The Ongoing Cover Rag

Well, this isn't actually a rag. I like this cover, on the whole. My first reaction was that I couldn't decide whether he looked like Jon Stewart--or a homeless person. And what is with her dress? It's too big and it kind of looks like a cheap evening dress. In the middle of the afternoon in a tree-shaded park? Maybe they're both homeless...

But then, well, I sent it to my dear friend Susan Crosby She liked it and told me why. That the heroine looks adorable and the hero actually kind of looks like Harry Connick, Jr.--whom Susan really likes a lot. And then I realized she is adorable. And she looks a little like Kate Hudson, who was my image of her. And he's...not so bad. I mean, he looks like a grown man instead of somebody's shaved-chest boy toy. And he has amazing, big hands.

I really like big hands on a man.

So now, I'm good with it. I even like it. And I think it's perfectly targeted for the SSE reader--meaning it's romantic and sweetly emotional.

You think?

So Here I Am...

...Starting a book again. I think there's a pattern here. But I know, I know. I've mentioned that before.

I've got my character images up on my inspiration board. I've got the calendar up that shows when important story events take place. I've ordered a book about raising barnyard animals--because, you know. My heroine keeps goats. A book on barnyard animals could come in handy.

Like the two tour books I already got for Austin and San Antonio. Yep. Books on the setting. So important.

I also bought a gorgeous cofee-table book on modern ranching in Texas. Great black and white photos of craggy-looking people who really should moisturize more often. Oh, and a book on raising beef cattle. If you're writing about Texas, you never know when you might need one of those. There's a huge section on calving, with pictures. Really. You don't want to see what it looks like when a cow gives birth. Or to help. People have probably lost hands and arms doing that.

I doubt I'll have any calves delivered in this series of books I'm doing set in South Texas. The book with the rancher hero and the large-animal vet heroine takes place in August and the fall. Not a lot calving in South Texas in the fall.

But I do feel...prepared, you know? Or at least, as prepared as I ever am to start.

Now I get to just do it. Start. Very scary. But starting leads to the grand adventure of writing the whole book. Not complaining.

Oh, and about that ice storm damaged tree in the front yard. Here she is.

I'm thinking in a couple of years she'll be lookin' good. Or at least better...

And back to books, I'm reading Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey, an amazing loooonng and complex fantasy novel. There's a four-page list of characters in the front. I have to keep referring to it to know who they're talking about. And the plot is...intricate, to say the least. But I'm in love with the heroine, Phedre, so I keep plugging. I highly recommend it if you like fantasy and don't mind working hard for your entertainment reading. Oh, and also, Phedre is a an anguisette. Sort of a prostitute into Bondage and Discipline. But not a prostitute, really. In this world, sex is an art and the ones who provide it are true artists called adepts. But if this element is a turnoff, heads up.

Any good books to recommend?