To begin with, I wrote for myself, to help get through the hardest time of my life. I’ll tell you about that one day, but not yet. We don’t know each other well enough.
Then I wanted to make the story into a book good enough for others to read. I went through lots of different processes. Again, I’ll tell you about that one day.
And then I wanted my book to find audience. To do that, I needed a publisher. Vicky Blunden turned out to be my fairy godmother. I’ll tell you about the process of being signed up by Storm Publishing and getting the book to publication (yes, one day…)
But today is about a rite of passage for all debut authors: the day I can reveal the cover of my book. And I LOVE it!
I feel it conveys the romance and drama of my book. It gives a strong sense of place, and a hint of intrigue. Maybe the stormy sky hints at the difficulties my main character Ginny is dealing with. Maybe the sun breaking through suggests the better life she is trying to make.
One of the things my editor Vicky Blunden reminded me is that the cover is not trying to literally represent the location of the book. For one thing, Ginny and her sister Mary Lou would set to work making a ramshackle place like this more habitable! And their homestead – Snow Farm – is set on a slight hill. But I hope the cover conveys the emotion of the book – and will encourage readers to find out more.
One behind-the-scenes detail: the original design had higher mountains in the distance. As the beginning of the book is set in Missouri, where there are hills rather than mountains, the clever designer smoothed the profile of the horizon. But as I say, this is not actually a view of Missouri.
I am so grateful to designer Emma Rogers and look forward to seeing what she produces for book two.