Writing is repetitious.
At least it has been in my case.
It took many drafts to finally get Catherine’s War to a place that I felt comfortable sharing it with others. I can promise you, its first draft is nothing like the final product. Whether eliminating passages or adding details, I’ve looked at this story from every angle. Even now that it’s finally published, I have a difficult time seeing it as a finished product, often wondering if I should have handled scenes differently. As a result, Catherine’s story repeats in my mind on a frequent basis. Yet, even as I write that, I realize that it sounds better to say that Catherine’s story evolves.
The words between the front and back cover of Catherine’s War have gone through many changes . . . so why shouldn’t its cover?
When I first gave my earlier drafts to my beta readers, I had what I thought to be the perfect idea for a book cover in my mind. It had a train station and would have the silhouettes of an embracing couple. At the time, I was only thinking in terms of black-and-white coloring. I was adamant that the train would come into the station from the northeast corner of the page and head to the southwest corner. I wanted it to represent WWII soldiers coming home to the United States from Europe. I found, however, this image was hard to convey. I have no artistic talent whatsoever, and my stick figures and boxes failed to get my idea understood. That was evident in some of my more heated discussions with my friends. They couldn’t visualize it, and I was left feeling frustrated at times.
So I searched for something else. I wanted to find an idea that I could easily explain and wouldn’t get shot down in the process. So my train station evolved to simple train tracks. While I focused on different images of train tracks, I realized that the one thing I did like about them was their simplicity. I decided less was more, and I no longer wanted my cover to look too busy. People judge books by their cover, even if we’re not supposed to.
Enter Jamie, stage center.
Jamie came into the picture thanks to my amazing editor, Karen. He is nothing short of a miracle worker. Not only did he help my book cover evolve, he found a way to bring it back full circle to the train station – with the train coming in at the exact angle I wanted! I never mentioned that to him, so when he sent the idea, it’s no wonder I gasped.
Seeing how the book cover found its way back to what I had originally wanted, I learned a valuable lesson: hold fast to your vision – eventually you’ll find the one person you need who can see it too.
Check out the different images of Catherine’s War that led to the final product:
I think anyone who has read the book will agree the final image is the best. I can’t thank Jamie enough for creating it!