Friday, August 26, 2011

Not Fun, Not Funny

It has been a very tough month for us financially. Between cat, truck and then car trouble, we're almost four thousand dollars in the hole. That is a tough thing to take and it happened so fast! One minute we're okay, next minute we're teetering on the brink of financial ruin. Hey, listen, we all go through it. It's part of being an adult and I still insist that we are lucky because health issues are behind us for now. The Husband and I both had some major health scares in the past and believe me, a little debt just does not compare. I've always been poor! I ain't even mad, bro!

So I remain stubbornly, willfully, hopefully not stupidly cheerful, despite the hemorrhaging of money.

We are still on track to announce the website going live on September 1st. We're really excited for it--it looks cool! This is our first major initiative to get the books in hands and we have our fingers crossed. I think that with our hard work and lots of help from our friends...maybe we can climb back out of the hole?

Fingers crossed, but not for long...I have some writing to do.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Story

So, my boss at my daytime job did this incredibly nice thing: he bought a copy of Faith Creation for everyone in the department! Awesome, right? I mean, what a cool thing to do. (I tried to convince him to give out copies of Messages on Halloween, but so far, he isn't buying it...I'm a terrible salesperson.)

But, anyway, a lot of people seemed curious as to what had prompted me to write a novel so I thought I would nutshell it on here.

It all started with Kindergarten (don't worry, there will be big leaps in time, you're not in this for the long haul). I almost got kicked out for talking, did I ever tell you that? Everyone who knows me peripherally now will probably be surprised because I am the polar opposite of that chatty (and somewhat oblivious) little girl. I stopped talking because I got in trouble for it.

Fast forward to high school where I was (very quietly) taking extra english classes, one of which was creative writing and I loved it! Loved creative writing! But then one day I received a really scathing comment from the teacher on one of my 'stories' and guess what? I put the pen down. And didn't pick it up again for about thirty years.

I mean, that's effing sad, isn't it? But I was a kid. I didn't know.

Okay, so, jump ahead to last year. I'd tried drawing and painting and piano, none of which were particularly enjoyable, so then, after gathering my courage, I took a creative writing course. My wonderful instructor, Season Harper-Fox, told me I should put my short stories out for publication and I did and within six months, five had been accepted for publication. Which was kind of amazing.

So then I decided to tackle a novel. It was an idea I'd been mentally kicking around for a few years and it all just kind of poured out onto the page. And then I wrote another one. Then another. And now I'm on my fourth. Crazy, right?

So there it is. That's what happened. After a thirty year (or so) derailment, I'm back with the pen and blabbermouthing like a madwoman.

One other thing: the official christinedoughertybooks website won't be up for a couple of weeks yet, but in the meantime...check this out!




Tuesday, August 9, 2011

There Will Be Blood (or at least, vicious arguing)

Okay, by now you all know we are lauching the website on September 1st, God willing and the creeks don't rise. Here's the dealio: the Husband and I are wrangling over the best way to tease the release of "The Devil Stood Up". ONE of us wants a tasteful, typeset block:


While the OTHER ONE of us wants some crazy Devil eyes from Fotolia.com (good site, btw):


Please weigh in before we go WWF all over eachother. Believe me...I am up for the challenge.
COMMENT AND VOTE!
You'll get to see who WINS on September 1st!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Hey, I'm tryin'a DO somethin over heah!

Sundays are pretty good housekeeping days, I think, and that's pretty much what my blog is today: odds, ends, loose strings, lint on the carpet...you get the idea.

First review for Faith Creation is in on Amazon!
5 STARS
"This thriller did exactly what a thriller should do: my stomach was in knots and I couldn't put the story down until I found out what happened to the characters! The story is well constructed and full of enticing foreshadowing and intrigue. This was my very first Kindle download, and I'm hooked! Hooked on Kindle and this author's work! I can't wait to read more."

It's really gratifying, I have to say. It's hard work, writing a book, but the harder part is putting it out there for everyone to read; I'm pretty shy by nature.

It's looking like the new website, http://www.christinedoughertybooks.com/, will be live on September 1st. We're excited for it. In the meantime, if you're of a mind, follow the links on the right for the Amazon versions of the books. Do me a favor and leave me a review!

Last thing: Welcome to anyone who finds me via The Trentonian! I'm happy to be aboard their blogger page.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Indie to Indie

There is a ton of information our there for indie authors about writing and publishing but very little, it seems to me, on design. Since I have been a graphic artist for a very long time, I thought it might be ideal to help the indie community at large by offering a critique on book covers. So, I put the offer out there.

Welcome, Donna White Glaser, the first to step bravely forward with The Enemy We Know.

I am going to post Donna's cover with a link to her book on Amazon and then the critique. In Donna's case, I also did a quick 'after' based on the suggestions.



Overall, the photography and typesetting have an unprofessional feel. I know that can be hard to hear, but here is what I would suggest to tighten it up.

You are draining the strength of your title: it has odd leading, in other words, there is too much space from the bottom of the first line to the top of the next, especially considering the uneven space above and below in the transparent blue block. Your headline is not holding together as a unit. It is also not centered correctly from left to right. Tighten the space between the lines and center it both up and down and side to side.

Your name is set oddly--not sure if it is supposed to be centered or not, but if not, then it should be more off centered or flushed right entirely, not somewhere in between centered and flushed right (where all words line up on the right hand edge)--it looks like a mistake.

I like the branding you are doing with the circle and triangle if this is a series, it is however much too big. If it is not part of a series, I would lose the circle/triangle entirely--just work the words in as a subhead.

The image is doing you a grave disservice. If that is the only image you have access to, I would suggest shadowing and fading to try and obscure it further--sometimes it is better to leave something to the imagination.

Is the book set in history? The calligraphy would suggest so. If yes, then I might disagree with your red, white, and blue color scheme. Blue tends to be calming and modern--neither of which I might think you'd want for your cover.

After:


 
The most important things were minimizing and 'disguising' the image a bit. I made it black and white (except for the blade) and put a grainy screen on it to give it a grittier look. Then I screened a gradient over the majority of it to bring out the blade and the word 'bloody'. I changed your blue to something with a bit more gray, making it more neutral to get away from the red, white and blue. I retypeset your name and the title and changed the size of your 12 step symbol. The symbol is a strong one and doesn't need to be large to be readily identifiable to a consumer. Then I added some swagger by giving the title a metallised look--that one is subjective, though, you might not feel your book needs it!

I want to thank Donna for submitting her cover. I know critiques can be nerve-wracking, but as Donna said in her email: Anything that can make my book as a whole better is heartening.

Link to Donna's book, should the above link not work:
http://www.amazon.com/Enemy-We-Know-Whittaker-Mystery/dp/1461098378/