I hope everybody had a super magical and fabulous Christmas. I sure did. This was without a doubt the best Christmas I’ve ever had in my adult life. It was the first white Christmas in Georgia since 1882, and I spent the whole day at ONE place, not two places or two places and then work. I gave my brother a Troll 2 themed present, including a double-decker bologna sandwich, and his pure shock/joy made my day. My parents also have BBC, so I was able to watch the Dr. Who Christmas special by a roaring fire after playing in the snow and opening presents! Wow. Just wow.

I’ve been slacking-off with this blog as of late. Bad, Prentice! Well, today and part of last week, I worked on my list of agencies/publishers to send my children’s book series.  That makes-up for it, right? Anyways, I have my basic query letter ready, though it will need tweaking for each mailing, and I now know what to send to each business. All I need to do is finish revising a manuscript, put everything together and bug Joie about her illustration, and out the queries will go! Hopefully this book won’t get 12+ rejections, like my novel.

What is this kids’ book I speak of? Well, no surprise here. It’s about a cat, a real cat. His name is Mr. Socks, and he has been a muse (mews! get it?!) for me since college. He is the most fly feline I know. Just look at him and tell me you wouldn’t want to read a million books about him to your kids before bedtime.

Mr. Socks has a way of getting into the funniest scenarios, and he always has this vacant expression on his face, like he’s totally oblivious to and uninterested in what’s going on around him. He is probably one of the most photogenic cats I’ve ever met, and he has this nonchalant, manly yet quirky vibe about him. I love Mr. Socks.

I always wanted to write books about him for children, and I don’t remember what inspired me to finally do it. Perhaps boredom at work or a desperate need to express myself? Well, I’ve written six of them so far. They are all rhyming ballads. When Mr. Sock’s family leaves the house, they think he’s just going to sleep in his favorite chair while they are gone, but little do they know that their cat actually goes on all kinds of crazy adventures (usually by happenstance), from a dance school to a pirate ship to the circus to France! The sky (and beyond…he goes to space in one of them) is the limit for Mr. Socks, but he always makes it home and into his chair before his family gets home. Here is a sketch Joie did to get a feel for drawing and painting Mr. Socks.

Mr. Socks's family thinks he sleeps at home all day, but guess what Mr. Socks did while his family was away...

Joie really does great work, and I can’t wait to see the preview piece she does to accompany the books. Once I finalize a manuscript sometime this week, I will post a sample, so you can bask in the glory of Mr. Socks and his shenanigans. Promise.