I'm starting a new book project, and you're invited to watch the whole messy process

It starts on the Oregon coast

Hello, Haiku Comic Fanciers!

Today, I’m starting something new. I’m embarking on a new book project, in public.

I’ve previously published five books and three zines/chapbooks. I’ve also written a sixth book that is currently making its way through the byzantine traditional publishing ecosystem (and may end up being indie-published anyway 🤷‍♂️). This month I’ll be completing all of the illustrations for Chad Ellis Boykin’s zine, Kaiju Haiku.

All of this means that I have some idea how to start and finish a book. However, each book has its unique twists and turns.

For my next book, I don’t have a working title. As of today, I have only a fuzzy notion that the book will involve haiku comics about specific spots along the Oregon coast.

I’d like to invite you to come along with me as I develop, write, illustrate, and eventually publish this book. I’m not sure how long this book will take or what the format of the book will be.

As you will see if you stick around, for me at least, the process of developing and creating a book is messy.

I’m going to make all the weekly “The Next Book Project” posts public. But I will also be making regular bonus posts for paid subscribers.

I will still be posting my usual poetry comics and essays each week, as well.

“The Next Book Project” posts are where I show my work as I make creative discoveries and solve business and logistical challenges. Along the way, your comments and feedback will be welcomed and solicited, and I will do my best to explain my choices, even when I reject feedback.

Are you ready to learn a little more about what this next book is going to be about?

The Fuzzy Concept

I currently only know two things about this next book. One, I want to explore the idea of how we find universal connection through the specifics of someone else’s story. Two, I want to write about specific places along the Pacific coast.

Here is my first proof of concept:

There are also many things I don’t yet know about the book that I will have to figure out at some point. My primary method for learning what a book is about is thinking up possibilities and making a lot of false starts in the form of concept art and sample page layouts.

Here are the book ideas I’m currently wrestling with:

• Should this book be another full-length haiku comic collection like Wild Divinity and the as-yet-unpublished Haiku Comics from the Anthropocene? This is a format I understand and that has a clear path. However, I feel like this book wants to be something different.

• Should this book be part of a series of not just the Oregon coast, but also other beach spots along the Pacific Ocean? I would love to visit places along the Washington and California coasts as well. Or what about a series where I explore the coast from the tip of Chile to the Arctic Circle in Alaska? That sounds expensive, but would be awesome!

• Should this book be part of a series where I explore public lands in Oregon or the West? Maybe I'll make myself the unofficial artist in residence of the American West.

• Should this book be something where I write haibun (lyrical essays written around one or more haiku)? Perhaps each beach spot needs more than just one haiku comic.

• What if I wrote a kind of illustrated guidebook to the Oregon coast? It could include haiku comics, haiku, haibun, and be part travel writing, part personal narrative/memoir, and part history, kind of like my favorite Sarah Vowell books. If I take this route how much do I illustrate and how much do I rely on straight prose?

• What if I just focused the book on a narrow part of the coast, such as the area around Lincoln City?

• What new techniques can I bring to the illustrations of this book? Can I better incorporate more collage?

Right now, the book is still wide open!

Here are my immediate next steps:

1. Plan a 10-day research trip to the Oregon coast in August that will double as a family vacation.

2. Make some sample pages for the guidebook idea and see how that feels.

3. Write more haiku about specific coastal spots I know well, using my phone’s photo roll and my notebooks for inspiration.

What do you think about this project? What kind of book would you enjoy reading?

I’ll report back next week with more samples and perhaps a slightly more focused direction.

Be the weird you want to see in the world!

Cheers,