Going Under Cover

by Nicole Seitz

I didn't mean for it to happen. Honest. I just pulled out my tackle box of paints, grabbed some brushes, and let the Spirit take me and my wild, waving hand all over the canvas. I hardly remember doing it. I remember praying about mid-way though and watching as the image revealed itself like magic before my eyes. When I saw what I'd done, I slapped that puppy on the front page of my new web site. www.nicoleseitz.com. How cool was it to have your own website using your very own name? I was happy. Truly happy. And I'd painted with wild abandon. It showed.

My then publisher saw the painting after browsing my new site and said, "This is what we want for the cover of The Spirit of Sweetgrass." Just like that. I was going to be a book cover illustrator.

Now, I had illustrated for magazines and such before, but to have your painting on your very own novel? It was more than I could handle. I've had more comments on that cover...people say they pick it up because of the the colors, the feel, the woman in the water. It thrills me to think my spirit-filled painting caused a reader to pick up my spirit-filled book.

Next came Trouble the Water. Readers had responded to my artwork so we tried again. Not so easy this time. Different publisher, trying to work with me on it. I did a painting of two girls on the beach. Two young-children-y. I found a painting I'd done of a marsh and storm coming. Too dark. Next, I did a painting of a woman waist deep in water. Almost there, but she looked like she was from another era. Too old-fashioned. I was beginning to feel like Goldilocks. So I took that painting and took off some of her clothing, seriously, arms, showed a little leg. At last we had the cover. I have prints of some of my artwork and that one stays sold out.

The third book was even harder to illustrate. I tried a fish (there is a prominent one in the book.) Too fishy, too masculine. I tried a woman, a Vietnamese woman from the back. Almost there, they said, but no cigar. The winning image for A Hundred Years of Happiness used the fish painting on top of the woman painting with a photograph of water lilies I'd taken. This is definitely my most complex cover, arguably for my most complex book. I think it works.

When it came time for the cover of Saving Cicadas I had my daughter pose for photographs wearing a princess dress and Barbie wings. The narrator is an 8 year old girl. I got some really good ones of her. I painted one. Boom. We had it on the first try. I adore that cover. My daughter likes to tell her little friends, "That's me," while pointing at Mommy's book. My son doesn't like it so much because as he put it, "It's not me." Well, you can't please everyone.

So...my fifth book is being edited right now. We're working on a cover. My publisher wanted something a little different for this book. The characters are older (and adorable, lovable...can you tell I'm in love?) It's also inspired in part by a photo of my grandmother that made it's way up to the World's Fair in 1939. I haven't seen the final yet, but I've seen the comps and let me tell you how thrilled I am to have that photo of my beautiful grandmother on the cover along with illustrations of plants and flowers I painted. The feel of the book is different, but there's a whole lot of meaning behind it all. Looking forward to sharing it with you as we get closer to pub date.

I can't tell you how honored I am that I've been able to illustrate the covers of my novels and touch my readers, not only in the literary sense, but visually too. It makes it even more intimate for me. It's a long road and hard work, on top of the writing. Some day (egad!) it may not be feasible for me to paint my covers but for now, I am so grateful to the publisher who lets me paint and to the readers who respond to my brush.

God bless you all.

PS. Which cover do you like best and why?

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Nicole Seitz is the author and illustrator of four novels, The Spirit of Sweetgrass, Trouble the Water, A Hundred Years of Happiness, and Saving Cicadas. She is busy working on her next book for Thomas Nelson. Some day she aspires to do children's books, too.


Learn more about Nicole's books and artwork at http://www.nicoleseitz.com/. Click on SHOP on the homepage to purchase her notecards and prints. Click on the Artwork link on the bottom of the page to view her art portfolios.

Characters I Have Known

Can you read a person like a book? A character that saunters into your path where suddenly your head snaps up and a part of you comes to attention? I know that feeling. It can happen in what we might call the natural world or in those so many of us live in as we create novels of all genres.

Characters have a certain way of speaking, of cracking a line, of giving the eye that causes us to lean in a little closer and listen to the story that is about to be told. 

