This week I’m attending the KenTen Writers Retreat at Paris Landing State Park. This is a fun loving group of gals that I retreated with last year. I’m glad that they let the non-writing cover designer hang with them. I enjoy learning about their writing process. It gives me a greater appreciation for the effort they put into their books. I can understand better when creating their cover, just how important their “baby” is to them.

This year, the retreated was expanded and opened up to writers outside the KenTen group. We have authors in attendance from Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. I think all the authors write “clean” fiction, if not Christian. It’s great to be among people creating uplifting and encouraging novels and short stories. I’m proud to call them friends.

Here’s a few photo’s from last night’s meet & greet.

I also got to meet several of the authors that I have created covers for. I’ll be highlighting them as our week continues. First up, was Jaqueline Wheelock. I have been working on a cover for Jaqueline’s second book, In Search of an Emerald. She is a sweet lady from Mississippi and so easy to work with. I’m honored to be creating her cover. I’ll probably release it next week after we make the last few touch ups on it.

Sorry the photos may be taking a moment or two to load. I didn’t resize them smaller since I’m on the road.

Have a wonderful day. I know I will!

From time to time I like to feature some book covers that I created previously. Like looking back through a photo album or visiting old friends, it gives me joy to see them. Today I’m going to share two covers that I have shared before.

From 2015, Irish Encounter was one of my first covers without a person on it. The main character in this contemporary romance is a “mature” woman as opposed to the sexy sirens that sometimes grace covers in this genre. Finding a suitable image for this character became impossible – too old, too young, too grey, too bland, too grandmotherly, and the list went on. When I finally gave up the idea of finding the character, I started moving toward what made this romance come together. It centered around a trip to Ireland and a few conversations in a tea shop. So began this wonderful blending of the two images that became one of my favorite covers.

Irish Encounter by Hope Tyler Dougherty is available on Amazon. You can see an earlier blog post here as well. Hope will be release a new book this fall with Mantle Rock Publishing titled Rescued Hearts. Be sure to look for more information concerning that book very soon!