Giving birth to my book
Let's get this baby out!
Happy 2010! I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s holiday. Mike and I rang in the new year by attending the wedding of a friend and fellow Pink Ribbon Girl (my support group for young breast cancer survivors). It was especially poignant seeing this beautiful, young woman marry the man of her dreams and experience happiness after all of her trials and tribulations.
Speaking of new beginnings, at our spiritual center, they have a service in which you write a letter to yourself about what you envision for the new year. You put it in a self-addressed envelope, and it is mailed back to you at the end of the year.
Around Christmas, I received the letter back from last year. One of the things I had written for 2009 was to have my book, From Incurable to Incredible: Cancer Survivors Who Beat the Odds, published. It seems “my baby” needed more time to gestate, but it’s in my letter again, and this time it is coming true!
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and enter the world of self-publishing. I am about 3/4 done with writing it and tomorrow I’m meeting with my friend Beth Franks, an editor with years of publishing experience. I have also been working with my friend Stuart Kunkler, who has generously donated his design talent to the cover.
I am researching images and thought it would be fun to get feedback from you. I want the cover to expres the hope, strength and perseverance of the miracle survivors featured in the book. It might help if you go to the About the Book page for a description of the book’s premise.
Here’s the image: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6849150-sunflower-sunlight.php. Now picture the title in the sky and the LiveStrong logo on it. What do you think?
Judy Goltzman says:
Like it!
Debby says:
Like it, don’t love it. I think it needs something more powerful – flower growing through a rock? Something that says impossible, but there it is. Think the sunflower is a bit benign.
tamilb says:
Thanks for your comment, Deby! I did have a crocus growing in the snow, but it was really similar to another book that is a collection of cancer survivor stories which showed a plant growing through a crack in the pavement. I also had some images of a rainbow with a road in the foreground, but that seemed a little trite.
This one I thought symbolized hope – sunflowers are always reaching for the sun – and strength because they are so hardy. My editor also pointed out that the group of sunflowers could symbolize community and support and that sunflowers have purpose because of their seeds. I guess the incredible part would be the awe in seeing a field of sunflowers.
Christine says:
My immediate reaction is “that I’ve seen that somewhere before.” Maybe it is just the sunflower–although it is very bright and colorful. Can’t wait to see what you pick!
Becky says:
I like it.
My first feeling from it was as though I was laying in the grass, looking to the heavens on a beautiful day taking in the greatness of it. You know the kind of day…where the air smells clean and the birds are in the background, etc. The kind of peaceful day where you could just drift off right there in the grass. That’s the feeling I get from it. Peaceful.
I do like Debby’s comment though about something invoking the idea of something more powerful.