Time for a Cover Refresh

As many of you may know, in addition to writing books, I design covers--both for myself and other authors. Last week my friend, editor, and client, Jannine Gallant, came to me with a request to help her update the covers of her three self-pubbed romantic suspense novellas. I had helped her with the original covers almost five years ago and thought it would be fun to refresh them.

This project arose because times and tastes change in many things, including book cover art. There appears to be a current movement to emphasize the suspense element in romantic suspense and omit photos of characters from book covers. Jannine wanted her covers to reflect that, so she chose some wonderful new images--including one she took herself of a favorite childhood haunt. I tweaked them and added the text. We'd love to hear what you think! 

The photos on the left are the original covers, and the photos on the right are the updated versions.

Christmas Covers

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely in a Christmas mood these days. Last year, our decorations were all in storage because the new house wasn't finished, and we flew to Chicago to spend the holiday with our daughter. This year I've decorated to the nines and we'll all be home for Christmas, even though home is in a new house in a different state. I'm surprised that the lack of snow hasn't dampened my spirit, but it hasn't.

If you're a romance reader or writer, the season is all around you, too. Every time you turn around (or open Facebook) there are wonderful new holiday books. Their beautiful, festive covers are enough to turn even Scrooge into a hopeless romantic.

Unlike most writers, who work on their Christmas books during the spring or summer, I decided to write one when the spirit was most upon me - right now! I'm about half-way through my current project, a collection of ten holiday short stories (4K-5K words each) that I plan to release right after Halloween, 2015. It's great fun and has definitely added to my enjoyment of the season.

This collection was inspired by the stories I've written each December for the past few years for the Roses of Prose blog, of which I'm a member. If you missed my story this year, you can check it out here. 

If you know me or follow this blog, you know I also enjoy designing covers for my own books, as well as for other writers. The visual creativity of cover design offers a welcome break from the verbal creativity of writing. I've also found that having the perfect cover inspires me to work on the project. It's a win/win all the way.

Here are four potential mock-ups for covers for my short story collection. Like the rest of my work, these stories are warm-hearted and often humorous. Each is set in a different fictional small town across the country. I'd love to hear which is your favorite and why.

#1

#2

#3

#4

Help Me Choose Images

I just got an email from IStockPhoto telling me I have a couple of credits which are about to expire. I don't know about you, but I hate to waste money I've already spent, so I thought I'd pick up an image or two for future use. 

I'm currently working on the second book in my Phoenix, Ltd. bodyguard series, tentatively entitled BOILING POINT. I've thrown together several possible combinations of images that I think might work for the cover and would appreciate your opinion. Since this will be the second in a series, some continuity might not be a bad idea. Here's the cover of UNWRITTEN RULES (Book 1) to refresh your memory.

I'm considering three background images: a Chicago cityscape, smoke on black, and steam on blue. The cityscape relates to the background of UNWRITTEN RULES, but the other two express the BOILING POINT title (this heroine goes undercover as a personal chef). Both figure images features legs like UNWRITTEN RULES, but one is more prominent. The other is wearing a red dress, also a tie-in with UNWRITTEN RULES. The title will be in the same font, but could be red or white.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

Please let me know which elements you think make the most striking cover, individually and/or together. Also, please feel free to tell me to keep looking. I really appreciate your input!

I'm Tired of Naked Men

There I've said it. I'm a heretic. I know.

Because I'm a romance writer, and a friend of many other romance writers, my Facebook news feed is filled with photos of naked men day after day. I have no idea if regular people share these pictures at the same rate, but if you're a romance writer you know what I mean. These men are young and lovely, smooth of skin and firm of muscle. How could I possibly get bored looking at them?

The answer is I don't find them interesting, and to be sexy to me a man has to be interesting. These men are so much alike they're virtually interchangeable. If you've seen one waxed, steroid-pumped male model, you've seen them all. It doesn't matter if they're stark naked on the beach or dressed like firemen with their pants barely hanging off their gentleman's parts. One set of perfectly sculpted and unnaturally over-developed abs looks very much like any other. 

