Wonders & Woes of Writing: Illustrations and Character Sketches

            I got a letter from my mother recently.  In it, she wrote, “I hope you will work hard and get your stories and illustrations published.”  I really appreciate the sentiment, but at the same time, she amuses me so much!  I have told her repeatedly that I don’t plan on doing illustrations; I’m writing novels, not picture books.  Still, she always insists that I should include my character sketches.  I do draw, and while I am decently skilled, I am nowhere near a professional level.  Additionally, most of my drawings and doodles are for my own benefit.  It helps me keep track of my character’s physical appearance, and sometimes aids me in understanding how to more accurately convey their personality nuances in my writing.  I may share some of my drawings as a type of bonus material, but I don’t have plans for them beyond that.  With that, I thought I’d share two pictures I did of my characters Shazar and Megumi.  (Please forgive the poor quality of my materials.  The streaky colored pencils didn’t look nearly as bad before I scanned them.)
           I know I’ve mentioned them before.  So a little over a month ago while I was apartment hunting with my Grandma (she is familiar with the town I was moving to and wanted to make sure I didn’t end up somewhere sketchy) and I started telling her about Shazar and Megumi and the short story or novella I was planning to write about them.  I got about halfway through and she said, “Honey, you have enough there for at least a novel.  Possibly three.”  I was happy and sad at the same time.  I was pleased because the plot is pretty great (not that I’m biased or anything), and disheartened because my plot is too fantastic to make sense in a shortened form!  So now I need to write another full-length book, or possibly more.  I did this to myself though.