Cover Love

A book cover matters. Maybe that’s not a popular opinion. Sure, the blurb is also important, but the first thing I notice is the cover. I know we don’t want to think of ourselves as superficial, but let’s get honest about this; sight is the first sense we use to catalogue all kinds of information. It’s natural. It’s normal. So let’s forgive ourselves for saying that how something looks matters. It does. Especially a book cover.

So this is an embarrassing post, but I also think it’s important to showcase that it’s okay to make mistakes and learn from them too. This kind of transparency about my author’s journey serves to exemplify that I got it wrong, and though I’m initially embarrassed, I’m also kind of proud too. I was brave enough to take the risk, make mistakes, and learn from them. 

In a new author resource book I wrote called The Indie Author Book Planner: Navigating Indie Publishing to Establish Your Brand as an Author (officially releasing June 1), I talk a bit more about why I made the choice to rebrand the Cantos Chronicles. On Instagram, I’ve been showcasing the evolution of The Cantos Chronicles covers from my first jump into publishing to where they are today.  It’s been fun remembering Swimming Sideways and The Ugly Truth, and today reveals the evolution of The Bones of Who We Are. I threw in the change for The Letters She Left Behind too, for kicks.

I’m so excited and proud of the new book The Stories Stars Tell. And I love how the upcoming releases In the Echo of this Ghost Town and When the Echo Answers connect aesthetically. Super cool how Sara Oliver made that happen. She’s a wonderful cover designer.

Here a few of my favorites covers I thought about off the top of my head. This isn’t an exhaustive list but I’ll start keeping track so I can do a fun cover post toward the end of the year. I also need to be honest about Wilder Girls; I DNFd the book (I made it through 100 pages and just couldn’t keep reading). BUT THAT COVER! Also, I couldn’t choose which Aurora Cycle Book Cover I liked best; all of them are gorgeous!

Writing Limbo

I’m in writing limbo. It’s the in-between space when I finish one project and need time to refill the well. It’s uncomfortable here. I have several projects waiting in the wings, but I’m not ready for them; my well is empty.

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What do I need to refill the writing well besides time?

  • Rest

  • Reading

In the meantime, I will be a part of my first in-person author event this Saturday (May 15 from 11am to 1pm) at Village Books & Music at Ward Center on Oʻahu where Iʻll be reading from Swimming Sideways, answering questions, and signing books. Iʻm super exciting but also nervous.

April Challenge: Update No. 2

An IMPORTANT bit of Writer Wisdom

(Which I often forget)

Good news! My daughter is home after nearly a year away. Oh how I missed her.

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Bad news: I didn’t write for three of the seven days I was supposed to, choosing to spend time with her, instead.

Oops . . .

Here’s my two cents: I know that I often get caught up in my writing. The narrative, the characters, the thinking that happens in that process sweep me away like a current so that I forget to be present in real life. I could feel guilty for not writing (and often do), but am choosing not to. Being present is so important, and though I have to remind myself to do that very thing—to be in the moment IRL—those aren’t moments than I can get back.

So maybe I didn’t get enough writing done, or I failed on my goal to write everyday. O’well. It will still be there. I will pick it back up and keep moving forward.

I vow not to miss out on the important stuff (or guilt myself for missing the writing).

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April Challenge: Update No. 1

5 Things I’ve learned this week about my drafting process:

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I’ve added over 10,000 new words to my 82,000 word draft this week, which brings to word count total to around 92,000. Word count, shmurd count, turd count. Honestly, the quality of those words are crap, but I knew this going in, and I admitted it before even beginning.

So here are things I learned this week about myself as a drafter and about the word count:

  1. I will avoid climbing the mountain of drafting like I avoid exercise. This procrastination lasts until I can’t anymore. But, I am also motivated by being held accountable to the external impetus (YOU), so though I procrastinate, I am still writing forward (at the last possible moment).

  2. Once I’m sitting down to write, there isn’t much to get in my way including family or dogs who might attempt to interrupt. You need to go outside to pee, dog? Hold it. 

  3. I get really cranky when I’m drafting. Don’t talk to me or I might bite your head off (poor family).

  4. When I get stuck, I follow the Peter Elbow model of writing forward: the freewrite (which means I just word vomit on the page to get myself thinking again. So I have a bunch of words that aren’t even connected to the story but are rather my own subconscious conversing with my conscious self, then suddenly I’m back in the narrative, moving on with the story). Keep in mind, that word count report is padded with a bunch of words that won’t even be in the story.

  5. If the Peter Elbow Freewrite doesn’t get me moving, I know instinctively that it’s because I don’t understand something about the character and the conflict. So my next step is to jump into a character interview. Remember how I said the word count is padded with words that won’t make it into the story. Yes. The character interview is one of the reasons why.

  6. Bonus: Word counts aren’t very motivating for me, but coloring in the calendar I made, super motivating. Posting to TikToc and Reelz has also been fun even if getting the words was slighly torturous. I also feel accomplished when I’ve written something that feels like a keeper or that I realized helped me understand something that will contribute to a scene. Those are gems.

I keep reminding myself that the  goal for April isn’t about the word count, even if that’s how I’m holding myself accountable (which means I may relook at how I’m reporting the progress). The goal is to finish the draft of this story. While there’s a modicum of some stuff that will be salvageable in what I’ve written this week, it’s going to take a lot of revision and rewriting to make it useful. On the flipside, however, there is something there to work with that wasn’t there before. I have a trash heap to go through to find what’s usable. 

Remind me: It does not have to be perfect. DOWN WITH THE OPPRESSOR (thanks for that, Anne Lamott).

Next week: Weekly update Number 2