I was an art history major in college, and I've spent plenty of time studying nude classical and Renaissance sculptures. Believe me, I understand and appreciate the beauty of the male form. But most of these models' photos have no more warmth and life than Michelangelo's "David". They are beautiful in a detached sort of way, but certainly not sexy. 

What they scream to me is narcissism, and narcissism is the antithesis of sexy. Those bodies do not happen naturally. They require countless hours of hard work and concentration - concentration on one's own appearance. Not sexy. Give me flashing eyes and a wicked smile any day. A man who looks like he knows. 

There are few things sexier than a man who knows what a woman wants, even (or especially) if she doesn't know herself. I never mind postings of photos of interesting men like Colin Firth, Gerard Butler, Johnny Depp, or Hugh Jackman (clothed or unclothed), because it's not their bodies that draw me. I gaze into their eyes and hear their voices in my head, and I'm a goner.

I realize that men have been ogling pictures of naked women forever. Now we have the freedom to do the same, and perhaps a lot of the current trend is a tongue-in-cheek reaction to that. It's fun to be a little naughty. I'm just getting a bit tired of it. Like I'm getting tired of naked male torsos on book covers. I'm glad I've never had one, and now that I design my own covers I never will. There's nothing wrong with them. They signal to the reader that the book is a romance. They just look so much the same. B. O. R. I. N. G.

Go ahead, tell me I'm a dried up, old fogey. I'm a big girl. I can take it.

A New Cover Project - A Chance to Learn Something New

My latest personal project was to make Unwritten Rules available in paperback. To do that, I had to learn how to format the interior for CreateSpace. I also had to to design a cover with a front, back, and spine. CreateSpace has an easy-to-use template, but I needed to learn how to rotate and move text for the spine as well as create a back cover image that would allow adequate legibility for the book description. Online tutorials answered the text question, but the back cover design required some artistic experimentation. I settled on using a different section of the image I used for the front and reducing the opacity. However, that meant I also needed an opaque fill layer underneath the image to cover the markings on the template. The final result was exactly what I hoped for and I learned several new techniques, so I consider the project a resounding success!

Fresh off the success of my own print cover, I felt confident enough to undertake a print cover for another author. If you've been following this blog, you've seen the three ebook covers I designed for the Secrets of Ravenswood series of novellas by my friend Jannine Gallant, We'll Never Tell, She'll Never Rest, and He'll Never Know. Recently Jannine decided to offer the novellas in a single print book and needed a new cover. 

She was looking for something that captured the suspense feel of all three books and featured an image of three women, representing her heroines. We weren't able to find a good image with three women, but we did find this wonderful image with a single figure. My challenge was to turn one woman into three. What do you think?

For the back, she had the idea of using the same scene but with no figures, as if the women had vanished into the mist. I reduced the opacity and was able to erase the figure. The result is perfect for her book.

 

We were able to take one beautiful image and manipulate it to create the perfect front and back--a cost-effective solution for the author and a wonderful learning experience for me. I consider that a win/win all around!

Switching Gears - Another Benefit of a Portfolio Career

For the past few weeks, I've been working hard on the edits for my contemporary bodyguard romance Unwritten Rules. It's now with one of my beta readers for what I hope will be a last read-through before I publish it later this month. Even when I'm satisfied with the text, I still have a major hurdle ahead. I'll need to format the manuscript for ebook publication--something I've never tried before. I've read articles on the subject and taken an online course, but I know I'm in for several days of hair-pulling frustration. 

To give myself a break before tackling the challenge of formatting, I decided to switch gears and work on cover designs. After living, breathing, and dreaming words for weeks, spending time with visual images was a welcome change. I came up with a couple of preliminary options for a Christmas novella I hope to publish this fall. If I don't finish it in time for the holidays, I'm not going to beat myself up. It will still be a wonderful story next year. That's one of the best things about self-publishing--I write to my own schedule.

I also started work on samples for pre-made covers I hope to offer through my new business, Creative Author Services, once I get it up and running. Although I expect to custom-tailor covers for each individual author, I want to give potential clients an idea of my artistic vision and graphic style. Ebook covers need to make a strong visual statement to attract readers even in thumbnail format, so I've tried to put together simple, striking images. By the time I open CAS for business, I hope to have a full array of examples. Here are a couple of early mock-ups.

 

Some people create a portfolio career from multiple jobs out of necessity, as a way to achieve full time employment. That wasn't my objective. After retiring from my full time job, I was looking for a satisfying variety of pursuits. I love being able to switch gears and engage both sides of my brain, and I expect to continue to enjoy it for years to come.

Updating my Author Brand

There's a lot of talk in writer circles these days about the importance of defining your brand. Much like a wireless phone provider or auto manufacturer, an author's brand encompasses the the desired public image of his or her product. T Mobile wants customers to identify their service with a hip, young brunette sporting hot pink. Chevrolet targets their truck ads at rugged, hardworking men like farmers or ranchers. S.C. Johnson describes itself as a "family company", a definition that emphasizes the trustworthiness and quality of their products.

So what is my brand, and why do I need to update it? I never gave the concept a thought when I began writing decades ago. I wrote the kind of stories that appealed to me as a reader, and my first three published books were Western historical romances. However, my tastes as a reader and writer have changed, along with the tastes of the majority of romance readers. Western historicals still enjoy a certain dedicated readership, but they are no longer as popular as they once were. My newest book is completely different--a humorous contemporary with strong suspense elements--and because I've decided to publish it myself, the issue of developing an appropriate author brand is even more important.

When changing genres, as I'm doing, many authors choose to write under a different name. But unless you abandon all earlier titles, that requires multiple websites and online personas--way too much work for me compared to the potential payoff. Realistically, I was never a big enough name in Western romance to worry about damaging an existing brand. I decided to establish a new brand that would reflect my new style but which could also encompass my earlier work. Besides, I might decide to write historicals again someday.Should I decide to abandon romance entirely for mysteries or family sagas in the future, I would probably use a pseudonym, but for now my own name will suffice.

To prepare for the task of creating a brand, I took an online course for authors on Creating A Marketing Plan, which included a lesson on branding. I also read several articles on the subject. Then I set out to define myself, starting with the question: What words do you want readers to associate with you and your books? I took into account self-defined strengths, as well as comments from readers and reviewers, and came up with the following: warmth, wit, and a touch of whimsy. I think those words describe me as a person and a writer, regardless of the sub-genre I choose. And putting my brand into words helps me keep it in mind as I write.

Finally, there's the issue of visual branding. Our products--books--have a certain look that tells readers what to expect. It might be softly romantic, darkly sensual, or lightly humorous. Historically, large publishers and their marketing departments have commissioned covers to promote an author's brand (although I know many authors who have been disappointed by a cover). Small presses usually take less care. The covers for my Westerns are lovely but do not suggest any type of author brand. 

By self-publishing, I can control that. I choose the look and content of my covers. But with control comes responsibility, and it's scary. I have to do it right or risk compromising and weakening the brand I'm working so hard to develop. I'm also re-doing my website to reflect my new brand. I'll unveil it here when it's finished, and you can tell me what you think.

It's a brave new world, and I'm jumping in with both feet!

Copyediting for the Twenty-first Century

I'm old-fashioned and willing to admit it, but I didn't realize how far behind the times I was until I began the copyedits on my upcoming release, Unwritten Rules.

In January I announced my plan to self-publish my next book. I loved working with the small press that published my first three books, but I wanted to spread my wings and try something new. My main impetus was the desire to create my own cover and hone my editing skills--both necessary since I plan to start my own business offering those services to other writers as part of my new portfolio career. 

Last week I finalized the cover design and am delighted with the results. Unwritten Rules is my first contemporary romance, and the cover captures the sassy, modern tone of the book perfectly. If only the copyedits were as easy.

For the past several years, I had noticed what appeared to be the demise of punctuation in printed material of all types and assumed it was a question of style and author preference. Turns out I was right. However, those preferences are no longer individual; they have gained the weight of printed authority in no less than The Chicago Manual of Style and other influential style manuals.  

When I began writing decades ago, I used Strunk and White's slim little volume, The Elements of Style. It was chock-full of common sense advice and recommended using commas every place you would normally pause in verbal speech. I added that to my existing arsenal of absolute rules drummed into me by years of junior high and high school English teachers. Unfortunately I graduated from high school a LONG time ago. Practices and standards have changed, and I missed the boat.

Two of my first purchases when I decided to embark on my new portfolio career were The Copyeditor's Handbook by Amy Einsohn and my own copy of The Chicago Manual of Style. I suspected (correctly) I needed updating as well as authoritative references. These resources introduced me to the concept of "open punctuation" and convinced me to give it a try. I can't begin to count the number of commas I've removed from my manuscript: after introductory adverbs, before terminal adverbs, between co-ordinate adjectives. Thank heaven the punctuation gurus still allow serial commas. I need to be allowed to retain a few favorite old habits.

I now recognize the kindness of my previous editors who made no effort to reign in my comma addiction, and I'll do my best--in my own work and that of my clients--to keep modern and up-to-date. Even in the face of near-fatal comma withdrawal. I promise.

It's Time for a Six Month Check-up

Six months ago today I began my new life, my Second Half. So much has happened in that time, it seems only fitting to stop and take stock of the changes. 

Health: Six months ago chronic stress from my job had caused me to lose a third of my hair, and I was sleeping no more than four hours a night. I had also lost a substantial amount of weight, although most of that was voluntary as I joined OG on his weight loss program for better health. Today my hair has grown back (I even have a fun new haircut!), and I sleep around seven hours most nights. I exercise six days a week and have recently  added yoga to my routine. OG exercises daily, and his 55-lb weight loss has allowed him to throw away his cholesterol and blood pressure medications. In addition to our exercise routines, we're both more active in general. The beautiful weather and convenient location of our condo encourage us to do many of our errands on foot. We enjoy exploring and searching out new places and activities and have already found a number of new favorites.

Home: The biggest change. Moving is always difficult and stressful, but we were lucky enough to sell our home in Minnesota without much hassle and relocate to Carmel, California. It's a good thing we already owned a condo here because the new house we purchased in March has a good basic floor plan and spectacular views but is unfit for human habitation. We are basically rebuilding it from the studs out. At this point demolition is complete, and the new heating system and interior framing are well underway. Friday, we spent 2 1/2 hours with the lighting designer choosing fixtures and developing the whole lighting plan. Our contractor says we're still on schedule to complete the project at the end of November, and I hope he's right. So far it's been a fun experience and not too stressful, aided by the fact that we're not trying to live in a construction zone.

Work: Before I retired, I spent several months thinking about what I wanted to do in my new life. Since I was already a published fiction author, I knew I wanted to continue writing. However, I also wanted to expand my literary horizons a bit. I decided to start my own company offering editing and book cover design services to independent authors. Although I have not yet formally launched the company, I have been learning the intricacies of Photoshop and have designed three covers for a friend's indie-published novella series. I've also designed a cover for my own first venture into self-publishing. I figured if I hope to work with other self-published authors, I need to understand and experience the process first hand. That book, a contemporary bodyguard romance entitled Unwritten Rules, should be ready for release in the next couple of months. After that, I hope to complete and self publish a Christmas novella in time for the holidays. I want to remain flexible and not drive myself crazy, but I think it's important to have goals. We'll check back in six months and see how I've done meeting them.

Finances: I would be remiss if I didn't address this important topic. After all, money doesn't grow on trees, and I don't want to pretend it does. Before I took the big plunge and retired  earlier than planned, OG and I took stock and decided we could afford it. I hope that's still true (I think it is), but we really don't know yet. Right now we're living off cash assets and haven't started drawing any actual retirement income. I expect that to happen later this year after we move into our new house and sell the condo. At that point, we should know exactly where we stand financially. Health insurance has been one of my largest concerns, as it is for most early retirees. For now we're on COBRA from my former employer. It runs out right about the time OG becomes eligible for Medicare next year, and I'll have to buy an individual policy. I just hope my good health continues and the Affordable Care Act lives up to its name.

So there you have it: the last six months in a nutshell. OG and I have given up the security of a regular paycheck and moved half-way across the country, away from everything we've known, in search of a healthier, more fulfilling life in The Second Half. I think we've found it. I'm grateful for where we are and what we have every minute of every day. (And I think OG's coming around, too!)

Help Choose My New Book Cover

Five months ago, when I began this journey of self-discovery I call my Second Half, I crafted a plan for a new life to include writing, book cover design, and editing. Now that OG and I have The Big Move behind us, I've started to focus on my other goals for the year. In addition to creating covers for other authors, I hope to self-publish two books--one full-length novel and a Christmas novella. I love my current publisher, but I'm excited to branch out and one of the main attractions of self-publishing is the opportunity to do my own covers. 

I'm well on my way through revisions on my first contemporary romance, Unwritten Rules, so it's time to start experimenting with cover designs. I've put together three preliminary mock-ups and am looking for your feedback. 

Based on the blurb (below), which cover best embodies the tone and content of the story? Which would make you want to buy the book? (If nothing would make you want to buy this book, now would be a good time to mention that, too!)
Do you like the colors and images?
Do you prefer to see characters on book covers or just settings?
If you like figures, do you prefer to see their faces or just bodies?
Which fonts do you like best?

I'd really appreciate any input you might have!

Here's the blurb:

Things aren’t going Madelyn Li’s way. Her bodyguard agency is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, her grandmother keeps hatching plots to marry her off, and someone is trying to kill her latest client. All she wants is to safely escort thriller writer and former CIA agent Carter Devlin on his cross country book tour and collect her check, but two obstacles stand in her way: a shadowy assailant and her own growing attraction to her dashing client.

Carter Devlin has agreed to accept the beautiful and determined Ms. Li as a bodyguard primarily to appease his publisher. After all, who would want to kill a beat-up, retired ex-spy on a book tour? But when the attacks turn deadly, he soon learns there’s more to Madelyn than a pretty face and tempting body. Will the spark become a flame before a killer snuffs it out? 

#1

#2

#3

I Need to Get to Work

OG and I have been in California for a month now, and I've had plenty to keep me busy without the frantic pressure I sometimes felt when I was working full time. We've met with the contractor and designer for our new house to settle on the final plans, and so far we've chosen appliances, windows and doors, and flooring, as well as having the lot cleared of overgrown brush. 

For the past couple of days, we've worked on choosing an exterior color scheme. We plan to re-side with shingles but wanted to take the opportunity to try out some different color combinations before the workmen tear off the old siding. We're looking at either a warm, buttery tan body with dark red shutters or a light gray-green with dark green shutters. The windows and trim will be white. We're undecided but leaning toward the gray and green at the moment. Which do you like best? I love the bold combination, but it might be a bit

too much. Several of the neighbors have variations of green and gray, but it suits the cottage look I'm going for and compliments the natural surroundings.

In addition to all the house activity, I've also been feeling an internal pressure to make more progress on my new career. I've hesitated for a number of reasons, but I know I need to just suck it up, take the plunge, and establish my new business. Since the first of the year, I have designed three book covers, and those books are now available on Amazon. They credit Creative Author Services (the name I've chosen for my business) for the cover design, but as of yet, there is no such legal entity. First, I need to file a fictitious business name with the county. That's pretty simple, but I also need a new website, and that's not simple at all. Even deciding what I want and need is complex. 

