Cover reveal for Giving Thanks

Coming soon:

Creating a book cover...

...the short version, or in layman's terms, i.e., me looking in on my sister's process.

She asks me what I want for the book cover. I'm waffle and debate, indecisive. I know whatever she does will be awesome. She lets me natter, talk things through, until I come to a decision.

"Giving Thanks" is a my 2016 Thanksgiving story. Yes, I know I'm terribly behind. Life happened.

I decided on a Thanksgiving feast. The picture will not magically appear. It must be created. What did I want? Turkey was a given. Except, where does one find Turkey in February? Which was the least of my trouble. I didn't want to cook a turkey, more precisely, I didn't want copious amounts of turkey I'd be eating for weeks. What to do? Improvise.

Create a menu: Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, pie, and anything else I can think of and find available, in February. It also can't be too expensive. I'm operating on a budget.

My sister agrees to a photo shoot on my grocery shopping day. I'll buy everything in the morning, and she'll stop by after work and take pictures. I have one day to pull it all together.

Instead of turkey, I'll use a chicken and miniaturize everything.

Things I already had on hand: Pork and beans, stuffing, green beans, marshmallow, heavy cream for whipped cream, pistachio pudding mix, spaghetti squash (I disguised as yam with marshmallow).

Astonishing what I find on sale: Potato salad, grape tomatoes, and cornbread.

What's available for less than a dollar: Fried onions and crushed pineapple.

What was sold for the first time the previous week and is still available: Single-serving pies.

Brownies and rolls are available for a reasonable price and will add to the overall look.

The last thing on the list: Chicken. Imagine standing at the meat counter, looking at the rotisserie chickens, and trying to decide which of all the dozen chickens there is the most photogenic.

Head home and create a feast in one day.

My sister arrives. I help her set up a card table, outside for the light, throw on a table cloth, and hold up a blanket as a backdrop instead of the carport. She takes 75 pictures, rearranging the food and taking different angles.

This pictures shows everything I prepared:

Tomorrow, the cover reveal.

Posts About Me 9

This is the nineth in a series of posts about me. I hope these help you decide my books are worth the read. I also hope they help save time for those who have no interest in my books. I know there's nothing more disappointing than expecting one kind of book and discovering what I'm reading isn't something I'm interested in reading. Not all books in a single genre are the same. Authors in the same genre are as different as football players on the same team and cupcake bakers. A lot of similarities but no two are alike.

My love my cover artists: Carol Fiorillo and Ruth Mower.

Carol is my cover artist for Desert Breeze Publishing. She's done all my DBP covers, except for the free novella Impossibilities. The cover was matched to other authors' free novellas.

Ruth is my cover artist for my Holiday, USA series. She's a professional photographer and uses her own pictures to create the covers.

I decided to create anthologies of my Holiday, USA novellas so I could have actual copies of my covers. Virtual is nice, but computers crash. In my case, lightning struck close to home and blew up the processor inside my computer. Melted the motherboard. Messy.

Since I loved Carol's covers for my novels, it only made sense to ask if she'd do my anthology covers, incorporating the novella covers.

I endeavor to not visualize in too much detail what I want the cover to look like. A general idea is given to my artists. They have their own ideas. They've both managed to marry my ideas with what works into gorgeous covers I'm proud to call my own. Thank you!

Holiday USA update and cover reveal

Secondhand Samhain is in final edits. I still need to write the blurb. Not my favorite thing to do but a necessary bit of work. Today's project while I wait for the final read through by my editor. I hope you love this story as much as I do. I had such fun writing it.

My Holiday, USA series cover artist, Ruth Mower, created a delightful and fun cover

Isn't it fun?

Christmas Present is also well on its way to being finished. It won't be published by Thursday, but I anticipate it will be soon after. Then the 2015 anthology, with the last 4 novellas, will be published in paperback, in February. Errant Knight is due and will fully occupy January.

Cover to my second novella...

Over on FB, yesterday, I posted the cover to my next novella... I posted the two covers created and invited people to vote on their favorite. Here they are:

Book cover debate...

I'm writing a series of novellas taking place in Holiday, USA. This is a whole new experience for me.

The first book is Happy New Year?

Sometimes, I'm too close to a project, so I'm seeking advice from my readers. Which cover do you prefer? Why? Please feel free to offer suggestions.

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