When you’re launching a new project, finding the beginning is the hardest part. The journey has already begun for the characters when you start the book, but finding the exact moment to insert yourself and the reader...it has to be just right.  Too early and you’re bored.  Too late, and you’re confused and overwhelmed.

I don’t have any advice on how to find the right moment. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about a lot. 

Here’s the new cover for Avon’s reissue of Shadow Touch.  Also, another interview with me at CBR about X-23, and Nate asks me four questions over at his blog.

UPDATE:  Oops!  Thanks for pointing this out in the comments—when I received this image, the text hadn’t been updated yet.  Shadow Touch, of course, is not the second book in the Dirk & Steele series.

New X-Position interview with me and Daniel Way at CBR. The first issue of Daken: Dark Wolverine hits shelves tomorrow, and next week we get X-23 #1. Also, here’s a fantastic interview with Gail Simone, in which she discusses women in comics (and other things, too).

I spent the morning at Starbucks, over by the St. Regis, sipping hot chocolate and thinking about books I want to write.  I have to write the next Dirk & Steele, and I’m looking forward to it—but there are two other stories, maybe even three, that are nagging at me.  Like, I feel this little ache in my heart when I think of them, because they need life.  I need to explore them, and walk (figuratively) in those worlds.  If you’ll allow me to insert some melodrama: I feel homesick for them.

I saw these cartoons the other day over at Get Fuzzy: 

The thing is, fiction does feel like a real place.  I mean, it’s not—it’s in your head—but that doesn’t mean that it’s not real in your imagination—which, I think we all agree—can be very powerful.  In some ways, as powerful as anything you can touch and hold.  When I’m writing a book, I’m there.  Wherever my characters are, I’m with them.  I think every writer—and reader—inhabits the skin of what they write and read.  It’s why we love books and stories—and even television.  We’re taken away to other worlds.  Real places in our heads.

Of course, after reading that cartoon, I have to struggle not to write ‘real’ as ‘reel’.  Oh, Bucky.

Here’s another picture from the other day at the tunnel museum:

I always feel strange writing in a journal when I’m in public.  It’s odd, because I write novels in coffee houses, airports—places where people are coming and going.  But writing longhand?  It feels different.  A bit like I’m exposing part of myself.  It’s not as though I’m writing any deep, personal thoughts, either.  I make book notes in journals that I carry around with me.  I jot down ideas, or bits of the news—whatever catches my fancy. 

I just feel exposed, that’s all.  Putting pen to paper feels personal. 

I twittered last week or so about a notebook store that I found in Beijing. It’s literally a hole in the wall—or more like a glass closet—a space that might be ten or fifteen feet long, and about four feet deep.  Just big enough to turn around in.  The journals it sells are, in some ways, very simple—you won’t see covers that are decorated with bead work or fine art—but that’s not really my thing, anyway.  I like journals that don’t have much personality to begin with.  I feel as though that should come with time, and what you write inside.

I also have a thing for different kinds and textures of paper.  I love superfine, almost tissue-like paper—alternately, I love writing on brown paper bags.  Both my needs were met at this place.  I saw it from the road, and sort of freaked out.  Trust me, it only got worse when I stepped inside.  I love places like this.  I love stores that sells paper and pens.  Those are my favorite, favorite places to buy things—and once I get in there, I have no control.  I’m a notebook addict!

There’s a shelf in my library full of empty notebooks—of various sizes, shapes, and colors.  I also have stacks of paper pads, and post-it notes. I keep them close to where I write, along with jars full of ink pens. I don’t compose my books in longhand.  I physically can’t.  But ideas are another matter entirely, and there’s something comforting to me, knowing that a blank sheet of paper is always close at hand.***

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.  For one thing, there’s a cool blog called Notebook Stories, which is about...notebooks!  And the people who love them.  Also, here’s a blog called Moleskinerie, which is “dedicated to the proposition that not all notebooks are created equal.” Something I agree with entirely, though I’m not a fan of all Moleskine notebooks, either.  Choosing what you write in is rather personal.  There’s not a right fit for everyone. 

What about you?  Journals, yay or nay?  And what do you like to write on, or in? 

*** You know that scene in AS GOOD AS IT GETS when you see Jack Nicholson’s office, and it’s filled with unending and precisely placed stacks of differenty colored paper?  Yeeeeah.  Looked good and normal to me. 

Just got this email from Kelley about a marine unit that could use some support:

Thank you for your support and know that it would be wonderful to receive anything you send. The Marines and I hit our 8th month mark a couple days ago and you can see in their faces that it’s starting to take a toll on them especially with the holidays coming soon. We arrived in Feb of 2010 and are scheduled to depart March 2011. Anything you send will be greatly appreciated and know that it’s the support of the American people that keep our Marines focused and alert at all times because they know that friends and family are counting on them to make it back safe and sound. Thanks again for your support.

Miguel Perez
RCT -2 Unit 73910
APO,AE 09510

Personally, I like sending novels and comic books, but here’s a list of what’s acceptable, and what’s not:

THINGS TO SEND:

Baby wipes, personal hygiene items such as 3-blade razors (Mach 3 are most requested), toothpaste, toothbrushes, liquid body wash (not soap bars), single pack drink mixes to add to water (electrolyte types are the best for hydration in the intense heat), stationary and cards they can use to write home, coffee (ground) with filters, and condiments; commercially produced JERKY (extremely popular); Magazines (sports, Maxim, news, cars, NASCAR); air fresheners (the kind you can attach to a wall or set on a table are best, or potpourri - just be sure to send a container).

Other examples from Kelley: pop tarts, breakfast bars, protein bars, twinkies, muffins, rice crispy treats, hard candy, gummi treats, gum, candy bars, slim jims, beef jerky, pudding cups, fruit cups, applesauce, easy mac, microwave popcorn, microwaved lunchables, coffee (generic) kool-aid, gatorade, tea, cookies, crackers, chips; if holiday time, holiday themed treats.

THINGS NOT TO SEND:

No pork products, alcohol, pornographic materials (Muslim countries and customs regulations prohibit these items); NO CHOCOLATE until October when the temperatures are lower; NO AEROSOL OR COMPRESSED GAS PRODUCTS; no home cured meat products like homemade jerky (illegal to ship outside the US, and dangerous for troops to eat home cured meats).

If you have questions, please email them to: