That’s right, the countdown begins… after 1, 2 slightly oddly mysterious Sunday posts, we begin… THE countdown to my next novel release!!!

Mama, can I get another amen?

(The countdown would have started with 4 yesterday… but, for whatever reason, I mistakingly thought my own book’s release date was a day earlier than it actually it and had to move the 3, 2, 1 posts back a day and skip 4 because of that mistake… oops, but totally something I would do.)

Oh, gosh, I can’t believe this is already happening again and I’m so thrilled to share this next big piece of work with y’all on Friday! Until then, though… I thought I could share some little tidbits and ‘fun facts’ on our remaining (or… beginning) countdown days!

So, here’s what I think I’ll share today…

Um… 

Isn’t that cover art just amazing?

Well, if you think so, then you can read the next part. If you think it’s absolute trash, though… feel free to skip it, haha.

Fun fact #1… I actually designed and painted this cover entirely myself.

I really don’t want to boast or anything, but I’m very proud of the work I put into this cover. It was my first time really painting certain things without a one true-to-reality reference picture; the IV bag/stand was painted based on a stock photo (well, ya’d catch me eventually…), the shadow sort of from an outlined picture of myself, and the background and shadow reflection completely from my brain. So, I mean, I did use reference photos because I’d be lost without them… but, I also didn’t just copy the whole thing from some other photo that looks just like this. And, for my first time working without the basis of an HD photograph, I think I made out pretty dang well.

Now, after the painting part was all done and over with… I had to transfer it onto my computer, which made it look quite a bit less-than-okay with the phone camera I used to snap it with. I mean, the thing really does look good in person; it’s just that the lens really dimmed the colors and textures. So, I had to do quite a bit of knock-off photoshop editing to it before it felt acceptable for all of the world’s internet users to look at. And then, lastly… there were the fonts.

So, I guess, fun fact #2… I spent over 90 minutes just trying to pick the right cover fonts.

And I’m still not even sure I agree with the sans serif…

But, anyway, I think we’ll leave it at that for today. Come back tomorrow for more insights on my brand new novel, like… what is it even about?

Let me know how excited you are/will be for this grand release!

-iKari