DR vixmom, to comment further on the illustrator issue: I liked the work your suggested artist did, but he was positive about the job but seemed uninterested in reading anything I'd written, and I really wanted to see what he might do before I confirmed him. I wanted someone with a real sense of humor and whimsy with a real feel for Manhattan apartment life. I really wanted Hilary Knight.
I liked more the work of Andy Marlette, a political cartoonist, who loved what I'd written. Then the publisher announced, after pushing for illustrations, that he had no money for an illustrator (and God knows I don't!), and Andy stopped responding.
