Book Cover & New Writing

Greetings!  I hope all is well with you.

Me, I’m trying to come up with good ideas for my book cover.  I always liked my police lineup, but I think we may go in a different direction.  As long as the cover keeps the principals that I want to have for the entire product, I’m okay with changing it.  I do think the police lineup makes my book look like nothing else on the shelves.  There is a great deal of mystery and simplicity to the cover.  It will grab your attention, and after reading a few chapters, you have the chance to take another look at the cover to see which character is which.

Also, when I think about the writing on the back cover, I know that part does not tell you much about the book.  It is asking the reader to be trusting of the main character.  It is asking the reader to begin developing a relationship with the reader.  I think both are able to capture the attention of the reader.

I started MAG part 2 on December 6^th.  Yeah, I probably shouldn’t be brainstorming on another book that won’t come out for 2.5 - 5 years, but I can’t control it.  While I have these ideas, I figure I better get them down and have something to come back to when I have more time.  Maybe this summer will give me a chance to finish what I start right now.

Why MAG 2?  Wasn’t I writing Matters of Marriage for Wrinkles Wallace?  Didn’t I already get a few guilty pages written in that?  Well, I’m working on Memoirs with my students and I have new characters that I want to develop for MAG 2.   The memoirs helps me to describe memories of a character that I’m not really familiar with.  Yeah the story is fictional, but memories of events in the story are what gives it the realistic vibe that kids need.

 When I wrote MAG, I took a lot of time and wrote about characters in the book that Alexander would encounter.  I wasn’t aware of how or if I was going to use them, but I wanted to at least bring them to life and have them ready if needed.  I’m doing the same thing with MAG 2.  Not to mention, after writing three Wrinkles Wallace Series books in a row, I’m ready to dive back into developing Alexander’s series.  I feel like I need to shift my focus and take a break because Wrinkles will be on my brain for quite some time.

Also, part of me is wondering why I haven’t sat down with my sketch pad and started plotting the direction of each text.  Again, I feel like I’m sneaking and writing.  I just don’t have the time to do it and the quick thirty minutes could probably be spent doing something else.  So, plotting on the sketch pad would push me to spend more time I don’t have writing in books that won’t come out until 2014 or 2016. 

Plus, shouldn’t I be working on making sure Wrinkles Wallace: Knights of Night School is ready to go?  Yeah, but… Well, I don’t have an excuse.  I just feel like writing in other books.

Lastly, I finished reading a recent draft of WWKNS to the students in my class.  The feedback was great.  A few other co-workers have requested some stuff for their students to hear/read.  I’ll be sending them off a draft to gather more feedback from students.

Thanks for reading.

STEADY!