Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh…
March 7, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Argo, Iranian Hostage Crisis, She Likes It Rough
Two weeks ago I started my own blog, Becoming GVR, and I blogged every day for a week. Then, I posted my The Next Big Thing Blog Hop interview. After a week of leaving that post up, I am back in the blogging saddle. So, what went on during that quiet week?
My number of book sales more than doubled, which is a way cool feeling! I set up my author page on Amazon. I made more connections in the world of publishing, books, and writers. I relaxed for 25 minutes in a row and finished that Father Brown episode. I commissioned the modification of my advertising bookcards and ordered 500 to be printed. I approved the initial sketches of some artwork I’ve commissioned for my website. I made sure all my ducks are in a row for the OCC book signing this weekend. I worked my other two jobs.
Something else that happened was this: one of the two movies I saw in the theatre last year, Argo, won the Oscar for best picture. I love the subtlety and understated tension of Argo as it unfolds an incredibly intense story. As I watched it, I was on the verge of tears and on the edge of my seat for the entire film.
But here’s the thing – if I chose to see only two films in the theatre last year, why Argo?
Simple. The Iranian Hostage Crisis is the first real piece of history I can remember in my lifetime. Those “Free the Hostages” stickers that looked like American flags were everywhere in my young world – on school book covers, on cars, on toilet seats. I was horrified by the duration of the terrifying ordeal – nearly one whole half of my life that I could clearly remember since infancy and toddlerhood. One of the hostages was from my hometown – he went to the same high school my nephew now attends. As a result, I think of Argo as my movie – because I have such a personal and visceral connection to it.
Argo is mine. And I doubt I am the only one who feels this way.
These feelings of connection, possession, deeply understood truth, shared history – these are precisely what I strive to evoke in readers with my books and stories. For example, this is one of my favorite lines from She Likes It Rough:
How long would it be before everyone in my family stopped judging me according to the stupid things I’d done as a kid? Wasn’t there any statute of limitations on growing up?
And by the way, the other movie I saw in the theatre last year is The Avengers, the biggest money maker of the year. Something else I strive for when I write my books.
Feel free to check out my daily blog at becomingvr.blogspot.com
GVR Corcillo
Queen of the Universe coming this Fall
Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh
February 13, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Annicka Rietveld, cover artwork, cover design, deviantart.com, GVR Corcillo, Iron Man, Lex Valentine, She Likes It Rough, Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh, Tony Stark, Winterheart Design
Cover Me
by
GVR Corcillo
When I decided to self-publish my ground-breaking chic lit masterpiece, She Likes It Rough, I contacted cover design goddess Lex Valentine of Winterheart Design. I commissioned my cover and explained through email, in excruciating detail, just what I wanted. A pretty do-able cover, I figured, made of inexpensive photographic images. In less than twenty-four hours, she emailed me back a cover that – horror of horrors! – was EXACTLY what I’d described. But it didn’t make my heart sing. It was the cover I’d asked for, but not the cover I’d dreamt of. I hadn’t requested the illustrated cover I’d been imagining for months because I figured that my vibrant, wild ideas would be impossible. And who was I, mere unpublished writer, to reach for such heights off mad fancy? So I asked for what I thought I could get, what I thought I deserved. And I got it.
But some survival instinct in me bucked at my willingness to sell myself short without even trying. I deep down wanted an illustration that would convey the sexy and off-kilter humor of a story about urban scaredy-cat Lisa Flyte trying to find her backbone by teaming up with aloof adrenaline junkie Jack Hawkins. They go on white-knuckle adventures out in the wild in order to make her brave. But what happens in the wild doesn’t stay in the wild, at least not for Lisa, who starts to fall for Jack. Will what she learns on her escapades give her the courage to go after him? Come to think of it, would I have the guts to pursue what I most desperately wanted? I had to bite the bullet and go for my dream cover. I commissioned a new cover from Lex, and this time I told her my ideas. We both scoured available images for days, but we found nothing that would satisfy me.
But some survival instinct in me bucked at my willingness to sell myself short without even trying. I deep down wanted an illustration that would convey the sexy and off-kilter humor of a story about urban scaredy-cat Lisa Flyte trying to find her backbone by teaming up with aloof adrenaline junkie Jack Hawkins. They go on white-knuckle adventures out in the wild in order to make her brave. But what happens in the wild doesn’t stay in the wild, at least not for Lisa, who starts to fall for Jack. Will what she learns on her escapades give her the courage to go after him? Come to think of it, would I have the guts to pursue what I most desperately wanted? I had to bite the bullet and go for my dream cover. I commissioned a new cover from Lex, and this time I told her my ideas. We both scoured available images for days, but we found nothing that would satisfy me.
Then she told me about Annicka.
Lex’s daughter, digital artist Annicka Rietveld, code name Brosephiine, has a lot of her artwork posted on deviantart.com if I wanted to check it out and see whether I liked her style. If I did, she would put me in touch with Annicka and we would see what we could work out. I loved Annicka’s illustrations and her style. Her women were sexy, flirty, and kick-ass.
