Clover Autrey

I'm so excited about my latest book. It's totally different than what I usually write, meaning no magic or supernatural creatures mucking about. It's a straight historical, well, as far as what history can piece together on Vikings at any rate. And it was such a joy to write also. I love these characters. Anyway, more on them later. This post is about how I made the cover.

I wanted to go with that classic historical romance style. You know the ones with a couple in a clench in front of some type of historical scene, usually a castle. I just wanted readers to know exactly what it is at a glance.

So the first thing was to find the right couple. Not so easy when I'm using stock photo. First, there aren't that many blond guys. I have no idea why, but they are few and far between. I also wanted the heroine to have dark hair.  And not completely nekkid either. I couldn't find any at my usual stock photo haunt so I went over to The Killion Group and finally found the perfect couple. The leather pants definitely need to be cropped out though. Eew.



Next up is the historical landscape behind them. Viking book. Definitely need a Viking Dragon Ship. Dreamstime had just what I needed.

Saturated it a bit to bring out more color and lighten.

Next I put them together. It took a while to get the right placement of the ships. I ended up using the 3rd ship on the right because it fit the best beneath Rovena's the heroine's hair. I also erased some of her gown. It just flared too much. Actually the dress isn't exactly authentic for the time period but with stock photos I have to pick and choose what I can live with. Notice how I cropped out those awful leather pants? And please don't tell me they are really pleather. Gag. As you can see I started playing around with title and author name placement. I thought it looked pretty good until I decided I really wanted to go with the classic historical romance look and make it look like a drawing.
 Finding an illustration program took a little bit of work until I found one in Smart Photo Editor and ran it through. It first came out like this, which I actually love, except it made the fonts less readable. It also made their hair color almost the same. What I really liked about this couple was that her dark hair opposed to his light hair.
Well, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I played around with the light balance, even tried to slip her old non illustrated hair over this hair, until it dawned on  me to use the clone stamp tool and clone darker spots of her hair over the lighter spots. It worked pretty well although I may have gotten a little carried away. Except Rovena's hair in the book is pitch black and fascinates all the lighter haired Vikings so I wanted it as dark as I could get it.


Now that's some nice dark hair on her. I'd rather he was lighter but I didn't want to mess with him too much. The lightening I did made his moles stand out on his neck. You can really see them when they are enlarged. I almost went in with the clone stamp and got rid of them, but decided I could use them and go in and write a few sentences where Rovena is noticing the mole at the side of his neck and wanting to press a kiss there or some such.  The next step was getting the words to show up. With the ships, water and her dress there is a lot going on, which I didn't want to smear out just to see the words so I decided to enlarge the title and go with white for most of it. My name still gets a little lost in her dress but I can live with that, especially since Viking is the main theme I want to get across as well as this is a historical romance. I think the classic style of this cover will convey that fairly well.  So here it is! Tell me what you think.

 

She's always been a dutiful daughter...

Janet MacLeod has spent the last ten years dedicated to her clan, acting as the Lady of the castle—at the cost of her own happiness.

She aches every time she looks at her brothers, both happy with their wives, and wants nothing more than a love of her own.

He’s a broken soldier…

Xander, a former Fae Warrior, sacrificed his wings and magic to live in the Human
Realm and became a traitor to his people.

When he finds Janet forlorn on the beach, Xander gives her a ring he’s had since childhood, not realizing it’ll reveal her as his fated mate.

The ring’s magic activates the Faery Stones, and Janet is sucked into the Fae Realm. Her life is in immediate danger, for the Fae sense—and seek to destroy—any human who dares step into their world.

Xander is the only one who can retrieve her, but he too, wears a target.

Can he rescue his soul-mate and return with her to the Human Realm or will temptation of great magic and the rebirth of his wings force him to abandon their destiny? Duncan promises to help Claire get home, even though his desire to have her wars with his vow.
Torn between familiarity of the present and what she wants in the past, can Claire help Duncan find his brother and get back to the future? Will she even want to?
About The Author:
C.A. is my critique partner and I love her to death. I'm thrilled to show y'all her latest book ~~ Highland style of course. She's originally from Ohio, and has made me these to-die-for buck-eye treats. nom-nom-nom. Anyway, I'm so glad she made her way out here to Texas. She is married and has a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice.

She works with kids when she’s not writing.

