“May you have a fresh start any moment you choose...” ~ Mary Pickford
Rise
(Meditations of Healing: cover option 2)
Meditations of Healing—a new Affirmation Photography meditation guide for those renewing back to strength, positivity and a healthy life—was a 2018 goal that didn’t quite make it.
So before the freshness of January 2019 passes by, the bones of the book will be in place.
As will Meditations on Recovery—specifically targeted for those finding their way back from health issues or living with chronic disability.
First step for the first book: selecting a high resolution image that will wrap from the front to the back a 8 1/2 x 11 cover.
Meditations of the Heart cover image
Those who are familiar with my photographic meditation guides have seen the images for the first two books:
Meditations of the Heart (published in 2016) included a coastal theme, so this sunset off Isle of Palms, SC, was a natural fit.
Meditations of Hope cover image
Book two, Meditations of Hope (out in late 2017), better showcased all that I’d learned at the time about motivating others with healing nature images.
I’d fallen in love with low-angled sky captures, where it was all clouds and air and the inspiration of looking up and believing and never once worrying about the fall.
So this shot of a high summer sky off my friend’s deck became my cover muse.
It’s an interesting process, I’ve learned, choosing a cover image for a photographic project. More complicated than my participation in any of my 28 fiction novel covers.
The image must be impactful and immediately resonate. It must be familiar and at the same time inspiring.
Meditations of Hope (cover spread)
It should draw the viewer into exploring the interior, while at the same time (both front and back copy) offer enough text to clarify what such a vivid cover has to do with what lies within.
Now here I am, over a year out from publishing my last meditative guide. In 2018 my goal for Meditations of Healing was to give my technical and compositional skills a chance catch up with my vision for this series. It was time away from publishing the series WELL worth spending.
I’m giddy, at the jumping off point again, and will likely be obsessed with “healing” for the next few weeks until I get the interior layout set. Then will roll immediately into “recovery.” Pushing through the creative process of drafting is the same with my photography projects, as it turns out, as it is with my novels. Once the planning and parts and pieces are in place, it’s time to tunnel in and not look up until the first pass is through.
Pinkish
(Meditations of Healing: cover option 3)
So if you don’t see/hear from me a lot the rest of January, know this is where I will be. I’m SO excited to see more of the meditative side of my work come to life. Galleries and shops selling them are equally thrilled to hear I’m finally making this happen. So, wish me luck.
And in the mean time, help me choose the right image for Meditations of Healing.
I might come up with some additional options, but for now it’s narrowed down to two mountain views (one sunset scene graced with moody blues and purples, the other a sunrise (full of oranges and pinks and yellow). AND the exotic water garden image that leads this post. Which I think is the winner so far. But who knows…
What is your fresh 2019 goal?
Which project will you tackle and complete before the freshest month of the year lets go?