I've been working for a while now on a manuscript for a Felicia novel, and it's gone through several rewrites thus far. With any luck, this will be the final pass. I'd also been working on illustrations for it, and went at it with the intention of doing one or two full-page illustrations per chapter. After having done several, I paused and reconsidered after doing a little bit of practical math: that percentage of art meant a whole lot of extra pages, adding to the overall volume of the book (and there are a LOT of chapters in this manuscript). That just wasn't practical. So I'm having to scale back and reconsider how to approach the interior illos -- probably just a handful scattered here and there -- which means most of what I've done so far won't be used.

Here's one of the pix from an early chapter, with a brief excerpt. There are a couple of earlier pics elsewhere in the gallery: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1258140/ and http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1258131/

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<i> "I don't know why you're sulking," the rabbit sighed. "We'll be in Dogonia in just a few hours. I should think you would find that exciting. Imagine! You're traveling to an entirely different country. Seeing different people, getting to see the cities. I know I'd be excited if I were your age." He glanced at the young skunk seated beside him on the buckboard. The boy was scrunched down with his bottom barely perched on the edge of the seat and his scowling face nearly hidden behind his folded arms. Legmender sighed again. "There's no reason to carry on! You fainted, that is all."

"I didn't faint!" the boy grumbled. "Sissies faint! I hit my head!"

"Oh, did you now?" Legmender turned his attention from the horse long enough to scrutinize the boy's head. Even with it tucked down between rebellious shoulders, he could see nothing more serious than a few small bumps. He smiled indulgently and returned his attention to the horse. "Ah, well, perhaps, perhaps," he said. "We were rushed and I didn't check you as carefully as I might. A little bump on the head might have put you to sleep for a while, now as I think of it."

"And I missed all the fun!" The boy scrunched farther into his seat and fluffed his striped tail so that it billowed out behind him. "I could've fought them off! I'm not scared of any monsters!"

"And you know exactly what fighting will get you, young man!" Legmender said sternly. "Trouble! More strife! People getting hurt! Fighting doesn't resolve problems; it only makes them worse! Raising fists against the world only results in more fists being raised! You have been listening to your lessons, haven't you?" When the boy didn't reply, he inquired more sharply, "Haven't you?"

"Yes, sir," the young skunk grumbled grudgingly.</i>