When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
When I'm not writing, I spend my time thinking I should be writing, or working my day job (IT project governance) and wishing I was writing. Sometimes I play music, or sing (karaoke), or read, or play Flipwords or Scrabble with my wife.
The largest part of my time is spent thinking (ideation). And thinking about thinking (intellection.)
It seems to be easy for me to overthink things...
How do you approach cover design?
There is artistry and pragmatism involved in my cover designs. I work with photographs for my covers, whatever I can find that's free (in the early days, I paid for photos, but I was spending more on the pictures that the book was making, so now I stay within the limitations of FREE until it makes sense to spend more.) I think of two or three scenes from the story, and look for photos with elements of those scenes, then construct whichever scene works best with the photos I've found.
Once the cover art is complete, I choose a font and color that works with it (I think I have a pretty good eye for this) and "feels" right for the story. I always have three text sections - the title in the middle, my by line at the bottom, and a teaser of sorts at the top. That's as close as I get to personal branding.
Collections are simpler - the covers of the included stories with a centered title and bottom by-line (I'm going to have to alter that pattern when I go to collections of collections - we shall see...)
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