The Messy Creative Process

Whoever thinks creativity is clean, precise, and linear has been misinformed. Well, let me clarify… whoever thinks MY creativity is clean, precise, and linear has been misinformed. There. That’s better.

My creative process is an organic meanderthon. No, meanderthon isn’t a word, but I declare it one now. It works in this context.

Meanderthon. Going where the art takes one. Wherever. Whenever. Whyever. There I go again, making up words. Oh, well. My blog, my rules.

If you’ve followed the pre-publish process of Nom de Plume, you’re quite aware a total of four, yes, count ’em, four covers have been used to represent the book. Or was it five? Oh, dear… Well, you can blame it on 2020. That’s right. 2020 is the new scapegoat for everything that goes awry.

No, no… actually, blame it on me. I have a hand in every process of my books, and the truth is, I just couldn’t commit to a cover. Each one was “the one,” I thought so, anyway, until it wasn’t. Then, each time the love faded, I demanded a redesign. Yes, I can be somewhat of a tyrant when it comes to getting stuff right. Especially my stuff. Because it’s about getting it right, isn’t it. Sadly, sometimes I can’t tell if it’s not exactly right until I actually put it out there. You can’t begin to imagine the horror I feel when I realize I’ve put something “not right” for the whole world to see. It’s not an experience I enjoy.

The saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” came about because that’s exactly what people do. You can’t stop them, and they can’t help it. Honestly, I think it’s innate—baked in the cake, so to speak. It keeps me up at night worrying that the cover itself might kill even one person’s interest in my book.

So, in case all these cover changes have left you unsettled, confused or annoyed, please, let me apologize for the schizophrenic cover debacle. And, let me apologize ahead of time just in case you wake up one day and find the cover has changed once again. It might happen, so… Blame me. It’s okay. I do. I will. Join the club—there’s always room for one more.

But, I do think we’ve got it right this time. Fingers crossed, eh?

Have an opinion? Please feel free to share.

In the meantime, Nom de Plume is available now for sale in paperback, and available for pre-sale in digital formats.