The View from Here

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! HAPPY 2019!!!

It’s not too late to wish Happy New Year, is it? BTW, have you broken any New Year’s resolutions yet?

Guess what, I’m not much better. FYI: my resolutions included ramping up my exercise program, wrestling my diet back under control and slashing some weight off my middle. Sound familiar? So far, I haven’t broken these yet, but 2019 is still young.

Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, there is one area, however, where I WILL be much better in 2019. This year, I’m going to be laser-focused on my writing resolutions, beginning with this blog. With my newest book coming out in only a few months, I RESOLVE to provide my readers with an entry every few weeks, each one with new and important information about the new novel, Blood on the Chesapeake. So, in keeping with that resolution, I thought I’d share a preview of the cover of the novel for the first blog entry of 2019.

You know, the process of getting a manuscript to press is a complicated and extended one. Pieces of the final product are finalized in stages, with the cover coming midway in this timeline. As I’ve learned, the cover of a book is crucial. It is usually readers’ first encounter with the book—whether online or on a shelf in a bookstore—and it needs to engage readers and whet their appetite for the story inside. I can tell you that mine took considerable discussion and negotiation (between the publisher and the artist, Debbie Taylor, and yours truly) to get to agreement on the cover, but I’m thrilled with the result. In her composition, Ms. Taylor was able to capture the essence of the beautiful setting on the Chesapeake Bay and embed an air of mystery as well including a nod to the ghost story within.

So here's the first look at the cover. I'd love to hear what you think, so feel free to respond if you'd like to contribute your two cents' worth. (Maybe in today's money, that would be twenty cents' worth? Two dollars' worth? Whatever, I welcome your feedback.

Oh, and thanks again for your interest in Blood on the Chesapeake.