The Stories Inside Me

This week I'm sharing a complete poem which, at this point anyway, has been placed on the cutting room floor for Gnomes of the Cheese Forest and Other Poems, not because I don't favor it, but simply because it doesn't fit into the flow of how the other poems are presently grouped together. So I think it's safe to reveal it here. Update: I put this poem back in the book. 

I share it because it fits into where my head and heart are at the moment, while thinking, planning and wrestling through practical matters related to the book's production.

Tiny Drawing Details

This week I'm posting a few tiny cropped details from a few more illustrations, just to tease you and generally annoy you. You'll just have to wait to see what the rest of these drawings look like. 

 

As far as where the book stands, it's gone through many changes. What started as a collection of 103 poems in total has been whittled down to about 62 that are intended to stay in this particular work. The others are going into storage, but I'm sure many of them will be resurrected into another book or some other form after this one. I may do another collection of poetry (a "sequel" if you will), or perhaps a combination of poems and short stories I'm brewing. I don't know yet. 

At this point, without going into too much detail, Gnomes of the Cheese Forest and Other Poems, as a work in itself, has greatly benefited from this drastic round of edits, and it's still constantly changing! Every few days I find something else that needs the juice squeezed out of it, but it's all part of the process. 

As for when it's all done? We shall see. It's not up to me. The book has a life of its own and I'm merely listening to it. 

(But soon....)