Blogflux directoryFlaming fall colors on the cover of Practically Shameless
Posted by Alyce Barry at 11/4/2007 11:34 AM 
Categories: Publishing, Links and resources, Living green, Shame and shamelessness, My issues, Feedback on Practically Shameless
Categories: Publishing, Links and resources, Living green, Shame and shamelessness, My issues, Feedback on Practically Shameless
It's a happy "accident" that Practically Shameless came out at just the time of year when the flaming fall colors on its cover complement the season. In the fall, I crave brilliant colors like these and, if my life is so busy that I don't get much chance to get outdoors to see the trees at full color, I always feel sad as if I've missed something important.My friend and colleague Marie-Francoise Rosat in Munich, Germany, wrote to say that the book's cover leaves her reflecting that "old leaves fall down and die so that new leaves can blossom in your life!"
Over the past few years, whenever the idea of publishing the book came up, it was the cover design that frightened me more than anything else. After reading in books on self-publishing how crucial the cover design was, I wondered how on earth I would convey to a cover designer what kind of cover would be appropriate.
Like so many other things that I worry about, the worries all came to practically nothing. When I told the cover designer, Nick Zelinger, how frightened I was of the design process, he suggested I look at some book covers and send him ones I liked. I sent him probably 10 or 15 covers, including my favorites among the covers he'd designed.
As I looked for covers I liked, it came to me that I wanted the cover to convey something of the feeling at the book's conclusion, the feeling of contentment while sitting on a riverbank.
I began looking at photos of riverbanks, and specifically of trees on riverbanks, at websites that sell stock photos. And it came to me that the color of my favorite autumn tree -- the sugar maple -- that flame-red-orange color, for me is the color of shame -- like a hot blush on my face when I feel bad about myself. At the same time, it's the color of the full glory of autumn, when late in life, after we've done much to transform ourselves, our true inner beauty blazes out for all to see.
I began looking for photos of sugar maples in autumn, and I sent Nick a few samples, but none was the right size or shape. It was Nick who found the photo he eventually used, and it was my favorite of the first 4 designs he sent me.
Sugar maples have always been my favorite trees in the fall. There aren't very many of them in Colorado, or rather, most of them don't get that red in Colorado because there's less moisture here.
Here there are many linden trees, though, which are nearly as beautiful, with their burgundy leaves on the outside and golden leaves inside near the trunk, so that they look like lamps lit from within. Longmont, the town I live in, has many lindens lining its streets, and I drink in their colors as I drive by.
Your musings about fall colors remind me how much I miss the fall in Ohio, where the colors are glorious. I remember my curiosity while building my home in the woods, when I kept seeing bright red leaves dotting the landscape during the summer! It was like finding a jewel on the ground and I couldn't see where they were coming from. None of the trees appeared to have bright red leaves. I never figured out what they were.
The cover of your book is beautiful, and beckons me to keep reading!
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