And then there's the matter of my writing. I have several projects in various stages of completion. I need to finish revising my contemporary romance about the owner of an all-female bodyguard agency who signs on to protect a former spy-turned-thriller writer on a national book tour. That book, Unwritten Rules, is slated to become my first venture into independent publishing later this year. Next, I'd like to expand If Wishes Were Fishes, a holiday short story I wrote last year, into a novella or full length novel in time for Christmas. Both books will also need covers. 

If I manage to complete these projects by the end of the year, I'll feel I've truly made the transition to my new portfolio career. Wish me luck!

The Series is Complete - My Third Portfolio Project

My friend Jannine Gallant has just released He'll Never Know, the final novella in her Secrets of Ravenswood trilogy (for which I designed the covers), and I want to take this opportunity to share it with you.

The stories are set in a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and center around three young women who have been friends since childhood. The first is a romantic suspense, the second a bit of a ghost story, and the third more of a straight contemporary romance. I've read We'll Never Tell (and loved it!) and am half-way through She'll Never Rest. I need to hurry up and finish so I can move on to He'll Never Know. 

When I designed the covers, I had only Jannine's notes to work from since the stories were still in editing. I was very satisfied with the final results, but now that I've had the opportunity to see the Sierras firsthand and get to know the characters through the books, I'm even more delighted by how well the covers depict the stories. Check them out; you won't be disappointed.

Congratulations, Jannine! 

Designing Book Covers for a Series - My Second Portfolio Project

I've now completed all three covers for my friend, Jannine Gallant's, independently published novella series, Secrets of Ravenswood. The second book in the series, She'll Never Rest, is scheduled to come out the first of April, so I thought I'd give you a sneak peak and talk about some of the things I learned working on this, my second, book cover design.

Here's the cover for She'll Never Rest. 

For comparison, here's the cover for We'll Never Tell, the first book in the series.

Because this series is set in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we knew we wanted a forest background for each cover. However, She'll Never Rest also features an old graveyard, takes place around Halloween, and has a ghost-story twist, so we were able to incorporate that into the background. The cover also features a couple in approximately the same proportion as the first and uses the same font and color scheme for the text. 

That part should have been the easiest but actually turned out to be quite tricky. Because I've been bouncing between houses in California and Minnesota for the past three months, I did the covers on two separate computers. Those of you who have used Photoshop will understand that means I saved the images with the layers in two separate places with no access to each other. That made matching the fonts and colors much more difficult than it should have been.

Lesson #1: If you're working on a series, WRITE ALL THE SPECIFICATIONS DOWN.

I also had trouble with the first couple we chose because I failed to consider every aspect of the image.

Lesson #2: Many model shots are artistically cut off at the top or sides. This looks great but does not allow the cover artist enough freedom to place the image where it needs to go. If the models' heads or arms are cut off, those sides need to go up against an edge, and that does not always work, especially in a series where continuity is key. WHEN USING IMAGES WITH PEOPLE, CHOOSE COMPLETE BODY SHOTS WHENEVER POSSIBLE. This allows the cover designer to crop them appropriately.

Fortunately, I also learned some new techniques, like how to draw on the image in color and  use the blur function. Both came in very handy when touching up the edges of the model's hair. Hair is notoriously difficult to select, cut, and paste onto another image.

In another month or so, I'll share the cover for the final book in the series, He'll Never Know, and you can take a look at all three together. Working on these covers has been a great experience, and Jannine has been a fantastic first client!

My First Portfolio Project

I’m thrilled to announce I’ve received and completed the first project in my new portfolio career as a writer/editor/book cover designer before even officially opening up shop. A writer friend, Jannine Gallant, is taking the leap from being published with small presses to independently publishing a series of romantic suspense novellas and asked me to design her covers. I had planned to do a few practice projects to master the necessary techniques but couldn’t pass up an opportunity to start out working on the “real thing”.

The most rewarding aspect of this project was collaborating with the author. Most cover designers ask for input from the author during the initial consultation then work independently before offering the client his or her choice of three completed designs. Jannine and I worked together from the start, selecting the images, fonts, and colors. Along the way, I learned how to size and crop, select and cut partial images, and refine edges. There are many more techniques I need to learn, but this was an exciting beginning. I can’t wait to start on the next one!

