Portrait of a Girl Adrift Now Available!

Over the past months, I’ve been working hard preparing Portrait of a Girl Adrift for publication, and I’m happy to announce that the paperback version is now available on Amazon.com.* Here is a preview of the full cover layout.

So that you don't have to squint at the cover copy on the back, here's what it says:

Just when Leila thinks she has everything under control, her deepest insecurities resurface when she must confront her unresolved issues surrounding the mother who abandoned her as a baby, and the men who raised her. Not even Clarence Myles can show her the way, and so Leila embarks on a journey of self-discovery that sends her drifting from place to place in search of answers.

In the process of zigzagging her way between North and South, Leila encounters a series of intense psychological twists and turns that send her reeling, grappling with more questions about her identity. Embarking on a final quest for what it means to be ‘whole,’ Leila risks everything she knows about maintaining control; on a calculated whim, she boards a boat with a young woman who is everything Leila is not. While navigating her own heart, nothing could prepare Leila for the biggest truth she’s about to learn.

Also, the Kindle version is still available for preorder, but I've moved the release date up by a couple weeks. It will be ready to download on Tuesday, November 15th.

In addition to uploading the novel files for publication, I updated my website, JBChicoine.com ... now to clean up the mess from my exploding head ...

* It will take a few weeks for it to show up on other online book retailers

Portrait of a Girl Adrift: Cover Progress

I've been working on the cover for Portrait of a Girl Adrift … it's been quite a process. In case any of my readers have suspected, yes, I am the model for the 'girl' on the covers, not because I necessarily resemble Leila—I mean, I am fifty six, after all—but I publish my novels on a scant budget, and what can I say … I'm cheap and available! And it's not difficult to trim off twenty-five pounds and smooth wrinkles with graphics software.

Nevertheless, I had intended a different pose for this cover—Leila sitting cross legged, 'Indian style' as we used to say (but that's probably no longer politically correct—the term, not the position). At any rate, Todd set up the camera, adjusted the flood light and flipped on the fan for billowing the linen shirt. But when I tried to assume the position, well, there was simply no way! I don't know when it happened, when my body decided to be so inflexible, but I was going to have to reconsider the composition for the cover. The image proportions are a bit different from the covers for Girl Running and Protégé, but Adrift still has the same feel.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post the progression of the painting (and no, I will not share the photo I worked from—don't need that circulating around the internet!).

... And here is the finished cover:

I'm happy with the result, and now I can post it where it needs to be, places like Amazon (it may take a few days for the image to show up) and Goodreads. I also want to remind any of my readers that the Kindle version of Portrait of a Girl Adrift is available for pre-order on Amazon—to be released on December 6th. And if anyone would like an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for a review on Amazon or Goodreads (preferably both), just let me know. Also, if you've read Portrait of a Girl Running or Portraitof a Protégé, consider leaving reviews for those—it helps their discoverability.

Meanwhile, it's back to editing…

My Big Plans

For the past month, I’ve been working on some graphics for my next novel, Spilled Coffee. Not only that, but I’ve made the decision to publish Spilled Coffee  independently, yes, self-publishing. Even before I started this blog—nearly five years ago—I was enamored with the idea of self-publishing. I’ve always had a Do-It-Yourself mindset which extends to my writing. I learned how to write by writing and researching and connecting with a few other writers. I even went so far as to format, print, and bind one of my earlier novels (I plan to resurrect this novel in the future).

My writing has come a long way, even to the point of being traditionally published, which has been a huge boost to my confidence. Not only that, but I’ve received some greatly-appreciated correspondence from some who have read Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright and really enjoyed it. Thank you so much to all those who took the time to share their thoughts!

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows I’m not a hard-sell—I find promotion, networking, and marketing very awkward (as do many writers). I’ve also heard it said that the best way to sell one book is by writing another…well, I can do that! In fact I’ve done that, and now it’s getting near time to put the next novel out there. I had a few works to choose from and picked Spilled Coffee as a follow-up to Uncharted. Like Uncharted, I wrote Spilled Coffee in first person point of view as a man. It’s not so much nautical, though a rowboat on a lake in New Hampshire plays a role in the story. What the two stories have in common are the thirty-something men coming to terms with their family and past. Here’s the logline, a bit of promotional art, and what you’d read on the back cover:

A Novel About Coming of Age…Again…

Benjamin Hughes is on a mission. He has just bought back the New Hampshire lake cottage his family lost eighteen summers ago, in 1969, just before he turned fourteen—just before his life blew apart.

Still reeling from a broken engagement, Ben has committed himself to relive that momentous summer for the next twenty-four hours. 

Every summer as a boy, Ben has gawked at the pretty redhead Amelia, granddaughter to the richest man on the lake, Doc Burns—owner of a Cessna floatplane and the Whispering Narrows estate. During the summer of ’69, Ben not only sneaks around with Amelia, but he learns how to fly with Doc, and meets an eclectic cast of characters that will change him forever. The best summer of Ben’s life turns out to be the worst as the Burns’ family dysfunction collides with his own family’s skeletons.

So, that’s the news for this week. Soon I will be posting the cover art I’ve been messing around with, perhaps some of the interior art,  and updates on the publication progress.