Serendipity

Luck covers a spectrum of possibilities and occasionally the impossible happens. Yesterday, after three days in a watercoloring workshop with my wife, lightning struck. I began a conversation with the delightful and humorous guest artist, Gloria Miller Allen, and told her a little about my upcoming book. She immediately expressed interest in doing the cover art for "Singing Stones of Rendor." She said she was challenged by the idea though she had never done one like this. All of her own books are about art and she only needs to select one of her many paintings for the covers.

We invited her to dinner and she graciously accepted. I fully expected the conversation during our meal at Brio's Tuscan Restaurant to center on watercoloring. To my surprise she wanted to discuss the particulars about the book cover. My poor wife commented later that, to her delight, she couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Have I ever mentioned how great my wife is?

Gloria has commitments through mid to late May which will delay the start of the project. This works well for me since I don't plan on publishing "Singing Stones" until September if no agents express interest. We can work out minor changes in details during the interim.

Finding an artist of her caliber and unique perspective of stone was a lucky break. I'm confident she will do a great job. It turns out that one of the characters on the cover is her alter-ego and someone she's always wanted to depict.

So, it's back to work on the next book.

Update on the search for an agent: Rejections 8, Interest 0.

Maybe a review of my query letter is in order.