Here is what we worked out:
Here is what we worked out:
The vivid illustration pulsated with sass and humor beyond my most daring imaginings. The details of the artwork blew me away. The lining of the shoe? Wonderful! I’d told Annicka that Lisa Flyte, the heroine of my story, has brown eyes with blue-green flecks. And sure enough, her eyes are brown with blue–green flecks! And the combo of the cover’s colors – sky blue contrasting with deep brown, accented with red and a little green – it just pops! Once the illustration was magnificently complete, I sent the artwork and all the cover info to Lex so she could design the cover. Here is what she sent back:
You know, they say writing can be a very isolated profession. But putting this book together was anything but an act perpetrated in solitary confinement. I had the chance to work with two incredibly gifted and professional artists, who brought both my book, and me, to a higher level. I needed to not only believe that I was a writer, but I needed to be a writer. Putting this gorgeous cover on my book made me feel just and powerful, like Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) putting on the Iron Man suit. Suddenly, I was a professional writer. I could feel it. My professional connections with Annicka Rietveld and Lex Valentine have been integral building blocks as I construct my life as an author. And the beat goes on. I have commissioned Annicka to do some artwork for my website that I’m building and Lex to do advertising bling for me. Creating my first novel has galvanized me to plow into a career in independent publishing. And with the majestic She Likes It Rough as my flagship, full speed ahead!
GVR Corcillo
author of She Likes It Rough
Just released in trade paperback!
“Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants”
Queen of the Universe coming this Fall
Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh!
June 17, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Bruce Kluger, David Slavin, Dog on the Roof, political satire, Presidential election, Romney, She Likes It Rough, Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh
Dog on the Roof
Blog by
GVR Corcillo
In two days, June 19th, Simon and Schuster/Touchstone will release Dog on the Roof: On the Road with Mitt and the Mutt by political satirists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin.
Bruce, my friend and sensei of sorts, snuck me a few pages of the book, and I have to say, I laughed my butt off. The verse, the pictures, the wit…and the dog! Seamus, with his spot-on observations and yearnings, will jump on you with both paws, lick you in the face, and have you laughing uncontrollably.
But even more amazing than the book itself is the galvanizing story of its whirlwind creation. In January, Bruce and his writing partner, David Slavin, both regular contributers to NPR’s All Things Considered, decided to write a satirical book designed to come out during the height of the presidential campaign season. But they wanted to do it right. I mean, really right. So, as if the goddess Nike were their muse, they just…did it. No fussing, no fretting. They just got to work.
They pulled a few bestselling satirical books off the shelf to study all the components that made them hits — from length to format to illustrations. Then they buckled down and wrote their sharp and clever fuax children’s book that gets its humor from a universally felt truth. Dog on the Roof’s truth? It sucks to be strapped to the roof of a car! That’s moving!
Dog on the Roof‘s deeper truth for us writers? If you want it, just do it. Mmmruh!
So, I decided to do it. Publish my own book, that is. No more acting like a dog on the roof for me, waiting for someone else (such as an agent or publisher) to set me free, give me what I need, and make me happy. Thanks to the trailblazing bravery of so many OCC authors, I am self publishing my humorous women’s fiction novel She Likes It Rough this summer. Can wild outdoor adventures with an adrenaline junkie give an insecure city girl the backbone she needs in order to make her humdrum life count for something? We’ll soon see.
But first, check out Dog on the Roof. http://brucekluger.com/BOOKS.
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Bruce, my friend and sensei of sorts, snuck me a few pages of the book, and I have to say, I laughed my butt off. The verse, the pictures, the wit…and the dog! Seamus, with his spot-on observations and yearnings, will jump on you with both paws, lick you in the face, and have you laughing uncontrollably.
But even more amazing than the book itself is the galvanizing story of its whirlwind creation. In January, Bruce and his writing partner, David Slavin, both regular contributers to NPR’s All Things Considered, decided to write a satirical book designed to come out during the height of the presidential campaign season. But they wanted to do it right. I mean, really right. So, as if the goddess Nike were their muse, they just…did it. No fussing, no fretting. They just got to work.
They pulled a few bestselling satirical books off the shelf to study all the components that made them hits — from length to format to illustrations. Then they buckled down and wrote their sharp and clever fuax children’s book that gets its humor from a universally felt truth. Dog on the Roof’s truth? It sucks to be strapped to the roof of a car! That’s moving!
Dog on the Roof‘s deeper truth for us writers? If you want it, just do it. Mmmruh!
So, I decided to do it. Publish my own book, that is. No more acting like a dog on the roof for me, waiting for someone else (such as an agent or publisher) to set me free, give me what I need, and make me happy. Thanks to the trailblazing bravery of so many OCC authors, I am self publishing my humorous women’s fiction novel She Likes It Rough this summer. Can wild outdoor adventures with an adrenaline junkie give an insecure city girl the backbone she needs in order to make her humdrum life count for something? We’ll soon see.
But first, check out Dog on the Roof. http://brucekluger.com/BOOKS.
–GVR Corcillo, the artist formerly known as Geralyn Ruane
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