In my high school art class something magical happened.  It wasn’t just the creation of art, but it was also the learning of the great masters that was magical.  One form of painting as well as one artist in particular always stuck out to me.  That would be surrealism and Rene Magritte.  The first painting of his I saw was The Son of Man. 

I fell in love with the emotions that I felt when I saw the painting and it opened a new love for Magritte.  I devoured his paintings and I think because of that, he found his way into penance.  I wasn’t planning on including Magritte or art even in my book when I first started it, but the more I wrote, the more he kept showing his face.

For those of you who have been following me since the beginning of my writing journey, you know that I once had a cover with two people in a sensual embrace.  I had fallen prey to the typical romance novel need to have that cover.  I have found many of those covers beautiful and I have found many of the books just as beautiful.  But for me, it didn’t fit my story.  I fought with myself for several days.  Every time I looked at the old cover I grew more and more bothered because I knew it wasn’t Hannah or Wynn…and it wasn’t me.

Then one day, I decided to search dreamstime.com with the search word Magritte.  I discovered the perfect image for the cover of penance.  It was titled, “a homage to Magritte.”  Then came my final cover that I fell in love with and it filled me with the total feeling I got from my book.

There is one scene in penance in particular that Hannah and Wynn discuss Magritte and every time I look at the new cover I think of the scene.

On another note, it is only one week and 8 hours away from publishing time. (Well as I type, it is) I am must be honest here, I am equal parts excited and terrified.  I have read so many blogs and stories from other authors and I know each of us has the exact same anticipation.  I can’t help but wonder if it is this way for everyone that is putting out there something they are passionate about.

I have this understanding that no matter what happens when I hit publish, I am still extremely proud of myself for doing this.  I have had so many edits that I have had to do and I need to accept that there is still probably something in my book that I missed.  A period…an incorrect comma…incorrect word… my OCD kicks in and I get extremely perturbed about the littlest of mistakes.  But when I shut off that part of my brain–the part that has to nit pick and fix every flaw–and I just read my book for the content, I fall in love with it all over again.  I know not everyone is going to like it, but I do.