Getting ready for a cover shoot!

Cover design by Angela Schiavone

I started my first novel, Metanoia, at the age of 17.  I published it in college and designed my own book cover.  Today, I use it in my speeches as an example of what NOT to do.  On its own, the cover is fine.  It has a good image and the title and author name are clearly visible (though they could be more-so).  Where the cover is found lacking is the promise it gives readers.  Metanoia is about adventure and has lots of sword-fighting and battle scenes.  So, as I’ve been promising, I’m doing a re-design.  This time around, I have a model ready to go as well as a pro photographer (James). Originally, I was just going to do an up-close shot of her face.  However, James pointed out to me that it’s best to have options – and options in this case mean costuming her to allow for wider shots.  At first, I was going to find something at Goodwill.  Then I started thinking.  If I went the cheap route, the result would be cheap looking.  I am a costume designer and seamstress.  I knew I could make the costume entirely, so I decided to just go for it.  I went to the store, got some fabric, and 2 and a half hours later had this.

Design and construction by Angela Schiavone

The sleeves are part of something I previously made (as is the quiver).  I still have some work to do (getting appropriate arrows, finding good gloves, etc), but what do you think?

Busy weekend, onto a month-long promotion!

The month-long promotion launched today. I was up until midnight getting everything ready, but it should be worth it. Already, downloads have been flowing in. I was curious as to where the book stood against the competition, so I looked up the Thriller books that are being made free in this promotion. I organized by “Highest Rated” and Covenant Deception is NUMBER ONE! So exciting!

Make sure to get your ebook copy of Covenant Deception for free this month:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/295472

This isn’t news for those in the Bay Area, but for those of you outside of this area, it was really, REALLY hot this weekend. James and I decided to organize a bike ride in Half Moon Bay (where the weather would be 20 degrees cooler). I’m not a huge bike-riding fan because I’m very clumsy, but I will admit that this was probably the most fun I’ve had on a bike ride. The trail was mostly flat, with bumpy bridges here and there. The very end of the trail was full of ruts and iffy terrain. It got a little squirrelly, but I kept upright on my bike and had fun doing it! We found some camping spots along the ride and are thinking of doing a biking camping trip coming up. My bike basket did break before the ride, so my mind is racing with creative ideas for its replacement.

James’ photography. ShootAnyAngle.com

James’ photography. ShootAnyAngle.com

On Sunday, James had to go to the city to photograph a marathon. I took the time to stay in the car, writing away on my laptop in the backseat. Once we had both finished our work, we did a little exploring and visited Fort Point. It’s really neat (and very windy!). I would love to write a novel that takes place in San Francisco. There’s a lot of unknown history there, and it would be great to just hop in the car, drive up, and be able to literally go to the places I’m writing about. It would be such a fun experience, and I’d be able to write the scenes more accurately.

James’ photography. ShootAnyAngle.com

My shot! 🙂

James’ photography. ShootAnyAngle.com

James’ photography. ShootAnyAngle.com

I’m excited to see how the promotion goes and what adventures are around the corner!

Covenant Deception: Free in July!

Yes, you read that right!

Starting July 1st, Covenant Deception will be free (yes, FREE) at Smashwords only.  The sale will go on for a full month.  I’m doing this to try to get my work in the hands of more readers and get (hopefully!) more good reviews.  I’d love it if you’d read and review!  A big part of a book’s success if word-of-mouth and reviews are a part of that.  Wish me luck!

My first ever backpacking trip!

This weekend’s post is on the “inspiration” end rather than the “creativity” end, though there was some of that too (packing all of your gear on your back definitely requires some creativity)! James is hoping to do Summit to Sea down the road, which is a 30 mile backpacking trip from (as the name suggests) the summit to the sea. I’ve never done backpacking though, so he convinced me to do a test run this weekend: 7 miles total, 30 lbs on my back. I was nervous to be sure. How could I ever carry 30 pounds and hike at the same time? Well, I’m happy to report (as if it wasn’t obvious considering I’m typing this up after the trip) that I made it! Carrying the backpack wasn’t as hard as I anticipated, but it did become problematic when we got to some treacherous sections of the trail that were more like rock climbing than hiking. Still, we’re in one piece!

Greetings from the trail head. Does someone look a little nervous? I’m terrified of the possibility of running into a cougar.

We’ve made it past the scary rock climbs. I’m impressed I did that on my first trip with that huge bag on my back (complete with a flowery neck pillow). Look at that view! Crazy to think we could be crossing that on foot for Summit to Sea down the road. Still, it reminds me of an adventure across Middle Earth to throw a ring in Mount Doom, and that is kinda appealing to me. If we do that trip, I may have to wear the one ring around my neck. 🙂 Onward to camp!

The morning. Our night wasn’t so restful. If we weren’t awake, we were dreaming of being awake. I had a dream that I got up out of the tent to go to the bathroom (which looked like the house – should have been a tip-off to me that I was dreaming), and I saw a cougar stalking me, so I started shouting and growling to scare it off. Apparently, that sound came out very loudly in my sleep around 2am. James says the sound I made was very demonic sounding and freaked him out – similar to those horror movies where the parties get possessed to take out their companions one-by-one. Whoops! Sorry, James. Sorry, fellow campers. At least we had a nice breakfast with our fancy water bottle cups.

On the trail again. Happy campers. At this point, we tried a different route back, which led to a foot-wide trail with a cliff on one side and a bolder and cables on the other. I’m not coordinated, so we turned back to find another route. It was at this moment that James’ uncle checked our location (we have GPS tracking). One moment, it showed us on the trail. Then, it showed us at the bottom of the valley!! He was panicked thinking we had fallen off. Luckily, the page refreshed and showed that we were indeed safely on the trail back to find another route.