Recently when author friend Shellie Rushing Tomlinson and yours truly hit the road in search of story we discovered one at every turn. We also encountered a few characters along the way. One of the most memorable being the one and only Mr. Jack Reed of Tupelo's well known Reed's Gumtree Books. He decided to pull up a chair and captivate us with some true tales of the business, of the things his seen come and gone, and how staying young at heart and having hero's is real important to living a good, long life. 

I think if we hadn't had another book event in Nashville we would still be there, trying to get just one more antidote out of the man that was full of them. Overflowing he was. But here's the thing. Shellie and I were both ready to talk about ourselves, our radio shows, to interview other customers, and, yes, even each other but when Mr. Reed walked in it was all over. And we both knew it, too. 

Here's why. 

When a character comes calling you have to have your listening ears on. Pricked up high. So that suddenly a bonifide whistler of a man comes waltzing through the back door of your mind, you have to just decide whatever that other thing was - it can wait. That blind snake milker living down in those swamps - oh, yes, there's a story there that woman longs to tell. That old woman rocking and reminising. That baggy man shuffling his shoes in the dirt of wasted dreams. Here's the deal American Idol will be there next week. That list of things to do to get published - one more day. All those unopened bills, well - if your staring down cutoff day - give it an hour. And give that character their due while their willing to talk. Just like we did Mr. Reed.  

Because the fact is -

We don't know when that opportunity will roll its way around again if ever. I've lost a few good characters in my life. Some to the wicked wracked out strange tragidies. Some with faces so young they are now immortal. Some just to the ever moving hands of time. I never felt as though I had captured any of them, spent enough time with them, listened to enough of their stories. 

I feel the same way about the characters who have been knocking on my door, well, now nigh for a decade. One with a foot stomping impatience waiting for her story to be told. And yet, I've been writing and living and running and puttering - in other words living this big old, wonderful, messy life. But - those characters - they tell me time is not waiting for me to set aside my precious hours in neat packages to listen to them. 

No more than real folks do in this real, natural world of hours. Babies don't want for us to slow down before they grow up, lovers don't wait for us to make time for one more dance, grandparents don't wait to tell us one more story before they go. 

It's up to us. Purveyors of characters such as we are. Storytellers, story seekers, greedy story grabbers one and all. 

Here's to all the wild, wooly, wonderful characters in this life and from beyond the page who dare to  inhabit our worlds and in the process give us half a fighting chance to capture a moment of their light. 

River Jordan is a Storyteller. She lives in Nashville with her husband and their big, white, lap dog where she also produces a weekly radio program on Radio Free Nashville 107.1fm.  She is captivated by the new book cover of The Miracle of Mercy Land (Random House/Waterbrook) due out September 7, 2010. For more information on the author, her work, and the radio program visit http://www.riverjordan.us 

