Hang the covers...

I'm fortunate enough to have an office in my house. I'm lucky enough that I can call myself a full time writer which means I don't have to get dressed, do my hair and wear shoes every day.
And today I stand here before you all in my pajama bottoms, an oversized tee shirt and no shoes with a confession!
My name is Carolyn Brown. I have an addiction. I LOVE BOOK COVERS!

I love them in the bookstores. I love looking at them, touching them, drooling over them. It's the first thing that draws me to a book.

And I really get excited when the cover is one of my very own books. It's the icing on the cupcake for parking my butt in the chair and working long hours. It's a tough job dealing with all those sexy cowboys but I'm up to the task most days and when I get a cover for approval, it's worth every hour.

I remember the first time I got a book cover (in the snail mail in those days) for approval. I was in absolute awe, couldn't take my eyes off it, put it in a folder and showed it to anyone who'd stand still and look at it. Okay, okay, so I did chase a few people down Main Street in Davis, Oklahoma and held them at gunpoint. I didn't have bullets in my pistol so the deputy didn't take me to jail.

In those days I was writing under Abby Gray. I chose that name because Gray was my maiden name. I changed colors not names...and Abby was my one eyed black and white cat. It seemed a fitting name for a writer who planned to never let the public know that she was writing. But alas, my sister was so proud of my accomplishments and the fact that she didn't have to post bail money that she put a wonderful article about me and the book in three newspapers. The secret was out so when that line died and I went to another publishing house I just wrote under Carolyn Brown. And I still squealed every time I got a new cover in the mail.

Nowadays the covers come through email and I do I hold my breath while I wait for the mail to open? Hell, yeah, I do!

And as the cowboys keep arriving, do I swoon over some of them? Oh, yes, ma'am!

And do some of them look just like the cowboy that lived in my head for weeks and weeks? You betcha, they do!


 When I converted a bedroom into my office, I saw all those lovely blank walls and knew exactly what I'd do with them.

My office now had a name...it is my Ego Room...and I've stopped chasing people down the street to make them look at my new covers. It's where all my cowboys, heroes and heroines and I have daily conversations. Yep, I hear voices in my head as well as have a cover addiction and I understand antibiotics will not cure either one!

And Sister was tickled pink because now she could spend those dollars she had tucked back inside her purse to bail me out of jail.

I won't hold a gun to your head but welcome to my Ego Room where sexy cowboys and fabulous heroes and sassy heroines, both historical and contemporary keep me company as I write.

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I got two covers in one day. The roof folks are coming next week to fix the damage but it was worth it. I'll share...drum roll please...not for the roof...for the new covers...matter of fact, I'll line them all up together since they're my women's fiction books!

 



 

   

 

Now that is enough to make an addict like me do the happy stomp dance no matter what the roof damage is! And I got new cowboy covers a few days after that...it was Christmas in August, I'm here to tell you!

 

Do any of you have book cover addiction? Would you even care if there was a cure for it? Is the book cover the first thing that catches your eye in a book store? Comment and I'll put your name in the famous red boot for a chance at a signed copy of Billion Dollar Cowboy plus a lovely hand made bookmark that matches the book...Mr. Random will chose a name at ten o'clock tonight! Until then I'm back in my office working hard on another cowboy book...can't wait to see the cover!!!