Sovereign

A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

-Eleanor Roosevelt


Sovereignty lies
in her emerald eyes
sharpened
by seeing in the darkness.



Notes from the Real World: I could not believe my good luck when artist Michelle Kennedy (known in the blogosphere as Sunshine Shelle) agreed to do the artwork for my cover. Her artwork already graces the banner of this blog, and I knew she was the perfect person to capture what I was hoping for in the cover of this book. Shelle's style naturally combines the sweetness and darkness I hope comes across in most of my stories.

Once I decided I wanted Rowena (the main character of "What's A Little Blood to a Mother's Heart?") to be the cover girl, I sent Shelle a copy of the story and gave her some general guidelines. I was blown away by the end product, especially with the tiny details she came up with. The little mementos on the shelf behind her - she totally captured Rowena's love for the natural world with the small plants in water amid different depictions of animals. The lace table cloth (and wow - the brushwork on that) adds to the feeling of gentleness and old-fashioned comfort. But it's the expression on Rowena's face that Shelle captured that impressed me the most... sweet, but somewhat unsettling. And what is that tiny bottle tucked away among all her other things?

Shelle's painting is a story unto itself, surpassing my already high expectations. Go on and head to her Instagram and approach some of her other marvelously expressive pieces  as if they might whisper their secrets to you, so long as you attend patiently to them.



Song Choice: Once Upon a Dream covered by Lana Del Rey 

30 comments:

  1. This poem is such an accurate bit about your Rowena, in word and image.

    You and Shelle did really well together. Her brush captured the wicked wonder of your character’s nature, and presented it to us in color... and menace.

    I can never look at Rowena for just a second. Her stare holds...

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  2. It is indeed an AWESOME illustration, which makes a compelling book cover!

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  3. Wonderful illustration about cover of the book!
    I agree with Magaly...even I was unable to look at Rowena...there is something about her stare!

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  4. This is absolutely stunning!💖 Shelle did a fabulous job bringing the character of Rowena alive 😊

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  5. How special you found just the perfect cover!

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  6. Really liked the poem Rommy, and the post was enjoyable to read. Congrats to you!

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  7. I have your book on my Kindle ready to read. I see that brilliant cover every tiem I go to the Kindle library to click on the next book to read. Soon, Roomy, yours will be up and I'm looking forward to it. :)

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    1. Woot! Thank you so much for your support Kim :)

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  8. Nice! Powerful quotation and poem.

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  9. I will check her out! Congratulations on your book. Eleanor R. is one of my heroes and I'm always up for women's sovereignty. I've written one poem about Lady Ragnell and another about seeing in the dark that starts with a line straight out of Scientific American - "a woman's dark-adapted eye can see a single photon." (Well men's eyes too, but I wasn't writing about them at the time) As you can see your little poem speaks worlds to me. I shall divert to Amazon right now!

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  10. Shelle's art and your writing, perfect in every way! Big Hugs!

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  11. Perfect cover art! Congratulations on your book, Rommy.

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  12. I don't even know how I ended up here, but I thought this
    post was great. I don't know who you are but definitely you're going
    to a famous blogger if you aren't already ;
    ) Cheers!

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  13. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your
    weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself?
    Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it's rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.

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    1. I took a template I found on line and tinkered with it a little until I got it to look the way I wanted. Thank you for your kind words. :)

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