THE ART and AGONY of the Author Photo

The ART and AGONY of the Author Photo
(I usually blog about southern writing here but beggin’ your pardon, can I go off topic just a teeny weeny bit? Thank you.)
Who’s idea was this? This book jacket photo thing? This Press Kit thing? Do you know the agony that I’ve experienced from this? Okay – some of you do and some of you don’t. Let me make this clear. I don’t like having my picture taken as evidence by the fact that my hand is usually covering part of my face - even as a child. As a matter of fact, my mother in all her grown up glory decided when I was about five years old and still an only child prior to sister being born that the thing she needed to do was get dressed up, dress me up, and then both of us sit our dressed up selves down for our professional mother and daughter photograph in a real studio. I remember this moment clear as can be. The big empty room, the big lights, the shadowy man behind the camera that I SWEAR was saying something like, “Look at the birdie!” He squeaked horns, flapped his arms, stood on his head, told funny jokes – all to the no avail to my stone freezy five year old face that was not amused. Which of course caused my mother’s face not to be amused as this event was definitely not turning out as she had planned. And she had to pay for it plenty. She bought the pictures anyway. Maybe she had to. I must say our dresses looked very pretty. And so did we. In a stone freezy kind of face way.
Back to the Author Publicity Photo. First, we are supposed to look what???? WHAT I ASK YOU? Intelligent? Warm? Fuzzy? I look drunk and cock-eyed in most my pictures. Smarts doesn’t play much into it. We are supposed to look aloof like we don’t care - yet approachable. Loveable, and laughable and like we have a great sense of humor and would be somebody’s bestest great friend ever. We are supposed to be skinny, well endowed, muscular, healthy, snappy, snazzy, with it - and yet - above it all and removed from it. Like being on a pedestal with an apron on while baking cakes with the perfect hairdo. Oh wait – that was the 50’s.
I was once sitting behind two women at a book festival while we were all waiting for an author to come on stage and speak. When she did they opened her book to the author picture, gave one another catty looks and one of them said, “Not in a million years.” The other one lifted an eyebrow and nodded her agreement. I swear they did. I wanted to bonk their heads together like something from the stooges. (Sorry – just telling the truth.) Not on my account mind you but for dear women everywhere who are trying their best to take a photo that doesn’t make them look like Ronald McDonald on hormones.
This picture you see of me? Well, a dear, dear lady took it with me complaining, fussing, squinting, and shutting up just long enough for her to snap it. I had the most precious friend with me for moral support who was just behind the camera making smiley faces at me. It was taken three years ago. I kept promising the publisher to get a new picture taken and kept promising and promising and promising until they said – TOO LATE! And Snatched this one up as it was time to go to print. Okay, the the real life part is, I still own that jacket and wear it, and I do stand with my arms crossed a lot but I like to think I am much more approachable in a drunk –looking cockeyed kind of way than the picture suggests. Matter of fact, just me personally, it looks just a tad stand=offish of which I am not. I am shy and introverted believe it or not and on occasion will pull into my shell and slide along the walls of any public gathering trying to practice my invisibility skills.
Now plenty of my author friends have great author photos and great hair and great highlights. Denise Hildreth takes a glorious picture which is why she is in commercials in real life (really) and J.T. Ellison has killer hair just like her writing and Tasha Alexander just makes us all sick cause she’d look good on the 10th day of a 12 day flu if you took her picture wearing sweat pants that had been slept in for six months without seeing the inside of a washer. And Kathy Patrick just glows no matter what she’s wearing. But some of us cry, gag, and drag if we have to get in front of a camera. (I have literally called my mother crying because I had an interview with a reporter that day and they were going to take MY PICTURE AND PUBLISH IT IN THE PAPER.) Some of us really struggle to look relaxed or to look normal of which we are neither. This isn’t just a woman thing either. I have men friends who are authors and always struggling with their author photos, too.
They are supposed to look intelligent but not insane, virile but not viral. One particular man kept fussing over his picture in every book. You could tell it was driving him crazy. He kept saying, “You know you have to give the publisher a great photo but they don’t pay for a photographer or the studio!” Then he’d turn through his author photos and point saying, “Serial Killer. Serial Killer. Serial Killer. Ax Murderer. Serial Killer.” Don’t worry, I tell him. We all look a little dangerous when caught in an unforgiving flash.
So I ask you, dear readers please be gentle with us when you see those photo’s - even if they are backlit and we’ve had our dark circles and bloodshot eyes touched up a bit from all these deadlines and drafts. While you’re in a forgiving spirit, help us to forgive ourselves for being less than ageless, model perfect. And to remember that it’s not the size of the waist, or the bulge of the biceps, that lead a reader to drink in a story but the words we carve out one page at a time.
So, with a deep breath and a sigh of relief, let’s raise a glass, and offer a toast - and a smile!

River Jordan is a a storyteller of the southern variety. Jordan’s novel The Messenger of Magnolia Street, (Harper Collins, Harper One) was published in January 2006. Kirkus Reviews describes the novel as “a beautifully written atmospheric tale.” The Messenger of Magnolia Street was applauded as “a tale of wonder” by Southern Living Magazine who chose the novel as their Selects feature for March 2006 and by other reviewers as “a riveting, magical mystery” and “a remarkable book.” Her first novel, The Gin Girl, (Livingston Press, 2003) has garnered such high praise as, "This author writes with a hard bitten confidence comparable to Ernest Hemingway. And yet, in the Southern tradition of William Faulkner, she can knit together sentences that can take your breath." Florida Today Ms. Jordan teaches and speaks on ‘The Power of Story,’ around the country and produces and hosts the radio program, River Jordan Radio on 98.9fm Nashville. She has just finished a new work of fiction, Saints In Limbo, on sale May 19th, and lives with her husband in Nashville, TN. You may visit the author at www.riverjordan.us