The Cover is Coming, The Cover is Coming!

Heh! A dirty mind could go many sticky places with that line....

I got to look at the roughs for DIE FOR YOU the other day, and choose a basic color scheme. I love this whole process -- putting together the body which my story will inhabit. The cover is incredibly important. I'm convinced that it can make or break a small press or lesser-known writer's book. I know I've been turned off by books, and I know I've received some bad reviews that focused more on the cover than on any flaw in the story. Is it shallow? Yes. But humans operate that way, even when we try not to.

I make an attempt to read blurbs before I look at a cover when deciding what to read, but I don't always succeed. *sigh*

Whatever the facts on covers, I'm pleased at least with my cover model and colors so far, and that's a BIG deal! He very much embodies Jensen, the vampire in my story. It makes me excited for what comes next: editing!

I know, I know, that's so dorky. But I love the editing process (at least in the beginning...) A lot of my writer friends balk at having someone else take a knife to their baby, but I've learned over the years that your editor -- especially a good one -- can be the best friend your book can ever have. I tend to be a very wordy, blah blah writer. I have some terrible grammar and punctuation habits. I get so lost in writing the story, in being IN the characters, that I lose track of structure, plot coherence, all kinds of things that would drive a reader crazy. A good editor sees those things, excises them, helps you mold your baby into a much more intelligent and beautiful final product. I've been very lucky to have great editors, and as a result, I adore them.

I don't start hating the editing process until the very end, when I'm so sick of looking at the damn thing, I won't read it again for years. ;)

Anyway, so we're moving forward! W00t! My boys should be out in the world in March!