You might remember this book I wrote called All Flames Cast. It was a while ago, I know. There really hasn’t been any news to report, beyond the typical querying process—a couple of full requests that turned into rejections, one partial request, and a whole bunch more outright “no”s—and so much of what has happened in the last 18 months has been in the revision realm.

Now, revisions have gone well. Of the 15 chapters I have posted here, only one hasn’t had any changes to it. The good news is that the book is a heck of a lot better, now.

But that’s not why we’re here today. The fact is that I have something exciting to report for the first time in while: I got lucky enough to have one supremely talented artist do a sketch of Alaina, the Empress of the Letaalese Empire. Danielle’s art can be found at @felcandy.art on Instagram…and she’s got a phenomenal talent with the pencil.

I’m on Cloud Nine after seeing what she turned out. This portrait is so spot on that I actually made revisions to my manuscript in an effort to create a more detailed image of Alaina, based on Danielle’s art.

I won’t lie: I’m giddy. Seeing art of a character I created is a heady feeling. But it’s also sobering, once the initial effect wears off. I have an image to live up to, now. Alaina needs to meet the expectations of the reader who’s seen this art.

More revisions are underway, in the spirit of that goal. And, hopefully, I’ll have a couple more portraits of characters to be featured here, as well.