Author Journey: April 8, 2022 - Cover Art Success

 Welcome back! I'm so happy and I have great things to share with you today!

Author Journey: Cover Art Success!

I have been working hard on different covers. I shared the cover for Bid the Fallen Rise not long ago. And last Friday, I showed you the cover for the soon-to-be-published The Tale of Outh'n Durr, which is a novella meant to introduce book two in the Children of Y'Dahnndrya series. My prayer is that it will be well-received. I thought I'd have to work more on the blurb but I've gotten enthusiastic feedback from a couple of awesome people and I think it's good to go. 

In the coming month, I'll be working to register the copyright and finalize all the publishing details.

Now...I'd love to share another cover I've finally gotten to a happy place. I got to use one of my own pieces of artwork as part of the background image, which is always exciting for me. 

The blurb requires more work, but I included some of what I wanted to say in that spot. This makes it easier to see how the finished product will look once it's all together. What do you think?

This cover seemed to get even more rave reviews from those I showed it to than the cover for The Tale of Outh'n Durr. I'm OK with that. My goal was to make these covers look a little more uniform and kind of give it a cohesive style. 

I'm having more trouble with the cover for Over Land & Under Stone since there are issues with the focal picture. I want to include a couple things which may prove difficult to achieve. I guess if I have to abandon those couple things in favor of a more simple focal picture, I could. 

It's frustrating when I find perfect elements for some covers and then absolutely cannot find the right elements for the others without putting in some excrutiating, time-consuming labor. But when the result comes out looking like I hoped it would...the reward is well worth all that labor.

If you are struggling to publish your own work, whether it be literary or otherwise creative, just keep going. Don't give up because your success is right around the corner!

Today's post is short because my husband and I are celebrating 28 years together. Too many things are treated as expendable these days. I don't think marriages should fall into that category. I went into my own marriage with the idea that it was permanent. 

My way, of course, isn't going to be like everyone else's way, but it's what I was taught from day one of my life. My own parents and grandparents stayed together, working through problems with their spouses rather than throwing up their hands in defeat. It helped, too, that they all put God at the center of their marriages.

I will also say their marriages, as well as my own, were not/are not abusive. If someone is hurting you and/or your kids or is consistently unfaithful to you, please don't stay in that toxic situation. You are loved and I'm praying for you. 

I don't know why I thought to include this in today's post. I don't usually like to share much about my special life dates, but...I want to encourage people to take more time when considering committing to love and cherish someone for life, to take that commitment very seriously. It's important and it's life-altering. You and the person you are committing to deserve the very best you can give to each other, and that includes serious consideration of all the details.

Thanks for reading today! I hope you'll share your thoughts on the cover for Surge. If you'd like to say something about the final comments on marriage, please don't be shy. But I do ask you to be courteous. Obnoxious comments will be removed.

Until next time...