She’s always wanted to be a writer and is overjoyed to share her stories with the world. C.A. is just an all around great sweet person and I know you'll love her and her stories as much as I do.

Visit her on her blog, orn Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and website. She's everywhere!!!

C.A. Szarek is also author of Collision Force, Chance Collision, Sword's Call, Love's Call and The Tartan MP3 Player.




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I'm going to tell you an ugly story about myself.

In my childhood it was a common occurrence to have strange kids show up in our backyard. My dad had refurbished our garage into a beautiful Chiropractic clinic, which meant that the kids of his patients could go out back to play while their parents were getting their spines cracked.

When I was around 13, my friends and I went out back to jump on the trampoline. There were these girls around our age just sitting there, staring blankly, not talking.

We tried to talk to them but they wouldn't say a word.

Here's the ugly part. Since they wouldn't talk to us, and well, were beyond weird, we started making fun of them, saying things like "why you so sad?" in baby voices. We were brats. The 3 girls never responded.

When we went inside, my mom stopped us at the door and began telling us how those poor girls just an hour before had been bike riding and saw their friend hit and dragged behind a car, instantly killed.

I've never felt more worthless than I did at that moment.

It's been close to four decades but I still remember that sharp lurch of shame. It taught me two things:

First, I never wanted to be responsible for hurting anyone like that again.
Second, I don't know a damn thing about what is going on inside another person.

Fast forward. The day I first walked into La Hacienda Ranch where the North Texas Romance Writers of America group meets, I had a chronically ill child, mounting medical bills, stupid job I hated, overwhelmed husband, and I just wanted a place I could leave that behind for a few hours. I didn't share anything about my personal life with anyone. I just wanted to be treated like a normal person.

I tell you this because you never never know what that writer smiling and sitting next to you is dealing with. Some of us will tell anybody who wants to listen. Others, like myself, keep it quiet. At North Texas, we have members dealing with divorce, with ailing parents, ailing spouses, health, emotional, or mental issues at home, cancer scares and cancer realities. We have members worried about their children, worried about finances, struggling with inadequacies when everyone around them seems successful.

We have members who have lost their spark for writing and want it back. We have members who are so hopeful their faces shine with it. We have members who have been rejected, rejected, rejected and manage to climb back up that hill.

We have members that for them our meetings are their only few hours a month where they get to feel like a normal person.

I am so inspired and impressed by you. At your sincere willingness to encourage each other. To support each other. You're truly happy for each other's successes and sad when things don't go a writer's way. I love that about North Texas. This group has unknowingly gotten me through some of the worst times of my life. I'm proud to call you friends. Keep it up for each other. Continue to be supportive and encouraging.

Let us always be hopeful and helpful.
May we continue to be kind to each other.
And when we fail in that, because we sometimes will, being human and all that, cultivate forgiveness and allow us a chance to do better. Because like I said, we don't know what is going on inside another person or what they are struggling with.

I love you guys, truly, and am honored to be counted among you.

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It's been one of those weeks, well two weeks really, that Death has been a constant presence and in my mind.

It began with my mother-in-law softly slipping away at age 85. She had been suffering from dementia,
sometimes unable to remember where she was or even how old she was without a reminder. She had been a vibrant intelligent force to be reckoned with so slipping into dementia was difficult on my husband and his siblings. She's been in California for the last five years and when my husband saw her last a little over a year ago, he said he knew then it would be the final time he saw his mother.

Then on one of my writer loops we heard about how a fellow author's sixteen-year-old son was killed in a car accident on his way to school. My heart wrenches. I can't begin to imagine watching my child walk out the door and in what had to be less than fifteen minutes later, being gone. There aren't even any words for that kind of emotion.And fear. It's too sudden, it's just too sudden. And he's so young. I don't personally know this writer, but gosh, I sorrow and grieve with her.

The romance writing community is a tight compassionate group so a memorial fund has already been set up for their family's behalf. However it is already closed. I am inserting links to her books in case anyone would like to contribute in that way by simply buying one of her books. And since most child riders on life insurance policies top off at $10k yet the average burial costs are around $20k at the low end, believe me I know, extra book sales help. Jackie Barbosa on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Also this week I learned that my dear friend Steve "Peach" Wahlquist lost his wife to cancer.  I've actually never met her either, but knowing the kind of man Peach is and the way he speaks about her, she was someone amazing.

