Part 1 of 3 2
OK, so maybe I spoke too soon.
Remember a year and a half ago, I claimed that my 2nd novel, Day of Epiphany, was complete and ready to be unleashed upon the world? Yeah, that may have been premature. After being expertly ignored by everyone I submitted to over the better part of a year, I went back to the manuscript thinking I could self-edit the thing into shape. Instead, I spent months of what can only be described as glorified tweaking. Eventually even I could tell the changes were largely cosmetic, so I decided it was time to hand my precious baby over to an editor. The first person I contacted didn’t have time for a full blown edit, but was happy to provide me with an “editorial evaluation.” I figured I’d get a decent idea of what kind of state the manuscript was in, and the price was right, so why not? The results were… disappointing. Somehow, the evaluator didn’t “get” the book. In fact, given how much of the plot seemingly went over their head, I was left to wonder if they had read the novel at all. Back to the drawing board.
Meanwhile, amid all the waiting and tweaking, I dusted off my graphic designer hat and set about designing the cover. Finding the right image was going to be challenge. Day of Epiphany has a fairly broad narrative scope, and the cover art would have to communicate a lot of things without being convoluted. In addition to being an arresting image in its own right, I wanted it to strike a delicate balance between darkness and hope, to suggest some form of institutional setting—church, school or hospital—that was not too modern (the novel is set in the 1950s), and include a religious or ecclesiastical element if possible. Piece of cake, right?
After untold hours, I ended up finding the perfect photo on Adobe Stock. It checks all the boxes, and it’s an eye-grabber to boot. A slightly altered version of it will adorn the back cover, and this has been recently teased on social media. In case you missed it, here it is!
(stay tuned for Part 2)
So I wrote this novel... 