The cover is coming! The cover is coming!

"Publishing a book takes too long for an author and not long enough for a publisher."

Jennifer Silva Redmond told me that, and after self-publishing five books, I agree. My little author's foot is tapping while I check my watch and wonder why my book isn't out there yet. In the meantime, my inner publisher is looking at the calendar and asking herself why she promised ARCs at the end of February when the end of March would have given her so much more wiggle room.

The pieces are finally beginning to knit into their final tapestry. Lynne Glazer, the photographer I can never praise enough, got me all the pictures last night that I might use for the book. "Might?" I hear you say. Yes, you heard correctly.

I work with a wonderful cover designer, Joe Felipe of Market Me. All of my covers have so far been a collaboration - I give him some key images that define the book and he gives me three sample covers. I take the one I like best and we hone that one until it best represents the story I'm trying to tell (at least, in my opinion).

But this cover will be different, in that it will have a photo on it. No playing with images. Just Snoopy. So I thought giving him more than one pic would keep him from being locked in with a photo that he may or may not be able to work with.

These are the two photos I chose for the cover.

They show Snoopy looking at the camera, plus a nice shot of his broken leg, and I think that they will translate in thumbnail as being a horse instead of a weird blob.

For the back cover, I also gave two options. If I don't use the one of me and Snoopy on the back, I'll certainly use it on the "About the Author" page.

I love that he has the lead rope in his mouth. It's so Snoopy.

Hopefully, I'll have a cover to show you soon. And ARCs to hand out. I just have to keep Author Me in check while Publisher Me does her job.

P.S. This is my favorite photo of the whole shoot. I've got to find a way to use it. I just don't know where yet.