Yesterday we received word that the four-year-old daughter of a sweet family at our church was home from Cooks Childrens Medical Center with hospice care as her lungs are failing and will live only a few more days. I was assigned to be this mother's visiting teacher a couple of years ago. In our church, we're assigned to go visit each other and make sure everyone is taken care of, whether they need help help or just someone to talk to. It's a way of everybody taking care of each other. Anyway, she was assigned to me and my friend Laurie and I have to tell you I was scared the first time we went to her home. I knew she had a terminally ill child and after losing my own child I didn't think I was emotionally stable enough to be any kind of help to her. I imagined myself losing it and just blubbering and being zero help or strength for her at all. I've never prayed so hard before a visit in my life.

Miraculously I didn't break down. I'm not sure I was any help to her either any time we visited. Mostly we gave her a place to talk. I actually was kind of quiet, observing who she is and her strength in dealing with what she has to deal with in keeping her child alive, literally, on a daily basis. I remember being that way, having the strength and fortitude to just keep going even when you're beyond exhausted because there wasn't anything else to do. But from the other side of it, I also knew where this was going, how everything will change. Right now they are waiting for their precious girl to die. Cataloging every breath, the soft feel of her skin and hair, the way she smells as though they'll be able to hold onto those senses forever. Everything's surreal yet strikingly sharp and clear at the same time.

I'm not the same person I was before Chase's death. I'm not strong anymore, not like I had to be before. To be honest, it caught me off-guard how even the strength of my faith changed and the emotional ability to deal with the tiniest things is different. I don't know how my friend will be. I know everyone grieves differently, but I do know that she won't be the same as she is now.   It's hard thinking about what their family is going through today and not being able to do anything for them until afterwards. Our entire church community is waiting and grieving with them, feeling a bit helpless when we so badly want to help.

And while death is so close this week, my thoughts were also turned toward my own children. In our faith, going to the temple and receiving instruction and sealing families together for all time and eternity is important to us. Before a young man or woman goes on a mission, they go to the temple for the first time and receive what we call an endowment, a gift from God so to speak. We also do these things by proxy for our dead. I'm not going to go into all of what that means to us here, but here's a link that shows pictures of inside our temples and a little bit more about it.

We waited until Kyle went to the temple to also go through for Chase on the same day. Again, I wasn't sure I was emotionally ready to handle it even after 3 years. If he had lived, Chase would be 18 and  ready to go on his own mission and go to the temple for himself. It's fitting that my boys went to the temple together, even if Chase was only there in spirit. My husband stood in as a proxy for Chase which was also right.

My heart sorrows today. All these deaths are so different. Some were old and suffering, some young and suffering, and Jackie's son so unexpected. If I've learned anything it is that grief and mourning and hurt and how someone deals with it, isn't something that can be compared or even judged with how it it dealt with. You simply hurt with the person going through it and comfort whoever stands in the most need of comfort at the moment you are there with them. That's all we can do really.

I love writer conferences.

I've only been to 2 big ones. Fantasy and Scifi World Con in 2006 and our own RWA Nations last years. At WorldCon I was beside myself in the presence of the greats like L.E. Modesitt (trapped him in an elevator), Charlaine Harris, Elizabeth Moon, and Charles DeLint (found them in the elevator too. I'm telling you the elevator is the place to hang out.) And poor Marjorie Liu. I fangirled all over that sweet kid before she had a chance to check in. That's what she gets for being in line behind me and telling the clerk her name out loud. I love her! Embarrassingly enough I'm sure I'd fawn all over her again even 8 years later. Unless she remembers me and runs for it. She looks fast.

I was an ant walking among gods. But wow, was it fun.

I've also attended several of our local smaller conferences and love them just as much. Probably because I know more people there, or because it's smaller and not as intiidating, I'm more myself. One of the highlights for me personally, is going out to dinner at the ned of the day with a large groupof writers, old friends and new friends. It's so much fun.

This year we're lucky enough to have two RWA conferences close by. Our Two-Step conference this month and Nationals in San Antonio in July. I hope I hope I hope that all of youTexas writers are able to take advantage of at least one of these conferences this year. Better if you can go to both!!! There is nothing like the energy of being around creative people. And if you happen to see Margorie Liu...do a little fangirl flip-out on my behalf please.

