It isn’t easy, you know. Getting it right, that is. And even when you do you start second-guessing yourself, finding some minor flaw here, something to tweak there, and sooner or later you’re wondering why on earth you thought that ‘thing’ — whatever that thing is — just simply isn’t good enough for anyone to see.

Or at least that’s how my universe unfolds. The perpetual edit.

For now, however, I think I have Version 2 of my book signing promotional poster Right.

How difficult can that be, you’re probably wondering? In this case about as easy as trying to stuff my sweaty, over-sized body into a pair of spandex, long-leg control top panties purported to render me svelte.

Not pretty.

In the case of the poster, I have to bring together two unrelated books, in unrelated fields, and somehow create a unifying theme for the book signing and media releases.

So, Version 1 of the promotional poster revolved around the concept that I’m a Canadian author, writing about Canadian issues, in a sea of American culture flooding our lives. Why not use some alliteration in that unifying theme? So, a C word to capture my historical novel Shadow Song. Captivating! And the C word of the cookbook as easy: Culinary. And to unify the Canadian theme, a background of red. Easy. Red ground, white type-face in easy to ready Times New

Roman. Oh heck, a picture’s worth a thousand words.

Gary and Kelly both loved it. Adam, my Spin-Doctor-Guru-Son, and long-time writer-acquaintance, Paul Lima, both felt, well, not to put too fine a point on it, the poster sucked. My portrait made me look miserable, perhaps even bored or angry. The red ground clashed with blue cover of Shadow Song. What was Captivating and Culinary? Me? The Books?

So I thought I’d tweak, and after fussing and fiddling in PhotoShop for an hour, I decided, nope, this baby and bath water stink. Open the window.

The remainder of yesterday morning and part of the afternoon resulted in a fresh take. Why did I need to have a photograph of me? Not necessary, especially in light of the fact I’m not photogenic, not even on the best of days. So out with that image.

But then how to glue the novel and the cookbook together? Ah! That Eureka moment! I glue them together. All I’d need is my name, and the fact these two books are part of my world.

This second image is the result of yesterday’s labours, and I’m pleased to report the Spin-Doctor-Guru-Son came back with a profane, but positive response that did everything to give the new purple poster a green go.

And all I wanted to do was write the blessed books!