THE GUIDING DWIGHT

It's that time of year again.  ABNA time.  That stands for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest.  For more info, go to amazon.com/abna .  The submission window opens January 23rd.  I'm knee-deep in revisions of my second novel THE HOPE STORE.  Here's the evolving elevator speech for it. The first store in the world opens which sells hope over the counter -- and lives begin to change miraculously.  Customer Jada Upshaw's passionate will to die is pitted against a store owner's will to hope.  It all culminates one windy New Year's Eve night on a lonely rooftop where suicide is a viable outcome.  What happens there on said rooftop will determine the future of the relationship between Jada and the store owner, the fate of a new business venture, and maybe the destiny of all humanity.  It's just another eventful night in the new millennium. CH-CH-CHANGES This synopsis represents a big shift from last year's submitted version...

It's July 18th and two important creative projects are coming down the pike.  I'm designing a website for a dental laboratory in Chicago that should be simple and elegant.  It's due this Wednesday night.  And I'm working with Createspace on finalizing the book cover for my first novel due out in August!  Above is one draft of the dental website.  I'm very happy with it as is the client so far.  Seeing all the lab's great photos of bright white teeth brought to mind for me white tulips.  And so a concept was born. And as for the book covers -- there are some good ones to choose from.  From top to bottom, I call them:  Escalator Boy, Handstand Man, and Falling Man.  The above three are my amateurish renderings.  The real designers will make them look more book store ready.  Handstand is a late addition into the face and a rising favorite.  I do like the words "a novel" on my cover so that people know what it is.