43: My Shapeshifting Baby
1/20/2013
Finished two new illustrations last week, the bird for the Wings of Providence fable, and Mutanda and Bree for the Left Behind fable. So, Part One and Part Two both have their illustrations now. I also did the two title pages for the front matter of The Song Mugasha, along with a new cover design featuring the partial silhouette of a hunter and a spear. It all looks good. Came up with an improved binding technique so my first draft author’s copy looks good. My baby looks nice, and I’m happy with her so far.
I started Chapter Seven: The Wounded, over a week ago. Just a couple of paragraphs detailing Diallo’s nightmare of being a shapeshifter, changing into various animals as the Hira pursues him. Got distracted from that though by my artistic inspirations. It’s okay, at least I broke the ice and got a start, making it easier to return to it. Soon, I hope.
Present-Day Reflection
7/7/2026
What I was calling Left Behind back then I now call Tears of Stone – the original and newer title for the second book. Though back then I thought it was just Part One and Part Two of book one, which I was calling The Song of Mugasha. Left Behind perfectly reflects the theme of that fable and many of the elements in book two, but I decide that title is too strongly associated with the apocalyptic Christian fiction series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. So, I ended up changing it to Tears of Stone, which is more in keeping with the tone I already established with Wings of Providence.
Things change, and it can get confusing for anyone reading these old journal entries who’s only familiar with how things stand now. Of course, things may change yet again between now and the final publication date scheduled for later this year.
Rereading this entry reminds me that I still have to upload the Left Behind fable to the collection of fables already posted to this website, as well as any other fables I wrote into the narrative of Book Two: Tears of Stone. I’m also reminded of how much I liked that dream sequence of the Hira, and Diallo shapeshifting to escape it. I’m really looking forward to going back over everything in Book Two when the time finally comes for its final edits.
