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Thursday, 29 June 2023

JO. B. CREATIVE!: ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY IS A WESTERN!

JO. B. CREATIVE!: ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY IS A WESTERN!: Oy, you lovely lot -  follow Kit Mackenzie's Author Page! Chop chop. 😄!  Said in the friendliest mode because you're a lovely bunch...
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ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY IS A WESTERN!

Oy, you lovely lot -  follow Kit Mackenzie's Author Page! Chop chop. 😄! 

Said in the friendliest mode because you're a lovely bunch and I'm very lucky to have you. And tell all your friends (and enemies) about me and my novel and what a stonking story it is. It is stonking because it's huge. I won't say great because not everyone will like it and some will positively hate/dislike it. As Oscar Wilde said: "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."





Alias Jeannie Delaney is a western. I think we've got a grip on that now. It's epic. A story told in three novels about half my protagonist's life. That's forty-five years, from 1865 to  1910. That's a heck of a lot of story, and not everyone has the time to read all that, and not everyone likes westerns. Many folk are lukewarm about them. Can take them or leave them. 

I'm just emphasizing these facts for potential readers as a warning. The three books cover my protagonist Jeannie's life from birth in New Orleans to her position as a powerful Wyoming rancher and her second inauguration as an equally powerful town mayor aged forty-five. 

I read through it and I'm excited by the story and can't wait to get it out! My editor loved the first book and said: 'Wow!' and helped me tweak and fix my words. She wasn't just saying that because she was after the work, because she had the work anyway. I'm always excited when people respond like that. Well, who wouldn't be?

I love my cover - my designer took my original artwork and design ideas and transformed them into a polished, beautiful front cover. I'm posting it here again - yes, again - for the benefit of those of you who may not have seen it. 



So - it's quite some story. Both the story itself and the story of the story. I'm really proud of both, I think, because it's the novel
I wanted/needed/had to write - I had no choice because no-one had written it, and there are complicated psychological reasons why I was compelled to write it which I didn't appreciate at the time but will enlarge upon in the future. I'm also proud of the fact that the front cover is the result of the collaboration between me and my designer. 

Not everyone will like the story for various reasons, including they don't like westerns, they won't like the occasional sexy, juicy subject matter bits within some chapters, and they don't like non-traditional westerns. Fair enough. Don't read it. There's room enough for all of us. 

So, to all of you who are kindly saying that you can't wait to read it - there's no guarantee that you'll enjoy it, and please don't read it just out of kindness and because you said you would. There's an awful lot of it. I found it hard enough to get through! 

Three novels for Gawds sake... ! What was I thinking?!






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Monday, 26 June 2023

MY PIG-HEADED NOVEL COVER STORY

  


HERE'S JEANNIE
IN ALL HER GLORY...





....AND HERE'S JEANNIE
AS I'VE IMAGINED HER
FOREVER


I call this post pig-headed because that's what it was. First off, at the top is the cover of my novel Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 1 - Go West, Girl! professionally and beautifully designed by Shawn Stephens of Flintlock Covers. I couldn't have asked for more. Shawn did a fabulous job!

Before Shawn came into the picture (see what I did there?) the time arrived for my cover to be designed. Hubby was not looking forward to this, because I wanted - needed - Jeannie to be on the cover, and I felt that no designer could imagine her like I could. 

I'm an artist and designer, so I wanted to create it myself. I'd feel incredibly proud of myself for having done so, and proud that I'd reveal my talents to potential readers. (What - you wrote it and 
designed and created the cover? Aren't you clever?!).

Despite hubby's misgivings, I went ahead and designed the cover.  I retrieved the images I'd created of Jeannie when I was young and embarrassable about this whole business and laid them out. One of them, a pencil and water colour full figure image of Jeannie aiming her revolver (above bottom) was inspired by a sixties black and white film still from a magazine of a cowboy who's showing off his shooting prowess (don't ask me which film or actor - a movie lost in the mists of time). Hubby pointed to the water colour. 'That's the best one. Nice and crisp.' 

    


       

                                      
 

THIS LAST IMAGE WAS INSPIRED
BY A PHOTO OF THE ACTOR
RICHARD HARRIS IN A WESTERN.
(JEANNIE WEARS A BANDANA
LATER).
 

All the images above were done in my teens or early twenties during the sixties and seventies. I'm a little more accomplished as an artist now, and less embarrassed about them. 

