But the idea just wouldn't go away. So I started dabbling. Next thing I knew, I was 40K words into the first book. So I showed the first couple of chapters to a friend.
She pooh-poohed the concept. Said it would never sell. And in all fairness, she was right. It would never have sold to trad publishing.
But she was one of those well-meaning friends. She was trying to help me. She wasn't trying to hurt my feelings. According to her, I needed to write something more marketable, i.e. what she was writing.
Unfortunately, when it comes to art, those kind of friends can do the most damage. I put the story away, and didn't touch it for fourteen years.
Not until I was reorganizing my writing folders last year into what had been published and what hadn't. There were several short stories that have since been published. But that second urban fantasy series was still tucked in the old ideas folder.
I started to read the half-written first novel. And damn, it was pretty freaking good. But it would need some very specific art, not just any old stock photos.
And a month later, I stumbled across an artist who'd be able to pull off the vision in my head. She was already booked solid for the rest of the year. So I begged. A lot. And she finally agreed to do the project, but she couldn't fit me into her schedule for at least a year.
I slapped down my deposit to show I was serious. And she scheduled the first book for this month.
She delivered the ebook cover for the first book this morning. I'm not ready to show it yet. Mainly, because I've got a whole nother series to deliver first. But the artwork tickles me to my toes.
I used to tack covers photos to the bulletin board over my desk. But the new office comes with a multitude of windows. Either I need a stepladder to tack the images over the window or tape them to the window itself.
It doesn't matter though. I'm looking forward to diving back into this world!
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