Moving Heidel to Wattpad for Now

Hi there!

As I think I mentioned before, I'm having some issues with Heidel. Mostly that my life is just interfering too much (job, kids, some health issues) and not letting me work on it as much as I'd like to. I had hoped to have this out by Spring! And now it's Summer.

One major problem I've been having is the sense that I'm keeping my readers waiting. When I try to work on Heidel, I feel this sense of rush, that I have to hurry up and get it done. And that's not good. If I rush to finish it, then it won't be quality writing. So I've been struggling to find a way to lose that hurried feeling because it gets me all stressed out.

I thought of something that I think will help that. I'm going to post the finished portion of Heidel on Wattpad, a chapter a day. That way, readers can begin reading the story, and at least I'll know they're getting some of it. And knowing the book is out there will help me get it done, but without, I think, so much pressure.

Of course I don't get paid when people read the story on Wattpad, but it won't necessarily stay there forever. This is a measure I'm taking now to be fair to my readers, and to help the project progress.

So I welcome you to pop over to Wattpad! One nice thing about this site is that readers can make comments on each chapter, rather than just reviewing the whole book (like on Amazon).

Here's the link: HeidelonWattpad

Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy. :)

Heidel Book Cover

 

Here she is - Princess Heidel! I got the finished artwork today and I always get so excited. So pretty, isn't she? Wish I had red hair like that. Just gorgeous.

Heidel isn't meant to be the standard pretty princess, though. As you can see, she's a bit freckled, her hair isn't elaborate, and though it's hard to tell from this image, she's a bit on the chubby side.

And she's got a temper too. Don't mess with her. :)

I sometimes see the covers of other e-books and wonder where the author got their cover art from, whether they hired an artist or did it themselves. In case you are wondering about my covers, I happy to share.

 

I don't create my own covers. I do work as an artist and I'm currently illustrating a novel I wrote for boys some years ago. But when it came to The Nine Princesses, I wanted a certain type of art that I'm not skilled with, namely 3-D rendering. So I went to website called 99designs.

 

99designs is a site that works by creating a contest for your project. You describe the image you have in mind, and multiple artists compete by offering their design suggestions. You pick the one you like best and that artist gets paid. That's how I chose the cover for Maelyn and I've returned to the same artist ever since.

 

And just to give him a plug, my artist is Rob Sullivan and he is based in the UK. Here is his website: robsullivan.zenfolio.com

I wish I was that good! But my style is very cartoonish, sort of like Disney-style. Here's a drawing I did of Heidel several years ago: 

This is from the picture book, not the Heidel novella I'm working on now. Heidel is wondering (and worrying) why Coralina is ruling the kingdom that day and not Maelyn.

Working hard to have Heidel out soon. :)