(Just reposting this news report from LDS Living so I'll always have it. All credit goes to them...)
Pictures are from me, which I'm thinking now that I had a terrible camera.




When author Brandon Mull set out to create the fictional world of Fablehaven, he never imagined that his fantasy would become a New York Times bestselling children’s book series. And he certainly would have never guessed the fabled world would make a wish come true for a dying little boy in reality.

used by permission through creativecommons.org

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I've been at it again, making book covers and lots of them. 

Four to be exact for my newest series A New Dawn, a continuation of the Highland Sorcery series.
I don't make covers for other people because that's not really where I want to focus my time and energy, but I gotta say, I love making my own. Searching for just the right cover model is fun. I always go for the expression, more so than looks...

Anyway, here's the picture I used for Alexander. I just love the way the photographer Konradbak captured him in motion...and the intensity on his face is perfect.

The only thing I don't like about this is that he's shirtless. It doesn't fit with the brand of my books, which are more action and behind-the-door snogging, less skin. And since I don't want readers expecting something they aren't going to get, I try hard to keep everyone clothed. So the next step before I bought the picture for use was to see if I could find a shirt to cover the poor guy up with.

I found this picture with the model's body turned in close to the same position.
So now I have the two pictures. I overlaid the shirt picture on top of Alexander's picture, sized it to fit, tilted it a bit to fit more, and then used the eraser tool to erase everything on the top picture except for the shirt. I also had to get a little creative with the cloning tool to fill in more of the shirt color where I erased the shirt guy's arm which took out some of the shirt.  (Weird sentence. As a writer I should do better, but as a lazy person this moment, I'm going to leave it.) The bottom of the shirt is a bit fuzzy but the words will camouflage that a bit. Not too mention it draws the eye up to the face since it's more in focus. That's what I tell myself anyway.

So now I have a shirt on Alexander.  But he's kind of gray. So I saved the picture into one layer and then used the saturation tool to pull up more color. He's just about perfect now, except I want a different background.

Kay, I cheated a little here by using a background I already had. I loved the greenish building scape cover for Highland Shapeshifter. So I pulled up that original cover (I already own that picture for use) and cropped a background out of it from the left bottom corner below her arm. So now that little piece will be Alexander's background.

Great opportunity to get pdfs of this past year's books . . . for free.

Be a reader judge for The Carolyn Readers Choice Awards 2014. All you got to do is sign up, read the first 30 pages of 3 books, and send in a short little score sheet. Choose any heat level you prefer from very sweet to very hot. You get to keep the entire book and finish reading at your leisure.

Sign up to get the pdfs to judge for the Readers Choice Awards here.

Easy peasy . . . plus your voice gets heard in what kind of books Readers are looking for. Plus-plus, they are free. Did I mention they are free? All you gotta do is read. Yay for reading. Fill out a judging form. And let your reading tastes count for the next up-and-comers in what's popular in books.

This is a Readers judging only contest. Sorry, writers, I know you are huge readers too, but anyone in the writing industry in any form, please restrain from signing up.

However, writers, if you have a book published in 2013, enter it here at the Carolyn Readers Choice entry.
(Before Valentine's Day.) Let readers be the new gatekeepers of what's hot.

Because Reader Choices is where it's at. Reader approval is what we want. Readers are who we love to connect with!!!

So I'm the President this year for the North Texas Romance Writers of America. Believe me, I'm still trying to figure out how that happened. Fortunately, I have a very savvy group of women on the Board who won't let me run the chapter into the ground. One of the perks is that I get to write a President's Letter for the newsletter each month and as I'm always trying to think of content for my blog, I thought I'd go ahead and post them here as well. Lucky you. *grinning ear-to-ear as I think I'm so very clever*

NTRWA January President's Letter

I spent the last weeks of December in a whirlwind as my only daughter got married. She made a beautiful bride, going for a vintage Great Gatsby vibe that carried us all into another realm.

And as I caught Andrew and Alannah always wanting to sit by each other with their heads together to whisper and laugh at things only they were privy to, or holding hands, or just those little glances that conveyed so much feeling between them, it reminded me of what young love, first love, even older reaffirmed love can be and how I, as a writer of romance, should be better at capturing those feelings in words and passing it on to my readers.