The wonderful thing about the internet is the ability to shoot ideas back and forth, quickly make changes, and fine tune the design until the author is completely satisfied with the final product. While every author might not want this level of involvement, a large part of the appeal of independent publishing is the ability to control every aspect of the process, and the cover design is critical. It’s the book’s face to the world. I’d love to hear what you think of our finished product.

Portfolio Careers - Do You Have a Split Personality?

In the last post, we talked about encore careers—finding fulfillment in a second career helping others. Today, I want to explore portfolio careers. I first encountered this concept while researching life coaching. I had found my journey of self-discovery so rewarding up to this point that I was considering whether I might enjoy helping others through a career as a life coach. One coach indicated she often recommends portfolio careers to her clients looking for a change. The more I read, the more intrigued I became.

There’s nothing particularly new about a portfolio career—it’s basically a career comprised of multiple part-time jobs. In the early ‘90’s, British management consultant Charles Handy coined the term and suggested that working full-time for a single employer would go the way of the dinosaurs in the twenty-first century economy. His prediction proved prescient, especially with the Great Recession gobbling up so many full-time jobs. Many workers have been forced to piece together employment from several part-time jobs or temporary assignments whether they want to or not. As with encore careers, it can be difficult to replicate the income from a full-time job, and then there’s the issue of benefits.

But what about a portfolio career by choice? The prospect sounded increasingly attractive to me.

Since I had planned to retire early (just not this early), I had already considered the issue of health insurance. I had hoped to wait until OG qualified for Medicare, but since that didn’t work out, we decided to elect COBRA benefits through my former employer. The coverage is expensive, but comprehensive, and will cover OG until he reaches sixty-five. At that point, if not before, I will need to purchase individual coverage. For me, the Affordable Care Act couldn’t have come at a better time.

That leaves the issue of income and the decision about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I could look for another job, but even ignoring the issue of age discrimination, every fiber of my being resists the idea of working for someone else again. I have never considered myself entrepreneurial, but I trust myself with my future more than I trust anyone else. The time seems right to take the plunge into self-employment.

I am lucky enough to have adequate retirement savings but not quite old enough to tap into them without paying a penalty. We have enough in the bank to cover our expenses for a number of months, so I intend to make the most of that time preparing for my next career.

Many people who choose to put together a portfolio career build off their prior professional experience. They might consult in their previous field for a number of different clients or rely on past contacts to establish a new business. I rejected that option immediately. The thought of spending another hour working in insurance gives me chills. But what else do I know how to do?

I know how to write. I’ve written two award-winning novels and a novella and have another completed with several more in the works. But because I know what’s involved, I had to ask myself whether I have what it takes to be a full-time writer. The honest answer is no. I need more variety. To do my best work I need to allow the creative well time to refill. I know I want to continue writing, but that’s only the first part of my portfolio career. Because I have gone through the self-evaluation process described in my previous post, a couple of other ideas have been percolating in my brain.

I love the written word in every form. I love to read; I love to write. I also love to edit. Not many writers can say that, but it’s true for me. I’ve been professionally edited, and I’ve edited other writers’ work. I know I would find it truly rewarding to help independent authors present their best possible work to the world. The second part of my new career will be freelance editing.

I have another love as well—art and design. Along with writing and editing, I’m going to learn to design book covers. I have a degree in Art History from Vassar College, so I’ve been trained to evaluate and critique visual art. Unfortunately, I can’t draw a convincing stick figure, but today’s software makes that unnecessary. I’ve been teaching myself to use Photoshop, and I love it. I also may take a class in the next few months. After so many years spent mastering a technical business discipline, I look forward to the chance to learn something new.

So there you have it: I’m going to become a slasher (as in writer/editor/book designer). If you had the opportunity to create a portfolio career, what would you choose?