This picture was taken approximately 24 hours into our trip. Why does his hair still look perfect? That is not normal or fair…

Me 24 hours in. Looking the way most backpackers look: red face, sweaty, crazy hair…

James scared of the way I look after 24 hours backpacking in the woods.

Lunch break. Enjoying cheese, summer sausage, and crackers on the side of the trail. Food never tastes as good as it does while hiking and backpacking! I always love books that describe food so well. I hope to one day capture in writing how good food tastes after hiking.

Finally! We’re back at the car headed home. Safe and sound.

Though not technically writing or crafting related, this trip gives me a glance into a world I had previously known very little about. It wasn’t the typical first trip. Most newbies don’t go on a 7 mile total trip or have any rock scrambling/climbing like I did. We actually were planning on taking a more treacherous route back (only a foot wide trail with a cable on one side and a cliff on the other), but when we saw it, we turned back to find a safer route. I’m not nearly coordinated enough for that!! Maybe this experience will inspire me for some sort of future project whether that be crafting-related or whether that means a scene in a future novel!

To see the whole trail, click here.

Covers: What makes them good and bad. One result

I’ve been working on a speech/presentation for work that is on one of my favorite topics: covers!  It’s been really fun.  I’ve been looking through all kinds of covers to see which ones I like and which ones fall short.  In doing so, I started examining the specific elements on the good covers.  I can clearly see that I like this over the others, but why?  For my own cover below, I already had a beautiful photo taken by my fiancé, James Hannibal (ShootAnyAngle.com), but what other elements worked or could be improved upon?  Well, I found a few elements, and one gave me an idea.  Well done covers have easy-to-read fonts, and a lot of them include a gradient on the font fill color.  So I thought, let’s try that out!  I took my cover for Covenant Deception, and added the gradient font.  What do you think?

Harry Potter Inspiration

James and I have been re-watching the entire series of Harry Potter movies.  We’re on the last one!  Every time I see these movies or read the books, I’m just so impressed by the genius of the mind behind them.  Every element that is introduced into the books comes back again later on and generally has two purposes to the storyline.  The amount of organization and brain power it takes to do that is just mind-boggling.

The characters are all extremely well-rounded and have lots of secrets and insecurities of their own.  The best piece of writing advice I ever got was “screw over your characters as much as humanly possible.  Just when it can’t get worse, screw them over again.”  I now see what perfect advice this is.  Having “screwed over” characters make them more rounded, and it changes how that character will react to certain situations.  It also keeps your readers reading.  Which is, of course, what you want!  It creates suspense.  It makes the reader yearn for catharsis.  So, whenever I get stuck, I ask myself, “How can I screw them over?”  It’s a bit sadistic, true, but it pushes the creative mind.

JK Rowling has done this so well with her characters.  Look at Neville.  He first is presented as a secondary character, but when you learn about what happened to his parents, you see that his life has been just as lonely and sad as Harry’s.  We immediately want to see him succeed, which he does.  He ends up proving himself to be one of the bravest and the strongest.

It’s truly inspirational work.

Surprise Brownies (no, not THOSE!)

I’ll start off by saying that I don’t cook.  I don’t bake.  It kinda terrifies me.  Still, adulthood has claimed me, and I’m forced to start learning and getting more confident in my skills… or lack thereof.  I once was the creator of a mystery meat sandwich that the dog wouldn’t even eat.  My sweet fiancé managed to swallow a couple bites before admitting he was no longer very hungry.  I even disintegrated scrambled eggs (yes, it’s possible).

So, when I find a recipe that I don’t think I can screw up too badly, I’m tempted to try.  This one came from Pinterest.  I must say that I was thrilled with the results (and so was everyone else!).  They were very yummy.  Probably very calorie-filled, but yummy.

Covenant Deception makes the top 100 chart for Apple Australia in the historical category!

I got quite a surprise today!  While looking for links regarding my book, I came across a website of Apple’s charts.  It appears that Covenant Deception has made the top 100 chart for Apple Australia in the historical category!  What a treat and surprise!

Covenant Deception

It took five years, but finally Covenant Deception is done.  Well, kinda.  See, one of the nice things about the world of self-publishing is that I can make updates and chagnes changes and updates at anytime.  So, while I can quickly change that typo, I can also decide that this chapter needs some tweaking and this character needs better development.  I’m in that stage now.  A good friend of mine is a reviewer, and he read the book.  He loved it and said it was great, but he had some very, very good feedback for me.  He said it would be the difference between “great” and “fantastic.”  Well, I can’t have “fantastic” dangled in front of me without reaching for it!  So, I’m making some tweaks.

I admit that I find it hard to make the transition between “promoter” to “writer” again.  My mother tells me that she never needed to have more children than just me (I’m an only child) because I had enough personalities to keep her completely occupied.  I find her assessment to be accurate.  There’s Author Angela, Work Angela, and that weird curly hair girl running around without shoes on.  All are equally me, but I find it difficult to combine them at times.  Now, I’m having that trouble with Writer Angela and Promoter Angela and now Blogging Angela.

Alas, the work continues, as does the work on the next book in the series!

Intro

As an author, it was a natural step to create a blog to promote my work.  Still, I had trouble figuring out what to write about.  The trouble is I’m scatter-brained (which worries me considering I’m already that way, and I’m not even 30 yet!).  Thus, doing a complete blog on one topic was a bit more for my thinking-about-everything-at-once brain.  Then, I started thinking about what I like doing: writing, crafting, sewing, designing, traveling, sword-fighting…  Then, it dawned on me – what combines all of them is creativity and inspiration.  I enjoy creating things and doing activities to inspire my next creative project.  That topic was easy for me to continue to write about week after week.  And let’s begin!