Do I show that in the small things? Do my hero and heroine constantly gravitate toward each other? Do they watch each other from across the room? Do they touch one another in little ways? Do fingers slide along the arm? Do hands interlock? Do knuckles caress a cheek as a stray lock of hair is tucked behind an ear?

It’s an exciting time. An exciting new year ahead. I loved watching the union of a new couple, and managed to only cry just a little. It’s a new beginning for them. And a new beginning for us as writers. Move forward with confidence in yourselves and your abilities. Take chances. Celebrate with each other and for each other. Get back up again when you fall.

As for me, I’m going to focus on the small things. The hand holding. The caresses. And see if I can’t pull deeper emotion from my characters. The kind of emotion I felt from my daughter and new son-in-law.

It’s going to be a great year!

December Twenty-first, my only daughter became Mrs. Andrew Birkinsha. As any mother would, I wanted all her dreams of a beautiful wedding to come true. What we lacked in cash, we more than made up for in resources. I have nine sisters and each of them are full of talents. Oh, and my mom has become an expert at putting on weddings (Did I mention I have nine sisters? That she created spectacular weddings for.)

So coordinating a wedding long distance became a breeze with the support team we have in one another. And Pinterest. We simply had to pin/show my sibs what Alannah wanted and they went to work. One sister (Kim) took a class long ago in cake decorating, so she made a stunning cake. Another (Alysha) made the most beautiful vintage bouquet. Another sister (Mac) went above and beyond to replicate the most gorgeous veil I've ever seen. And not just one, but two, so Alannah could have her pick. Yet another (Heather) created a beautiful guest book. And they all pitched in with getting the gym cleaned out, lit, and ready for a reception, bringing soups and other entrees to feed the guests. And my mom altered the dress, made the flowers, and basically worked her magic to bring order out of what could have been chaos.

I'm truly truly blessed with a wonderful family. All I had to do was show-up. Which come to think of it, is what I did 25 years ago for my own wedding. Hmm. I kind of think I'm the least helpful in my family, yet gain the most benefit. Score! (Shhh, I didn't really say that.)

To be honest, I knew it would turn out beautiful because I trusted my family. My main concern was getting through the ceremony. You see, since my son passed away 3 years ago, I have a difficult time keeping the weeping to a minimum. Seriously, I get going and the waterworks will not stop. And it's not the lovely one lone tear sliding down the cheek Demi Moore style of crying. It's full blown gushing, snotty, red eyes, ugly and gross. I avoid sentimental events like the plague and I'm sure all those who don't want to witness a blubbering spectacle appreciate it even if they don't know what they have missed. I'm not exaggerating. And I sure didn't want to become the center stage mother of the bride weeper.

So believe it or not, the past couple of months I've fasted and prayed about that. Please, please don't let me blubber through the wedding. And you know what. I caught a cold. I was so concerned about not having a coughing fit and keeping my mouth dry and how I could sneak a cough drop while everyone was watching that the tears were kept to a minimum. Not exactly how I would have answered my own prayers, but it worked.

Enough of that, enjoy some pictures...

Alannah Autrey~Vintage Gown

Alannah and I are very close, have always been. I don't know how I got so lucky to have a daughter who shares everything with me. Okay, she didn't share when she snuck out of the house when she was 16 until a few years later, but mostly everything. She's a good kid and an amazing person. She's always known what she's wanted and gone after her dreams. When she told me she had met the right guy, there wasn't any doubt that Andrew had to be someone pretty special because Alannah would never settle for just anybody.

The Wedding Announcement (Which I actually made~hey, I did contribute something!)

Table Settings

This is a hanger Alannah made in her Young Women's Youth Group years ago. The little plague talks about how they'll remain pure until their wedding day and can will keep this as a reminder to hang their Temple dress upon it.

Guest Book (ended up with a few extra guests written in like Thor and Wonder Woman~My family are all nuts.)

The Bouquet

The Ring

The boots

Table Setting

The Place~Draper Utah Temple

The Cake Kim wrote secret messages into the scrollwork on the bottom layer, such as Happy Birthday to my sister JJ, and other "love messages between Alannah and Andrew."

The Groom ~ Andrew Carl Birkinsha (pronounced Bir-kin-shay) Couldn't ask for a sweeter son-in-law

The Birkinsha Family. Was nervous meeting them, but they turned out to be lovely, down-to-earth, funny, kind, chill, intelligent people. I'm so happy Alannah has some great in-laws.