The search for good art...

I have a problem.

I collect pics that I might use for covers.

Right now, I have more pictures than I could probably use for the number of books I am capable of writing in the foreseeable future.

I'm gonna have to write a lot more novellas, just to use them all.

But they're so yummy!!!

Bare male bodies, muscles sliding beneath tanned, oiled skin. 5 o'clock shadow that makes you shiver just to think of what it would feel like against your flesh. Brilliant eyes in all shades and colors.

And then there are the females... Not nearly as inspiring for me, but they serve their purpose in the romance/erotica cover-art world.

Then there are the backgrounds, artists' renditions of various planets, galaxies, space ships, eco-systems... not to mention the graphic backgrounds to put teasers and quotes against and the very real shots from the NASA website.

And once I collect all these fantabulous pics, I have to decide which way I want to go with the cover... artsy? Graphic heavy? Naked writhing bodies? A combination of them all? Or do my best to come as close to representing the characters and the world they inhabit in the book?

I should have been born with artistic talent as well as crafting skillz. :P I can't draw very well. True story.

So if you go to my Pinterest boards and look at 'book cover elements', you'll get an idea of what I'm looking at. Of course, I would use various pics, meld them with others to create a 'scene', make whatever changes I need to make to come close to my characters, etc. But you get the idea.

Fortunately, one of my author friends is working on a possible cover for me. We'll see how that goes. If she can get the hair color right on the woman, it'll be awesome and as close to perfect as I'm going to get without paying a sketch artist to do the whole darn thing from scratch. And it's such a pretty cover... if it works out, I can't WAIT to share it!!! It will go on the revised edition of Hearts, once I have all the revisions done and can upload all the changes. :) And of course I'll post when that happens, in case you want to go get the revised version (hopefully I'll be able to do it in such a way that it will automatically update to anyone who already bought the book. Checking into that.)


Sigh... There are so many aspects of being an author that you just don't really think about before you start writing. Or is that just me?

Ah well... Got almost 10K words written last night. Pretty thrilled about that. It was on a new story, but hey... it's another story coming out. That's a very good thing! And I think you'll like this one, when I get it done. :) So far, it's full of surprises for the heroine, which is fun. Her guys really like springing things on her, apparently, the rats! But she'll love 'em anyhow, because that's how she rolls. And she might even be able to turn the heart of the one that doesn't want her but is stuck with her. Can't wait to see how that one plays out...

Okay, that's enough teasing for one day, huh?

In other news, I'm only 3 'likes' away from 400 on my Facebook page!!!!! That's so exciting for me!!!!  AND.... *drumroll please* I'm only 2 sales away from breaking my one-month record at Amazon.com!!!! Here's the link to Hearts of Ishira, in case you haven't read it yet and want to take a sneak peek into the first chapter....

WHOOT!!! Okay, it's not a best-seller or anything, but hey... breaking your own records is still kinda awesome. :)

On that note, my sweetie just got home from a very long day at work. I'm going to go watch Castle, then football with him, then hopefully get a bunch more writing done after he goes to bed. :)