So, I went about creating my cover. I painted a mountain range and plains background using free stock photos as reference, and used BeFunky and Canva graphic software to give it an abstract look. Then I played around with Jeannie's figure. I chose the Docktrin font because I loved it. Then I painted and added the bottom label for my pen name and put it altogether. I really liked it at the time and was delighted that I'd done it. 



MY ORIGINAL
DESIGN IDEA


Later, hubby looked at me a tad sheepishly. 'I'm sorry...' he began, '...the cover...' Uh-oh. '...it's too cartoon-like. It is good, but not up to standard.' He cringed, knowing he was on dodgy ground. But he was prepared to take the shit to get the best for this piece of work for the woman he loved (me. Aw...).

Instead of hitting him, to his enormous relief it took a nano second for me to agree with him. When you trace an image multiple times, as I did to transfer Jeannie's figure into finished artwork, the image suffers and becomes cartoon-y. We needed a sophisticated and polished image. I finally admitted that I needed a professional designer on the job. Hubby told me not to expect a designer to come up with Jeannie's features exactly as I wanted. I muttered and mumbled.

My final objective was a compromise. I liked everything about my design - layout, Jeannie's figure, the background, the font, wording and colour palette - what if I found a designer who could translate all that into a polished cover? 

I found Shaun of Flintlock Covers and he took on the job of processing my images and ideas. After a couple of weeks he came up with a choice of three designs. I apologized to him for being the fussiest client ever, but he came back with the goods, more or less. Hubby and son said: 'That's excellent! Go for it.' I told Shaun to go for it. I'm more than happy with the outcome. Okay, so she's not totally Jeannie, but she, and the rest of the design, are fabulous. 

Now all I have to do is start thinking of the design of Book No Two. No pressure...




Here are a few great reviews:

OMG what a story! Can't wait for the next instalment! I was moved more than I'd expected ...... as I see it, you're a storyteller 
par excellence.

Yee-hah! I'm enjoying this soooo much! Not just because of the story but also because of the quality of your writing, and the loving detail you've put into it. Clearly a lot of research -- and dare I ask if you've actually been to these places? (I've got to Coyote Creek now) -- well, it certainly sounds like it to me.

Re YouTube video

Oh blimey! - just watched it, and my goodness you do know how to captive an audience ... well, me, anyhow. Never seen anything like it. Terrific!:-)

It's such a Thing, getting a book together. And this particular one ... I so enjoyed reading it in detail, and relishing the nuances of your fab writing.

I absolutely loved working on your book, reading it and rereading it, absorbing the world and the atmosphere you've created.

Caroline

And this from a reader, Anne. 

I'm just reading the preview at the moment, it's great! I just love your descriptions of where Jeannie is, so atmospheric 😌

And another from Facebook:

I loved the first chapter! I love westerns! 











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Monday, 5 June 2023

JO. B. CREATIVE!: THE BIG COVER REVEAL!

JO. B. CREATIVE!: THE BIG COVER REVEAL!: Here it it! My Jeannie Delaney e-novel cover in all its glory, plus the blurb about the story.  'Devastating and legendary deputy sherif...
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Sunday, 4 June 2023

THE BIG COVER REVEAL!

Here it it! My Jeannie Delaney e-novel cover in all its glory, plus the blurb about the story. 





'Devastating and legendary deputy sheriff Jeannie Morgan snaps a hand towards her holstered Colt. Her draw is blurred and blistering, shattering her opponent's hand. He screams and clutches his hand to his chest...'

'She'd started life in New Orleans but her father wanted to travel west and Jeannie becomes a cowgirl on his ranch. Here she finds her true western self, but she can't fit in. She grows strong and has a phenomenally fast gun hand which she relishes, causing men to hate her and for the fear she instills in them when she outdraws them.

She's developed into a stunning tomboy beauty and she knows it. Men – and women – desire her, but her sexuality has turned into something no-one understands.

She's killed twice in self defence, and now she's desperate to kill again for revenge. What will be the outcome of her actions? What will she become? And will her charismatic power and sexuality be the death of her?'


Book One of this crack shot trilogy, 'Go West, Girl!', introduces us to a girl who becomes devastating, tough as a miner's old boots, and owns a gaze which can kill just by looking at you.

My novel's audacious protagonist Jeannie was ahead of her time in 1985 when I began her story. I remember typing my first words on my electric typewriter one-handed while bottle feeding my baby. Over thirty years later, it's time to liberate Jeannie's story...


Alias Jeannie Delaney will be launched on Amazon in July, at which point I'll share the links.






Do visit my Facebook Kit MacKenzie Author Page. Here I'm posting regularly about my journey to self-publication. A long and - mostly - interesting one! 







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