by Roseanna White | Jan 12, 2017 | Cover Designs
I’m up to my eyeballs in galleys for A Name Unknown right now, so I can’t spend much time on the ol’ blog this week. But I did want to check in real quick. So I thought I’d do a quick share of the covers I created last week.
WhiteFire just acquired some of Melody Carlson’s backlist contemporary titles–all previously published, but we’re giving them a fresh new look. I’ve had fun repackaging these MC classics, and since the first batch of them are processing and will be available today/tomorrow (I’ll update with links later), I figured it would be cool to share!
I tackled them in an, ahem, amazingly brilliant order. Alphabetical. 😉 So here they are in that same order.
First up is actually the most recent of the books, Armando’s Treasure
Dora Chase is an eighty-year-old widow whose
family finds her frustratingly independent. Her son no longer trusts her
judgment and constantly pressures her to sell her rural home and rundown farm
to a huge computer firm.
When a young stranger shows up, Dora is
suspicious, but before long Armando Garcia wins her trust. And Armando supports
Dora’s independence, causing the conflict within her bickering family to
escalate. Dora’s son abhors Armando’s interference and is determined to send
him away. He suspects the charming young man is running from something or
someone. And he’s not far from wrong.
The unlikely friendship that grows between the
elderly widow and the young man with a past leads them both on a journey toward
hope, healing and forgiveness.
Going on that description and the previous covers, both of which had a classic Chevy truck in blue and some sunflowers…
I came up with this.
Melody approved, so it was on to the next, Built with Love, which had been originally published as Wise Man’s House.
For a young widow, the stone mansion she once
dreamed of owning, offers the promise of a new beginning.
After the death of her husband, Kestra returns
to her hometown of Port Star. With the purchase of her childhood dream house—a
stone mansion along the rocky Oregon coast—it appears she has found a way to
rebuild her life.
Kestra begins to transform the old house into an
elegant, yet charming restaurant. But as the renovations begin, a mysterious stranger
moves into her caretaker’s cottage—and eventually into her heart.
Suddenly life is full of promise and new opportunities,
until a contractor’s jealousy threatens Kestra’s new romance.
The opening of this one had some nice mood to it that I wanted to capture. So again, armed with the blurb, my glance at the first pages, and these previous covers…
I came up with this.
My original had a larger house–I apparently think in East Coast terms, LOL–but after some minor tweaking anyway… 😉
Next up is Heartland Skies.
Jayne
Morgan has a lot to learn about love. Harris McAllister has a lot to learn
about tolerance. When they meet they have lots to teach each other.
Jayne
feels betrayed when her fiancé suddenly
dumps her for his high school sweetheart just weeks before the wedding. She’d
love to leave Paradise, Oregon, but she’s signed a teaching contract and the
kids in her classroom need her.
This one was Xoe’s favorite–because HORSES. 😉 I had the saddle wrong in my first attempt, not realizing she rode English instead of Western, but after a bit of tweaking, we went from these…
to this:
The next one is a bit different. Looking for Cassandra Jane is a coming-of-age story set in the 60s and 70s. So I wanted it to have a different sort of look to capture that young feel, and also the era.
Cassanda Maxwell has had a life filled with
pain. Her mother died too young, her father is an abusive alcoholic, and she’s
a misfit everywhere she goes.
After being shuttled between various foster
homes, Cass struggles to find her identity and finds herself caught up with
Scott Jones (aka “Sky”) and his group of friends who start a Jesus commune in
California. But before long, the group is more interested in pot and sex than
they are spiritual growth.
Once again, Cass finds herself trapped in
unhappiness—and she longs for escape.
Will Cass find the life and love she craves on a
California commune—with the charismatic Sky and his followers? Or
can she fulfill her dreams—and find her real future—with her childhood
friend Joey?
I quite liked the original cover–the distressed feel of it and the girl hanging her head.
I didn’t imitate it exactly by any means, but that’s what I kept in mind as I hunted up photos. I was afraid Melody and her agent wouldn’t get my vision with the big script font, LOL, but they both loved this.
Then we had Shades of Light. I read a few chapters of this one as I prepared myself to design it and was quite enjoying the theme of light–physical and metaphorical.
First there are shades of sorrow, then shades of
hope. Will Gwen find shades of light?
When her only child leaves home for college,
widowed Gwen Sullivan discovers just how lonely an “empty nest” can be. How
will she adjust and fill her empty days?
At the urging of friends, Gwen takes a job with
an interior designer—whom she soon discovers to be domineering and jealous of
Gwen’s creativity. Suddenly she’s stuck doing menial tasks. When a sleazy client
starts to harass her, Gwen begins to wonder if she’s cut out for the working
world.
