So, things are moving along. The contract has been sent and once I find a few hours to sit down and decipher what all that legalese, I’ll sign it and everything will be official. I had to enter some information about the story and the characters into a database that will help the art department design the perfect cover. One of the sections said – Write a hook in 30 words or less that makes the reader want to read your book! No pressure, right?
You would think that since I wrote the book, I’d be able to knock out a 30 word summary quite easily. Ha ha. A few text messages to a friend at 1am (thank God for west coast friends) and a phone call to my mom in the morning, and I think I nailed it. We’ll see.
I also had to come up with alternative titles. This was perhaps worse than the summary. Anyone who writes knows how hard it is to come up with the first title. Coming up with something that’s original, relates to the story, and makes people want to read it isn’t easy. Any idea how many books out there have storm in the title? A quick search on amazon left me a little discouraged. I somehow managed to think of a couple, but I really hope they stick with The Weather Girl. I kinda like it.
After describing the characters and a couple scenes from the book, I was finished with my art fact sheet. I think that was all the say I have in what the cover will look like. The good news is I think the Heartwarming series has the prettiest covers of all the Harlequin books. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for this one!
My friend, Jo, made me some pretend covers before I got a deal and thought I might have to self-publish this puppy for it to see the light of day. I love them and they are hard to beat. I thought I would share them here since things worked out a little differently than I thought they would!
The first one is my favorite. But like I said, I can’t wait to see what the good people at Harlequin come up with!
This is all very exciting and still a little unbelievable. But there is much to do before there is a finished product for people to actually read and an official cover for me to reveal. First, I have to do some revisions.
I think I could revise my manuscript every day for the rest of my life. There are always little things I want to tweak or change. At the same time, there are parts I have fallen in love with and I can’t bear to let go of. I read somewhere that authors should not get too attached to certain scenes or sentences because that might be the part that needs to be trimmed. I can see how true that is.
After a chat with my editor, I have been tasked with raising the emotional stakes. This means taking some of the sweet, easy scenes and roughing them up a bit. Make it a little harder for the characters. You’d think after my first post where I bragged about my ability to torture my characters, I’d have no problem doing this. We’ll see. It’s a challenge when you gone in one direction and now have to change course.
It’s a challenge I’m ready to take, though. This whole thing is so fun, I’m ready to do whatever it takes and then maybe write another one. And another, and another, and another. LOL
xoxo,
Amy
Amy Vastine 