatments.
More good news: I don’t have to draw anything again until Tuesday (except maybe #001 on Monday), when I can start the Buffer-Fu again.
Still more good news: I’m feeling pretty relaxed. We’re all set for Thursday’s shipping party, and Friday’s release party.
Best news: My friend and introduction-writer Brandon Sanderson will be joining me for the release party, and we may even get Dan Wells there with us for a couple of podcasts. Join us this Friday at Dragon’s Keep if you can.

These thoughts are, fortunately, almost completely non-political.

The thoughts went like this:

1) I think I’ll take the day off, and just sketch in books. No buffer-fu.
2) Nah, I think I’ll take the WEEK off from buffer-fu. I’ll just sketch in books and otherwise relax.
3) Maybe I’ll paint some miniatures. I’ll bring my gaming stuff with me to the Keep today.

A part of that neurochemical gestalt that is my consciousness quailed at these thoughts. These thoughts, after all, are the ones that lesser webcartoonists* revel in when they’re running filler weeks, guest weeks, or life-caught-up-with-me weeks. They’re the same sorts of thoughts that lots of us embrace when we’re procrastinating and collecting a paycheck even though the work’s not done. Sticking it to our employers, you know? (I know. I did it at Novell once in a while.)

I voiced my thoughts, and my quailings. Sandra said, in essence, “GOOD. TAKE THE WEEK OFF. YOU NEED IT.” Apparently having a buffer of only 30 days is acceptable right now. Maybe I’ll let it drop all the way to twenty-five before the quailing knocks me back into my type-A mode. I expect that to happen Monday.

The funny thing? I’m considering it a “vacation” when the only thing I’m doing is fourteen hours’ worth of ultra-repetitive sketching.

(*e.g. anybody with less buffer than me. Oh yeah, I went there.)

After ripping into the P3 Wet Palette it’s only fair that I show Privateer Press a little love. The new Slag Troll model, not yet released, came into my possession via a friend who attended PAX, where the Privateer Press was selling some newer-than-new stuff (thanks, Mike!)

I paid a little more for it than I would have at Dragons Keep. In order to feel like I got that extra money’s worth, I decided this model needed to be completely painted up and played before the official release. It’s now painted (play-time will have to come later.)

photos behind the cut