Writing by the fire at my ski condo in the mountains of Utah.
Worked over the Christmas holidays (2010) on my book The Journey Never Ends about my metaphysical experiences and, judging by the title, the Journey of writing this book WILL NEVER END! While most of the writing is done, I was “led” to include some simple illustrations to help describe my point of views while exploring “other” realities.
Now I have access to some of the best illustrators in the business that work on my children’s books, but it seemed life was about to take a turn in a direction I wasn’t expecting. I realized I needed to scratch out some basic drawings anyway for an artist to get the feel of what I wanted so, no big deal as I had done this for All of Life is a School. Well, after including some them in a few early chapters for my friends to read, they all insisted that I NEEDED TO DO THEM! I got comments like, “They’re a reflection of your energy!” “They’re precious . . . they’re so . . . you!”
“What . . . you’re kidding . . . I can’t draw!” They weren’t. I hadn’t drawn anything beyond a stick figure since third grade! But after being reminded my whole Fantasy of Flight concept is about pushing your boundaries and realizing the untapped potential within, I found I didn’t have much of an argument. I figured I needed to do some basic drawings anyway, in case I ended up using a “real” artist, so I began to scratch out where I felt the book needed them during the next editing pass.
Oh my God . . . I had no idea where this was all headed. By the time I got to the end the book there were . . . Are you ready for this? . . . Over a THOUSAND drawings! So, in case you’ve been wondering why the book isn’t finished . . . this is my excuse!
My best ice cream cone!
I continue to work on them when I get the chance. The problem is . . . by the time I got to the end of the book with my first pass, my drawings began to improve and now I feel the need to go back and redo many of them. They’re still pretty simple, and I’m not going to give Rembrandt or Michaelangelo a run for their money anytime soon . . . but it has been a fun yet frustrating experience.
Simple, yet capture all that I need to get across!
With the addition of all the drawings embedded in the text, the book is now over 1500 pages! I will have to deal the publishing issue when I get it all done. We’ll see. Like life . . . I have no idea where this is all headed, or when it will finally get finished. All I can do is follow the energies and do the best I can. I’ve finally realized it’s not my timetable and things, like Fantasy of Flight and this book, have to manifest in their own time.
Kermit