Did you think I had forgotten to update you on my next book?

Since my April 25th post where I let you know the book was no longer under contract I’ve been rereading the manuscript and preparing to send it to my editor. I hope to have it ready for them by the end of next week.

I’ve also been working on a face for the book! I had started a cover idea a few years ago while I was still writing the book. I always do that because it’s a fun way to do something else creatively while working on pounding out the story.  It also gives your work a face to look at and can help you with developing the story. You can “see” your book through the readers’ eyes, or at least the first impression of it.  And first impressions are everything!

That first cover idea involved bright splashes of paint, paint brushes, a fountain, and a pigeon. Yes, a pigeon.  Since Feeling Himself Forgotten tells the story of Auden, and Auden is an artist, I wanted the cover to really convey his personality. The fountain and the pigeon were to pay homage to Stealing Wishes. If you read it, you know how much Blaine loved the downtown park with the fountain in the middle and the pigeons all around.  But this cover concept was abandoned by the time I finished the book and it was under contract with the publisher.

I opened that file a few days ago though for the first time in two years and decided it wasn’t what I wanted at all. So I started on a completely new idea that had a more somber tone to it. No paint. No brushes. No fountain.  And no pigeon either. It was good but again, not what I really wanted.  I decided I wanted something a bit more theatrical – the reason being is Tennessee Williams himself plays an important part in the story! In fact, he’s a character in the book.  Well, his ghost is! I even thought about putting TW on the cover, but none of the photos I like of him are available for use.

And then I found the artwork you see above and fell in love with it.  I love the mood it conveys.  It could be TW or TW’s ghost or it could be Auden.  So I started toying around with ideas using the photograph and pretty soon I had the cover I knew I wanted. So here we are!  What do you think?