When I was writing Country Boy vs. City Girl, I knew I wanted the cover to have a definite farm feel.
Growing up on a farm, the one thing that always says farm to me is John Deere equipment. I may have more than a passing interest in all things John Deere, quite probably because my dad is an avid collector of John Deere memorabilia.
It seemed quite fitting when we were visiting a couple months ago to shoot the cover shot there.
We shot a variety of poses, all taken on a John Deere tractor.
I narrowed down the possible cover shots to five and then this one jumped out at me.
I liked the way you could see his boot heel, the clarity of the strings, even a little thread hanging off the hem of the Wranglers.He is standing up in the tractor stepping down. She, with her hot pink decidedly girlie sandal, is climbing up to meet him.I thought this photo really spoke to what the book is about. They might be on his turf, but she is going to rise to the challenge and meet him head on.
Next was adding an art element for the title of the book. I tried all kinds of shapes – squares, circles, diamonds, hanging signs. When I found this one, I was in love. So much so that I incorporated it into my blog header.
I then needed to choose a font for the title. This one seemed perfect. It’s called Calamity Jane.
Last but not least, I needed a flourish to go beneath my name.
When I pulled all the elements together, it came out like this:
What do you think?
