Wednesday, August 31, 2011

My Cover is Here!

One of the things I've been working on since I've been away is the cover art for THE LADY'S FATE. I've had an idea of what I wanted in mind for the last little while, and dabbled with it, looking for artwork, fonts, and whatnot. I spoke with a designer and she told me, it really wouldn't work. Well, not the way I wanted it to. So we went to plan B, I sent her my idea, along with a piece of artwork, and voila! Here is my new cover.






I am absolutely IN LOVE with this cover. When she first sent it to me I cried. Really. The power in the words, seeing my name on a cover for the first time, just had me weeping. I couldn't agree more that my first idea would not have worked. I liked it, but not like I like, scratch that, LOVE, this one.

Okay, enough about the cover, let me tell you about the designer. Her name is Melissa Williams and she is an absolute angel sent from Heaven. She listened patiently to my first idea and when she said, "I'm sorry, this really won't work." I wanted to cry. I really really wanted the idea to work. She gave me a list of reasons why, and reluctantly I had to agree with her.

She asked if I had thought about anything else, and I sent her option #2. I didn't really want to use it, because I wanted to try and stay away from the whole Regency themed romance covers. I didn't want heaving bosoms and bare chested men. I found this artwork, and although I thought it was suitable, I still wasn't 100% sure. I sent it off to Melissa and overnight, she sent it back to me, all done up.

Can I just say, OVERNIGHT, people.

This is her site, for those of you who may be interested in using her services.
Melissa Williams Cover Design. You'll find her prices are reasonable, and her covers are fantabulous! But the best thing of all, is she LISTENS to you when you tell her what you want. She also helps you decide what it is you want, even if you have no idea. So for those of you searching for a cover artist, stop by and give her a look-see. You won't be disappointed.

This is the logline for THE LADY'S FATE --

When Lady Violet Flowers becomes governess to the Marquess of Haverlane's daughter, her gentle care and affection for the little girl turn the curmudgeonly Marquess' eye in her direction. However, a woman from his past wants Haverlane and will do anything to get him. Will Fate intervene?


Tell me -- Do you think the cover and the logline are in sync? Do you like the cover? If not, why not?

Monday, August 29, 2011

I'm Back! Did You Miss Me?

Good Morning, my darlings. I'm back from blog/vacation and let me just say I had a WONDERFUL time. I spent two weeks on the beach back home in Rhode Island and it did me a world of good. I cried when I left. I miss the beach. But not as much as I missed all of you! I guess we have to let something go before we realize how much it means to us.

That being said, since I've been back I've been working on several different projects, least of which, is getting THE LADY'S FATE ready for publication on Kindle. This endeavor has been filled with anxiety, joy, and trembling fingers as I try and get the formatting just right. It's a lot harder than I thought. Needless to say, I have a surprise for all of you on Wednesday so if you have a chance, please stop by.

I found a new story, one that was sprung from my time at the beach. My beta thinks it's coming along nicely. Also have been working on Robert's story -- THE DUKE'S DIVORCE, and dabbling with THE EARL'S ENQUIRY. Those will be spotlighted on my new author blog, which I will unveil in the coming weeks. (I'm still tweaking.)

All in all, it has been a fantastic vacation, although returning from RI we did cut it quite close to getting The Monster back to school in time. But she's back full time, and I'm in work mode once again. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I had to make some changes on the blog, and I am surrounded by water now, which I love. I also have a few new ideas for Friday's at the Piedmont Grille; I changed the menu, so to speak, so I am rather excited about that. (Look Bridget, did you see my use of a semi-colon in that sentence!)

It's good to be back and let me just say again how much I missed you all!

Tell me -- What have you been up to? What have I missed?