Back to blue again. I love the vibe of this one and it works for me, even if all the little details aren’t right. It’s eye-catching, which is what you want in a cover.

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A switch from blue to red… I think this book poses the biggest challenge to a cover artist. It’s not easy to convey the mix of fairy tale and period horror and to showcase the importance of the setting to the story. This one is evocative without being explicit and it looks great.

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Here’s new cover #2. It works beautifully with The Night Inside and I love the colours. Though I admit to being a sucker for anything blue…

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I just got back from a trip to Italy (to get my travel legs back and see art and eat delicious food – update to come) and discovered that pre-orders are now available for all four novels in their new Open Road Media editions. Release date is July 9, 2024. Pre-orders are important in the […]

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Here’s the best of what I read in the first three months of this year. Sadly, the ‘to read’ list gets no shorter. FICTION The Buccaneers, Edith Wharton. The Wharton-fest continues (I’m currently working on The House of Mirth). This edition just has the actual Wharton text, without the later happy ending. And yes, I […]

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Things are moving along towards the reissue of the four novels from Open Road Media. I’ve seen both the covers (gorgeous, once the top hat is gone!) and the promotional ‘jacket copy’ (is that what you call it when there are no jackets?). It’s always fascinating to see how different artists approach the covers. I’ve […]

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I’ve finished the first round of serious line editing on the Witch Novel and now I need to buckle down and make the more serious changes needed. And maybe think of a name for the damned thing. In poking around my folder of miscellaneous writing advice, I came across some exercises I did from WONDERBOOK […]

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I survived the comments from Reader #2. Most suggestions are easy to implement or require just a bit of revision. One of the areas requiring major change wasn’t a surprise at all, as I was never sure that it really worked anyway. Lots of positive comments helped, of course, so I wasn’t required to visit […]

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Another year, another 140 books (or so) books read. Of these, 44% were non-fiction on topics from science to politics to history to biography to (of course) ‘how to write’ books. Because hope springs eternal on that front. Here’s a quick summary of some of my favourites. Climate (yes, it’s bad): Arboreality, by Rebecca Campbell. […]

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I’m waiting for some ‘bigger picture’ comments on the Witch Novel so thought I might as well proceed with some ‘easy’ editing. This involves searching the document for weasel words* and my own personal pet words (notably ‘dark’ and ‘pale’. God, I love those words). Weasel words include things like: suddenly, finally, merely, huge, most, […]

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