She eventually meets Oliver Black, who gives her
an opportunity to use her decorating skills, and suddenly Gwen sees herself in
a more confident light. But Oliver is a man of many secrets, and Gwen wonders
if she can trust her heart to him.
Light is crucial to the main character, so I wanted a cover where she’s bathed in it. I found a model of the right age at a window, inserted a Pacific Northwest background (very faintly), and voila.
Melody loved the expression on her face here, so we had a winner!
And finally, the one with the absolute best setting. 😉 Previously titled Awakening Heart, we retitled this one with Melody’s original working title, Thursday’s Child.
Emma has always been “the practical one” in the
family. But that is about to change as she embarks on the adventure of her
life.
Emma Davis wants a new life now that she no
longer needs to care for her grandmother. A spur-of-the-moment visit to a
travel agency sets her on a journey far from her Iowa home.
Emma takes a cruise to the far islands of the
Pacific, but it isn’t until she arrives in Papua, New Guinea, that she begins
to realize her true calling. Emma regains her sense of purpose by caring for
three motherless children and befriending their father, Josh Daniels.
Josh’s troubled pass and
the loss of his wife have left him vulnerable, but can the love Emma has
discovered in her own heart, awaken his heart to all Emma has to offer?
But I wanted to capture that gorgeous setting!
So there we have it! I still have four more covers to design for a series from Melody that we’ll be re-releasing, but that will have to wait until after galleys. Speaking of which . . . BYE!
by Roseanna White | Jan 9, 2017 | Word of the Week
Last weekend, my daughter asked where the word Bible came from. I had an idea but wasn’t 100% sure I was right so looked it up–and indeed found my impression was correct.
Bible is a rather ancient word, meaning “the Bible or any large book” back in the medieval days. I know that in many romance languages, the word for book still has bibl- in it somewhere, so this was no surprise to me. It comes most directly to English from Latin, via French, but the Latin word is actually straight from the Greek. Biblion is any ordinary scroll or book. They called the Holy Bible, ta biblio to hagia at first, though the term for the Christian scriptures had been shorted to ta biblio in Greek as early as 223!
The Greek is thought to perhaps have come from Byblos, a Phoenician port from which Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece.
So for many hundreds of years, the English form Bible meant only the Holy Scriptures; it was then expanded again figuratively to mean “any authoritative work” around 1800.
by Roseanna White | Jan 2, 2017 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Word of the Week
I’d been praying for a word for 2017, as I usually do. Most of the time God will give me one when I ask, but there have been years when nothing has stood out. I had a feeling, as I prayed over the last few days, that this was going to be a no-word year.
But then yesterday, as my dad preached at a local nursing home, he read this verse:
“…These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:33
The word “overcome” practically leaped out at me. I knew I had a word–what I’m still not sure of is if it’s for me, or for me to give. We shall see, on that one. But regardless, it’s a word that we all need reminded of, isn’t it?
In the Message version, that verse reads like this:
“…I’ve told you
all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured,
deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience
difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
I think the word “conquer” is even stronger than “overcome”–to my mind, at least, it doesn’t just mean being the victor over what comes upon you, but actively engaging in a battle that we win. That, my friends, is what the Church needs to do in this world!
I don’t want to just paste the whole section from John in here, as it’s a little long, but some context is actually really illuminating. Jesus had just told them that he’d be leaving, they’d be sorrowful, but that then he’d be back and their sorrow would turn to Joy. Then He says:
24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your Joy may be full . . . . 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
This part really struck me as I read it. We all know the verse: you don’t have because you don’t ask. But 26 is pretty amazing too. Here, Jesus is saying that when we ask in His name, it isn’t that He’s beseeching the Father on our behalf. It’s that, because we believe in Him, God will answer us. How amazing is that?
I don’t know what trials and tribulations will come upon any of us in 2017. There will be some–there always are. Individual ones, and ones that strike the Church, the country, the whole world. I don’t know what this word might pertain to in particular. But I do know this.
He has overcome. He has conquered. And because of that, when we ask in His name–if we ask in His name–we will conquer too.
by Roseanna White | Dec 30, 2016 | Thoughtful Thursdays
It’s that time of year again. The calendar says there’s only one more day left in the old year. Facebook keeps trying to show me my year in review. Friends on there are all posting about hopes for 2017, fresh starts, saying farewell to the old.
I’ve always loved to take a look back at the year that has just passed round about now. To reflect on any promises I made myself, or which God has made to me.
