All the Emotions with Designing My First Book Cover
March 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as book covers, Denise M. Colby, writing lifeThis month I have had the pleasure of experiencing all the emotions of designing my first book cover. We all know how important book covers are. Book covers sell your book. They communicate what’s inside. And there are numerous blog and social media posts just on covers. So EVERYONE looks at book covers, because they are very important.
Initial thoughts for book cover designs
I think many of us newbie authors visualize what we think we want for our covers at the beginning of chapter 1. So I knew going in that I had an opinion. And ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. So how do you put all those ideas together into something appealing. A design that sells your book?
I have a graphic design background. Sort of. Things have kindof evolved since I was in college over thirty years ago, and even though I work in the field of marketing, my years of experience is more on layout now then specific design elements. I’m also a visual person. So I like to see something to see how it would work.
My publisher, Scrivenings Press, has a questionaire we fill out to add our ideas and thoughts behind the story for our book cover design. This is useful to communicate key messaging and visuals desired. I might’ve had a lot of ideas written down on my sheet. I certainly didn’t fill it out like a work project. Many emotions were tied into all my ideas. And it was hard for me to land on just one set.
Can anyone else out there relate?
Taking out the emotions when looking at book cover design
So I have to give a shoutout to my husband who asked me some very pointed questions like he would a marketing packaging project (he works in product marketing), since my book cover is my packaging.
This discussion was not emotional based, but true design and product packaging based. He asked me what is the main element of the story that you want people to know? And then asked to look at some books and guessed what the stories were inside.
When I told him what elements were most important, he agreed that those were in my cover design.
Our Emotions Can Get In The Way of Our Decision-Making
And this is when I realized I had a slew of emotions tied up into my cover design.
First, we spend years writing our first novel and agonize for weeks on the verbiage we use, editing continuously our words. My book cover was designed in less than a week. Something as important as a book cover shouldn’t be done overnight, right? But I have to remember my publisher makes mulitple covers a month and know what they are doing. They have standards and expertise. I need to trust that and get out of the way.
Second, we have so many ideas to convey the story on the front of our cover, but then realize that all those elements would make it way too busy and really don’t work the way we think it would’ve. Simpler really is better.
Third, I’m terrified how my cover will be received. But I’m also terrified on how my entire book will be recieved. So my emotions may not be just about the cover.
A Moment to Grow
Now that I’ve realized these new things (remember GROW is my word this year), I can learn from them. Processing emotions is an important step for me (and writing this blog post has helped me immensely).
I do not make decisions quickly. I kindof over think things a bit (Hello! Remember twelve years working on book 1). With a contract and deadlines (I love saying those words and wrote about that last month), everything is moving so fast and it’s all new territory.
There’s bound to be fear, uncertainty, and second-guessing. I need to allow myself room to feel those, but also know that this is all normal and not get caught up in them too much.
Clearly, I will have a much better handle on the process and my emotions for the next round (right?)
Now to agonize on how to do the cover reveal!
Denise’s first book, When Plans Go Awry, will launch June 4, 2024. Watch her facebook page and instagram page for her cover reveal
2 0 Read more2024 is My Year To Grow
January 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, focus word, Growth. LearningHappy New Year! I’m super excited for all this year will be. You see, 2024 is going to be my year to GROW. Last year was all about change and I found a fabulous quote that illustrates the connection between last year’s word and this year’s word.
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
Gail Sherry
What does it mean to grow?
I love looking up synonyms for my word of the year. For grow, there are several other words that help communicate what I’m thinking. Those include evolve, build, cultivate, develop, product, sprout, thrive, and stretch. Each word jumps out at me at different times. Right now the one that makes me laugh is sprout. My plan for 2024 is to sprout out of my little seed as a writer and bloom into something more.
Growing as a writer
My goals this year include learning new things. Most of these will be related to publishing my first book. When Plans Go Awry will be launched into the world June 4, 2024 and there are many steps to finish this story’s journey. To support the launch, I’m interested in growing my newsletter list, building a launch team (more to come about that), and all the other things needed to ultimately grow sales. There are a lot of new things to learn about all of this!
Growing in my relationships
In my personal life I hope to grow as well. First, our family dynamics will change. We are growing as a family when my son gets married this year and we gain a daughter-in-law. I’m also wanting to grow in my walk with Jesus, and grow in my relationships with friends and family by spending more time in these areas. I’m also looking to continue to grow in better health. I spent a lot of time in 2023 working on things to make changes and I hope to continue in this area as well.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
All in all, I’m excited about 2024 and what it will bring. You’ll see all sorts of reminders for my word throughout the year. I made a mug with all my words on it, so I could be reminded of the magical journey picking words to focus on takes me. Here’s my first reel I made about my mug, which was too large for me to post here. Instead I’ll share a pic of me using my mug!
I love choosing a new word every year. It is by far one of my favorite new years traditions. If you have a word for 2024, I’d love to hear what it is. Just make comments below. Here’s to growing in our word we’ve chosen for this year.
0 1 Read moreAttitude is Everything
November 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Attitude, Denise M. Colby, encouragementWhy is attitude everything when it comes to our writing? Because it is our own choice what our attitude will be. And if it isn’t great, we have the choice to change it.
