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| Proud flamingo |
I bet you've seen those pink flamingos in yards no matter if you live in Florida or Alaska. Our church youth group and many other organizations plant a huge flock of them in people's yards as a fundraiser. Pay $10 to the group and they'll "decorate" the "victim's" yard with the flock and the victim then pays the group $10.00 to "flock" another yard, or at least remove the lovelies from their yard,
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| Flock of REAL flamingos at Homossassa Springs State Park, Florida |
I bet you're wondering why I'm excited about a National Pink Flamingo Day. Right? Some of you probably know my first novella, Sunshine Boulevard, was published in 2011 and the cover had a pair of pink flamingos on it. I requested the cover artist to use something that says Florida because the story takes place in a senior community in the Sunshine State, so she chose the flamingos.
Once friends and family saw the book cover, a wave of flamingos came my way in the form of jewelry, figurines, clothing, bags, etc. You name it. For awhile I was everything flamingo and I loved it! So of course, having a special day dedicated to flamingos fits right into my interests.
Now I'm re-visiting the original manuscript of Sunshine Boulevard and re-vising the story because Books We Love will re-release this humorous thriller in December.
Do you think I should use flamingos on the cover again or something not quite so pretty and lighthearted? Afterall, it does contain a bit of terror and death and mystery. Somehow I just can't picture a dark and mysterious book cover for this quirky mystery story.
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| Flamingo bag handcrafted by my author and friend, Joselyn Vaughn |
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| Books We Love Author, J.Q. Rose |
I hesitate to use alligators on the cover even if Florida is well known for alligators because what if friends/family decide to celebrate the new release by sending me alligators? Ewww. Let it be known I don't want a collection of alligators in my house!
So if you have some suggestions, I'd appreciate any ideas for the cover. (except alligators.) BWL's cover artist, Michelle Lee, is an imaginative designer and I'm sure she can take your ideas and create the perfect cover. I'm re-titling the book, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, because I like the contrast of terror against sunshine.
Thanks for your help!!
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The Readers Circle series continues this Friday, July 14 with USA Today Best-selling Author Diane Bator! Please join us in the circle, leave a comment, and be the lucky commenter to win Diane's eBook!!
4 comments:
I enjoyed reading Sunshine Boulevard. Sure, use flamingos again.
I believe it was for my sister and her husband's 50th anniversary, her family put 50 pink flamingo's on her front lawn. :)
Hi JQ, I've never heard of the tradition of putting flamingos in someone's garden. I'd love it, though! We have garden gnomes here as a tradition, but not the flamingos. I bet they give a lovely sunshine feel to a garden.
I see your problem with having them on the cover of a murder story. I did really like your old cover, though. Hmm. Perhaps your designer can feature just one flamingo (a bit more mysterious) against a dark and seedy background?
Great news that the book is being re-released. Congratulations!
Susan--those flamingos are quite a surprise and bring lots of giggles for folks passing by. Great idea to use them for an anniversary celebration!! Glad you enjoyed SB. I'm having fun revisiting the story myself! Thanks for stopping in.
Hi Helena, While many folks decorate their yard/garden with a few pink flamingos, the youth group set out 50 or so of the plastic birds on the front yard of the "victim's" home. Not so much decorating, but more of a fun prank. I love garden gnomes too to add a bit of whimsy to the plantings. Our church sponsored a garden tour of 6 local gardens last weekend and many of them had cute gnomes peeking through the plantings.
Thank you for your suggestion for the book cover--seedy and dark background indeed!
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