In 2016, when I prayed for a word to dwell on for the year, God gave me this:
It isn’t the kind of word that issues me a big challenge–it isn’t a reminder, really, of what He wants me to do. What it is is a reminder of who I ultimately am–His. A reminder that has carried me through what has been, all in all, a pretty amazing year.
In my personal life, it’s been a year of fun with my kids. There was the usual homeschooling, of course. Learning together, laughing together. We traveled a good bit with them, taking them to Niagara Falls for the Fourth of July (because nothing says American Independence Day like going to Canada for fireworks, LOL) and then to Europe in September.
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| Photo Xoe took from the base of the Eiffel Tower–which now adorns our walls. |
I got to see my daughter’s face light up when she saw the Eiffel Tower. I got to watch my son jump from rock to rock at Land’s End in Cornwall. I had the Joy of actually finding some books that my reluctant-reader son wanted to read–and watch my little girl, who is growing up so fast, create some beautiful art that just amazes me.
David and I celebrated our 15th anniversary this year (hence the trip to Europe). Pretty cool to look back and be able to say, with some credibility now, LOL, that no, we weren’t too young. We knew exactly what we were getting into. I don’t have a moment’s regret that I married that man when we were both 18. I just have exceeding Joy that we’ve already had so many years together, and that God blessed us so much by leading us to each other so early in life. Another “mine” that I am so happy to claim.
And professionally . . . it’s been quite a year.
I signed my second contract for a series with Bethany House. Can’t wait for my “thief books” to come to life in 2017! I have second round edits coming on A Name Unknown next week, I’ll turn in A Song Unheard a week after they arrive, and I’m ready to start writing An Hour Unspent as soon as my synopsis is approved.
I got the news that The Lost Heiress was a finalist in the Christy Awards. As someone who struggles with pride and so has sworn of any award I have to enter myself, this came as a shock and a Joy I never expected. I have never won a writing award. And while I didn’t win this year either, I honestly didn’t even care. It was such an honor to be a finalist, beside some of my favorite authors. That’s a wow I’m going to carry with me forever.
I got to visit my publishing house in Minnesota and see behind-the-scenes there, which was just awesome. I felt so authorly, LOL.
I got my first royalty checks from a publisher other than Whitefire–from two of the publishers I’ve worked with, actually. So great to actually earn out an advance!
I made the CBA bestseller list with The Lost Heiress just last month. Sure, only because it had been on sale, LOL, but STILL! I can now claim to be a bestselling author.
And I had three titles release in 2016, which I think is a record for me. The Reluctant Duchess and A Lady Unrivaled from Bethany House, and Giver of Wonders from WhiteFire.
All in all, I’m pretty darn amazed at what God has done for me. Yes, there have been sorrows too–my husband’s grandfather passed away, good friends have had trials, and don’t get me started on the mess of the political season. But through every grief and disappointment, every fear and question, I had a resting place.
Because I am His, and He is mine.
I’m looking forward to the year ahead. I’m praying for a word from the Lord to be my word for the year. I’m anxious to see where He’s going to take us and what we’re going to do. And mostly, I’m just so amazed at this life He’s given me. One filled with family. One blessed by love. And one in which I actually get to do the things I love–writing, designing, teaching my kids.
Thank you, Lord, for another good year. Thank you for always being my Daddy-God. Thank you for claiming me as Your own.
Here’s to 2016–may the year ahead be one that draws us ever closer to Him!
by Roseanna White | Dec 21, 2016 | Holidays
With Christmas less than a week away, I figure no one has much time for blog reading anyway. 😉 So this will be my last post this week. We’ll reconvene next week to reflect on 2016 and look forward to 2017.
What will I be working on in the coming week?
Well, aside from eating cookies and peanut clusters–and Cornish pasties we’ve decided we’ll make for Christmas dinner–I’ll be doing some design work, finishing the scarf I’m working on for my grandmother (by Friday, if all goes according to schedule).
And then I’ll be settling down to work on something for YOU.
In the new year, as early as I can manage it, LOL, I’ll be sending out a free bonus story to all newsletter subscribers. Existing subscribers will get a newsletter with the links, and new subscribers will get it as a welcome email. Thanks so much to all of you who took my one-question survey about what story you’d like to see! The masses were pretty evenly divided between wanting Lizzie and Whit’s story (parents of Brook from The Lost Heiress) and something completely new. So if I get a brainstorm for an original in the next few days, awesome–otherwise, I’ll get back to work on His Baroness, which I started a year ago, LOL. (Newsletter sign-up is here.)
I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas, filled with the wonder of His love and sacrifice!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.