How we react to feedback or the different set-backs on our writing journey can make a difference. I have had plenty of negative feedback, disappointments, “where do I go from here” moments. But I’ve also encountered encouragement that has helped me pick myself up off the floor and get back at it.
In some ways, my writing journey has been a great life lesson of growth for me.
And I want to encourage you in your writing journey.
Change your attitude
My word this is year is change. One definition of change is to become different; be altered or modified. I also love the definition to replace with something else, especially something of the same kind that is newer or better. For me, attitude was part of the change I wanted to make this year in how I approached my health, my time, and my writing.
Writing is such a mental game
Attitude becomes a philosophy – if you think negatively, you will be negative. If you think positive, you’ll be more positive.
If you think you can’t do it, you won’t.
When you think you can, you will keep moving forward and not let the negativity stop you. Our attitudes in every little step will allow us to keep moving forward.
Be willing to learn and accept feedback
Write and write some more
Try and try again.
Don’t give up.
Denise M. Colby loves to write words to encourage, enrich, and engage with others. You can find similar encouraging posts on A Slice of Orange such as meeting writing goals or when your confidence wavers, and on her own website denisemcolby.com , including a blog post about Moments of Encouragement. She also loves to write about her word of the year and share quotes that include that specific word in them. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
0 0 Read moreHow My Life Changes Affect My Storytelling
September 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Word of the year, writerslifeI have made the realization this year that as my life changes through the years, the way I view my original story has changed. Change being the central word here. And my word for 2023. So what type of changes in my life am I talking about?
Life is full of changes
I knew there would be several big life changes this year on a personal level. Two children graduating and one getting engaged being among the largest change. I also have been making strides in some health choices, adding in yoga daily and working with a doctor to heal specific areas of my body. And then the bonus life change was the addition of our puppy, Ace, in June.
But the other reason I chose the word change this year was for my writing. I wanted to change the way I edited my story. Change my phrasing. And not be afraid to change my characters. All for the better, of course. I felt focusing on the word change could help me mentally make significant changes in my story to make it stronger.
Age changes us
What I didn’t plan for was really thinking about my story from a different perspective. An age perspective. See, when I started writing my story over ten years, I was in a different time in my life. My kids were younger, I was younger and my relationships were younger.
Young love looked different to me. And I’m not as naive as I once was. Life changes over the years have exposed me to new perspectives.
But I’m not upset about all of this. I’m just more aware. And have to make decisions now based on this new awareness. Taking some time to figure out what I believe in, how I view the world, and what’s important to me will help me write better stories. My own life changes can help me develop stronger characters who go through their own life changes.
Change is important
I have enjoyed learning about the word change this year. Change allows us to move forward in life and experience new and exciting things. We all change and evolve daily, weekly, yearly.
I think our writing changes and evolves with us as well.
Do you think your writing changes as you grow older? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Denise Colby loves to write about her word of the year and share quotes that include that specific word in them. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
Writing Time Literally Going to the Dog
August 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, writing lifeWe have a new puppy, so my free writing time is literally going to the dog right now.
So instead of writing some great blog post, I thought I’d share some cute pics of our puppy.
But first, being the historical writer that I am, I looked up the phrase, go to the dogs, just to make sure I had its meaning correct. And sure enough, the summary meaning is becoming ruined.
Although it was originally tied to bad food that wasn’t good for human consumption. For this post, I thought I would write a fun, cute article that basically says my writing time has been ruined. That I’m distracted by the dog. Hence, all my writing time is going to the dog.
Meet the new dog
So, without any further ado, let’s meet our new puppy, Ace.
This is the first day we brought him home from a lab rescue group. About five months old, he’s super sweet and pretty easy going.
Of course the call came in the week of my son’s high school graduation, so things were pretty chaotic. But we had to go with the flow if we wanted to adopt him. My word this year is change, and although I knew there would be a lot of change this year, getting a puppy wasn’t on my radar! But he’s stolen our hearts and we love him.
Naming the Dog
Now, it took us about a week to name him. This is mostly our son’s dog, so he had some cool names he was coming up with. A huge 80’s music fan, Huey was at the top of the list, as well as Elo, and a few others. But what tipped the scales was when my other son threw out the name Ace. As in Batman’s dog Ace (from the Justice League cartoons). Being a batman fan, that one became the winner and thus our dog is named Ace.
So of course, we had to have a photo shoot with my son wearing his Batman costume so we could introduce Ace to everyone on social media. We even found a dog toy with the logo on it. Such cute photos.
Why My Writing Time is Going to the Dog
We have had middle of the night wake-ups, and other puppy antics too. Like chewing. We can’t really leave him alone too much right now. Which makes it difficult to dive into my manuscript.
We are now in puppy training class, which also teaches us humans on how to behave with the dog. As you can see, we have our hands full. It won’t last forever, but this is what we’ve been doing this summer. I hope to show him periodically in my Author social media. So follow along on my instagram at denisem.colby I’ll leave you with this last pic so you can say awww.
Denise Colby loves to write about her word of the year. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
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