The next phase of the Doomed Queens site at DoomedQueens.com is underway. That written, much of the content is still in development or not operating correctly. For example, I still need to import the navigation bar, upload the book excerpt — fun stuff.

Nonetheless, if you want to take a peek, click here. I think the design is definitely moving in the right direction!

As part of the content for the expanded Doomed Queens pages, I’ve created a quiz on Facebook. Take it here. (You’ll need to be signed into Facebook to take the quiz.)

BTW, the new Doomed Queens pages will be going up by the end of the month. In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the teaser site.

My friend (and Catherine of Aragon model) Diane Saarinen recently wrote a nice post on her tarot blog about her experience modeling for Doomed Queens. Diane is a fellow Brooklynite as well as a woman of many talents: tarot reader, editor, writer, photographer, and more.

Diane’s post touches on the symbolism of the crown — interesting, since I used a winged crown quite a bit in my Lover’s Path Tarot. She also reveals the reference photo which inspired her queen portrait. You can see the rather ragtag headdress I constructed for her from cardboard and foam core. It’s an interesting bit of before-and-after.

So go take a peek!

.M4V format:

Doomed Queens book video (small)

Doomed Queens video (medium)

Doomed Queens video (large)

.MOV format (Quicktime):

Doomed Queens book video (medium)

Doomed Queens video (large)

**************

If the video won’t download as it should, you can also view it on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnSCiuNqaGc. Please feel free to share it with as many people as you’d like!

I’ve been hard at work on this new issue for the past few days — and I think it’s going to be one of my best yet. Inspired by the spirit of Doomed Queens past, I’ve written a piece about five ways Sarah Palin may yet be a Doomed Queen. There’s also an exclusive-only-for-subscribers raffle to win an autographed archival print ($90 value) of a drawing from the book.

For those of you in the New York area, I’ve included an events schedule for my Brooklyn gallery, Kris Waldherr Art and Words. It includes information about the upcoming Doomed Queens book launch and art exhibition, which (appropriately enough) will be a Hallowe’en celebration. Fun!

“A smart, sassy overview of the ‘dark side’ of the crown and scepter. It
makes a girl glad she was born a commoner.”
–Robin Maxwell, bestselling author of Mademoiselle Boleyn

“A fascinating journey through thousands of years of the world’s most
dangerous job — being queen!”
–Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with the Queen

These arrived just in time, since I’ll soon be launching the next phase of the Doomed Queens website.

I’ve just received the final cover proof. (Doomed Queens has french flaps and endpapers though it’s a paperback. Broadway is planning a beautiful production job!) This is also probably on press right now too. After more than a year of solid labor, it’s a strange feeling to not have anything more to do on the book itself.

So where does this leave me? Do I simply more onto the next publication? Well not exactly, though I do have a few backburnered projects that I can now turn back to. Publishing a book is a bit more complicated than that. After all, writing, designing and illustrating is only part one of bringing a book to life. Part two is assuring that the book actually finds its way in the world — that it sells well, wins appropriate attention, and gets well reviewed. All this is a job onto itself.

So here’s my “to-do” list for Doomed Queens, part deux:

1. Finish finetuning my kriswaldherr.com website. I’ve still lots of Doomed Queens content to roll out as publication date approaches. Publication is set for October 28th.

2. Need to finish my press kit Q&A. I’m taking this quite seriously since it’s a very important tool for the media to learn about my book. Am doing my best to be pithy, witty, and wise.

3. Prepare for the launch party. There will be two, one at a private club and one at my gallery, which will include an exhibition of the original art from Doomed Queens.

4. Confer with marketing at my publisher. We have lots of ideas for publicizing the book. Now we need to decide on how to proceed. For example, there’s been talk of a Youtube video, which I think is a fantastic idea. I’d also like to design a Facebook application.

5. And so much more. What I’ve listed here just scratches the surface and doesn’t even include all the labors of the good people at Broadway Books. For example, I know they’ve already sent out galleys for reviews. Once the book is published, there will probably be a big mouth mailing, to stir up support from halo’ed quarters.

As for myself, well, I just feel tired. I’m glad to have finished part one of my labors. I’d love to take a break, a mental margarita if you will. But I know I have many miles to go before I sleep. And now is not the time to lose my focus.

Queens, that is. Yup, I’ve finished illustrating all of the queens in my book — which means that the book is done!

Two nights ago, I sent off all the files for Doomed Queens to Broadway Books. And I do mean all of the files: art, fonts, manuscript, even the endpaper design (which includes a little surprise for those inquisitive enough to look underneath the flaps).

After over a year of hard work, it’s hard for me to believe that I’m really finished. I mean, I’m sure there may be some last minute edits — there always are. But the reality is that the book can be published. All of the pieces exist.

And what’s next for me? Well, now that the book is done, it’s time for me to shift into book promotion mode, so Doomed Queens sells as well as hoped. Creating this book is only the first part of the story. Now it needs to get out into the world!

I know that my publisher has already begun their efforts. For example, they’ve just sent out book galleys to numerous luminaries, in the hopes that of gaining cover quotes. I also know that they’re planning to design a youtube video, which will be released sometime this summer. I’ve also caught wind that they may be designing a point-of-purchase display for my book — a generous investment toward Doomed Queens’ success. Amazingly enough, people have already started to preorder Doomed Queens, though the pub date isn’t until the end of October. (At least that’s how it seems, according to my Amazon.com rankings.)

On my end, I’ve started planning a book launch party and an art exhibition at my gallery. But my biggest amount of labor will go into redesigning my website to feature the queens. That’s what I’ll be diving into next at the studio — once I have a chance to catch my breath!

BTW, the Doomed Queens art above is of Empress Wang. She was modeled for by my literary agent, the elegant Theresa Park.

I’m about ten days away from finishing up Doomed Queens — actually maybe even less than that, if I keep up this pace. At this stage, I’m aiming to finish up a drawing every two days. This probably sounds like an unrealistic pace, but it helps that all but one of the remaining three drawings are laid out and transferred onto paper. After I finish the drawings, I have a last go ’round on the page proofs. I also have to finalize my acknowledgments and index pages.

And then, the finish line — though I’m sure there will be some last things to attend to. Publishing is just that way.

With so many loose threads waiting to be tucked away, it’s been hard for me to blog here these days. Yet I still have an urge to track my progress. To do so, I’ve started using Twitter and have been microblogging several times a day. (Maybe you’ve already noticed the Twitter sidebar?)

Anyway, if you want to “follow” my progress as I finish up Doomed Queens, click here.

ps: The drawing above is of Blanche of Bourbon, one of the more tragic of my doomed queens. Blanche had the misfortune to be married off to the aptly named Pedro the Cruel - need I write more? The model for Blanche was the lovely Stephanie Bowen, an editorial assistant at Random House.

Right now, I’m about halfway through the art for Doomed Queens — and I’ve just over six weeks to go until my final deadline. As an amuse bouche, here is my drawing of Catherine of Aragon, which was gamely posed for by my friend Diane Saarinen. Yes, I’m designing each drawing as sort of a royal danse macabre through queenly history.

Quick trivia question: Can you name the other wives of Henry VIII surrounding her? To jog your memory, here’s that old rhyme:

Divorced, beheaded, died;
Divorced, beheaded, survived.