The illustrations and page-layouts for The Field Guide to Surreal Botany became available today for the authors to proof, and the illustration for my piece is absolutely gorgeous. This is the second time I've been illustrated -- the first was for "Forget Me Not" in Greek. It's the greatest feeling. I take an image in my head that I can't see strongly enough to actually draw it but can see well enough to thoroughly describe it. Then, by describing it, I get the image into another person's head, and that person is able to put it down as a picture on paper. And I can finally see for real what I've been imagining for years. It's amazing. And what a sign of respect! I mean, getting paid for your writing is the standard sign of respect, but, in many ways, being illustrated feels like a more powerful one. I wrote something and an editor liked it enough to go out and hire an additional artist to create a secondary work based on mine. (Or, in this case, the editor actually illustrated my work herself.) That is just incredibly neat.