An Exercise in Cover Design by Alison Henderson

You've all been such a valuable and cherished source of support for me over the years, it seems only fitting that I should be asking for your help once again in my final regular post for the Roses of Prose. I may have mentioned I've started re-working a story I began a few years ago after finishing Unwritten Rules. It's going well, so I decided to start working on concepts for the cover design. I'm aiming for a June 2019 publication date, but having a cover I love always inspires me to keep going when the writing bogs down, as it inevitably does. Also, I like to live with the design for a few months and keep tinkering with it until I've got it just right.

To that end, I've come up with five preliminary cover concepts, and I'd love your gut reactions to them. The story is a romantic suspense (not sure how those elements will balance out yet) set in Big Sur and Carmel. There's a murder, money-laundering Russians, and a couple of humorous, meth-dealing bikers. It may turn out to be darker than my last series but not bite-your-nails-and-hide-in-the-closet dark. In addition, my heroine is a kinetic sculptor who has come home to escape an abusive relationship and find her true self through her art, so there will be personal growth, transformation and hope. Not much of a tall order, is it? lol

At this point, I want the cover to convey a strong sense of place and the impression that something interesting is going to happen here. I want something that will make readers click on the cover to learn more.

Three of the mock-ups include images of the Bixby Bridge, and two are of the Big Sur coastline. The bridge images convey more of a sense of mystery or suspense, and the crashing waves tie in more with the title and the heroine's wind sculpture. I'll decide which way to go once I have more of the book written and have a better feel for the final tone. For that reason, it would be really helpful if you treated this like a Chinese restaurant menu and chose one from column A and one from column B. But please, if you hate them all, please say so! 

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Thanks so much for your help!

Alison

https://www.alisonhenderson.com

What I Know So Far by Alison Henderson

I'm at that most wonderful/horrible point in the writing process--plotting and planning the first book in a new series. Possibilities abound. Yikes! Possibilities abound!! 

Who are these people, and what will they get up to? Those are the questions. My head is spinning. I've got a fun crescendo of events lined up for the first half of the book, and I know the exciting conclusion, but ugh, that third quarter. At the moment, it's a black hole. And I'd like to figure most of it out during the next two weeks because, while I don't do NaNoWriMo, I do belong to a wonderful group of supportive authors who promise to urge each other on during the month of November. Since OG and I are currently in Chicago working on PO&O's new condo AGAIN, I don't have much thinking time.

Here's what I know so far:

• The series will be set in and around Monterey County, from Big Sur to Monterey, and feature three artist sisters--a kinetic sculptor, a raku potter, and a glass blower.
• I know all the titles and the characters' names. Yay! This is critical for me. I can't seem to start a book until I've decided on these things.
• The heroine of the first book flees her controlling, and probably criminal, fiance and comes home to Big Sur. She takes a day job in an art gallery in Carmel.
• The hero of the first book is a Minnesota-farm-boy-turned-forensic-accountant for the FBI who looks like Chris Pratt. 
• The rotten fiance come to Carmel, where he is murdered by an agent of the Russian mob, who then comes after the heroine.
• The owner of the art gallery and his antique-dealer partner are mixed up in money laundering and meth dealing as a result of their gambling-related debts to the Russian mob.
• There will be a variety of minor but hilarious incidents straight from the Pine Cone police log.

Beyond all that, who knows? LOL

Alison

https://www.alisonhenderson.com

An Unexpected Location Photo-op by Alison Henderson

As some of you know, I recently had a nasty little surprise when I decided to be a responsible homeowner and have our septic tank proactively pumped. The crew discovered the 45-year-old concrete tank was cracked and full of tree roots and had to be replaced. A few-hundred-dollar job instantly morphed into many, many thousands. I cried a little, sighed a little, forked over my deposit, and waited.

After four months, I started pestering the company and was told they were out of tanks but expected a shipment the following week. They would call to make an appointment. When the phone rang at 7:55 AM five days later, I thought they were ready to schedule. Oh, no. They would be there in an hour. Yikes! OG and I took very speedy showers and stuffed down our breakfast. Once they started digging, all the plumbing would be off-limits for the duration of the day until the new tank was installed, so we decided to take a road trip.

After a brief debate re: north vs. south, we hopped into the car and headed south down scenic Highway 1 toward Big Sur. Our plan was to have lunch at the iconic Nepenthe Restaurant. We'd driven by, but never stopped there, and it's been on my bucket list for years.

A plus to this plan was that I'm setting my next series, tentatively subtitled Cypress Coast Mysteries, in and around coastal Monterey County. Setting is very important to me, so I grabbed my camera to take a few location shots to remind me of the details. The drive took us across grassy meadows that sloped into the sea and through towering redwood forests. This photo marks the entrance to Los Padres National Forest.

In the first book, Second Wind, the heroine is a kinetic sculptor who lives next to the family's vegetarian restaurant in Big Sur. I had long thought Nepenthe would make the perfect prototype, and was I ever right! It's a glass and redwood structure situated on an oak-studded cliff with stunning views down the coast. Here's the view from our table.

On the way back, I managed to get a great shot of the iconic Bixby Bridge. Amazingly, it's almost the exact view I've been planning to use for the cover. Here's my photo:

And here's the stock photo for the cover:

Any way you look at it, it was a great way to spend what would otherwise have been a very stressful day.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com