images and chest hair-- or not

When creating covers, one of the things that both amuses and frustrates me is finding male images where the men have hair on their chest-- even a little bit. That royalty free images generally do not is a testament to waxing, shaving, male modeling, body building, and who knows what else as it's sure not about reality for men's bodies.

Yes, metrosexuals might wax, but real cowboys, loggers, men who work with their hands, very few of them do (as in I have not known any). Most movie stars likewise still have hair on their chests. 

Remember the guy below and his popular television show? Oh probably not if you are young (Clint Walker and he played Cheyenne from 1955-1963). I suspect he played a role in how many western writers still write about the tall, black haired western hero ;). His show almost always had him taking off his shirt for one reason or another. None of us complained :). I will admit when I was 13, I thought I'd marry him someday. Then I found out he was already married. A major disappointment!

So finding men with bristle on their jaw, that's easy but on their chests... not so much. Yes, it's true some men have very little chest hair, but all men, by nature, have some. I recently saw Dirty Dancing again and Patrick Swayzee had a great body in it, several shirtless scenes, and I had to look hard to see if he had chest hair-- he did. Just not a lot.

Even Native American men had chest hair, but genetically they had little. Many of the tribes plucked their chest hairs-- maybe because they were into body paint for battle. Could that explain the hairless men of the royalty free sites?

Maybe this is because young women like smooth hairless chests. To me, likely a testament to my own age, I like chest hair although I wouldn't particularly like it heavily covering the whole body.

Some object to the covers of romances having bare-chested men period and find especially negative the need for so much muscular definition. Well men do have muscular definition, at least those who work hard for a living. What they do not have are waxed and oiled chests. I am all for muscular chests... but for my book covers, give me some chest hair please? 

When Jimmy Thomas, one of the models for book covers, said he'd be putting out some images with hair because he'd had an injury and was unable to model for awhile-- hence had not waxed, I was waiting and bought two different ones. Currently this is not on any of my covers, but someday it'll be the inspiration :). To me, hair on a man's chest is manly. Why is that not more popular for book covers???

creating paperbacks

back-cover & cover for Her Dark Angel

Besides a summer of editing, this has been a time for me to work out back-covers for paperback versions of six Portland romance/adventure/suspense books. A back-cover has to fit with the cover while giving a reader a bit of what they will find in the book. I looked at various books I owned for ideas as to what would be needed. There were many options from basically a blurb, to something catchy, to no info at all. 

Good. That means I can do what I think suits my books. I plan to let these set for awhile as I consider if they are the final version. It has taken time-- and isn't finished as the spline still has to be created but my publisher (husband) does that. It was though rewarding as I enjoy working with images.

In the process of all this work (yes, I have gone a little dry-eye from so many hours staring at words), I put together the chronology for all my books. For the historicals, I'd done this as I wrote them, although hadn't put them in a list. You can't write a historical without knowing what else happened at the same time. Earlier, I hadn't bothered with the contemporaries as I always thought of them as happening when I was writing them.

Except some had connecting characters and years in between. I needed to figure this all out when I decided to connect the Portland, Oregon, books as a series-- related by their locale. What I learned is that while some had a specific number of years between the first and connecting story, I had to choose wisely where I began the dates. 

Things also happen in contemporary times, which you could not ignore if you set your book there-- 9/11 is an example. Any book set in 2001, unless early in the year, would have to take that into account. I was in no mood to go back into any books set in that fall and add it in; so best to avoid that specific time period. 

The other thing I have done during my editing phase is set the books, with continuing characters, closer together on my blog specifically for them-- Rainy day Romances. I enjoy writing stories with continuing characters; so it has happened more than a few times. I get to liking a certain character or set of them and enjoy working with them again.

Maybe my finally creating a chronology is another stage of becoming more organized. Writing is one thing. Publishing a book adds another dynamic. When I wrote just for myself, chronologies didn't matter. Readers though do their own calculations. If they don't like the writer's logic, probably they won't return for another book. The books in this list are all my contemporaries to date. I do have plans for more though and will now just add them where they belong.

When we did the first paperbacks, we put out Luck of the Draw, which is set in 1974. I was uncertain of whether to include it in the list of contemporaries as there is a lot of debate about how far back contemporary goes. Some suggest a good idea is to call such books-- contemporary historic fiction. They add that if it was contemporary to you, it's contemporary, which it certainly was. It is set in Oregon but Pendleton. Like so many of the things I write, it doesn't fit in a convenient box! About that, there isn't anything I can do...

      1974    Luck of the Draw (Pendleton, Oregon)

1998      Moon Dust (Portland, Central Oregon)

1999      Evening Star (Portland, Coast, Southern Oregon, Tahoe)

2000      Desert Inferno (Arizona)

2005      Bannister’s Way (Portland, Coast)

2006      Second Chance (Portland)

2007      Hidden Pearl  (Portland, Umpqua)
           Sky Daughter (Idaho)

2009      Her Dark Angel (Reno, Portland, Tahoe)

2010      When Fates Conspire, Part I Diablo Canyon  

           From Here to There  (both Montana)

2012      The Dark of the Moon-- Part II Diablo Canyon (Montana)

2013    A Montana Christmas (Montana)

2014      Storm in the Canyon -- Part III Diablo Canyon  (Montana)

on writing

Online I am connected to quite a few writers mostly in the romance or fantasy genres. I also though, through this blog and others, know those who would like to write but feel they either cannot or aren't ready. 

The world has changed from when publishing houses were the gatekeepers as to who could be a published writer. Those big houses still exist and have the big bucks behind their books, but there are now a lot of small eBook publishers as well as writers like myself who have opted not to let anybody else call their shots. Writers have options, and that can become confusing or even a block for those who have yet to take the leap.

Places like Amazon or Direct to Digital, make it pretty easy to convert books into something readers can buy. The prices of such books benefit readers and writers. I became a big fan of eBooks to read once I saw how I could go on a vacation without taking ten books. I love having hundreds at my fingertips on a device that can fit in my purse. I still read paper books, but eBooks have been good to me as a writer and a reader.

For those who would like to write but have yet to feel they can, it's important to keep in mind-- publishing is now an option. So if you want to write-- write. Don't critique yourself out of doing it. Write. From writing will come writing, and it might not be what you expect. 

Being your own toughest critic, the one who stops you from writing, is the problem creative people face. I cannot paint like Rembrandt/Van Gogh/Pollack or write like Hemingway/Gabaldon/Steinbeck; so I should not paint/write at all, etc. etc. etc. Most of the names you admire didn't paint/write that way when they began either. It takes doing to get there.

Then when you write something, let someone else read it; ideally someone who likes books in your genre. Ask them to tell you what they liked or did not about the book. I remember when I first began writing and let friends read my words. That took a lot of nerve. It's scary. There is real reluctance to let someone we care about see our creative work. But it is what helps us see if we are getting there or missing the boat. If we are missing it, what can we change? Actually an honest friend can be far more helpful than later a random reader who the writer can never question as to what they meant by their criticism.

Finding your own genre is a big part of enjoying writing. Do you like to read mysteries? Start thinking of mystery plots. Do you like to think about relationships, about why they work or don't, consider romance? Do you have the kind of imagination that creates apocalyptic or fantasy worlds? Horror? Erotica? Whatever is your natural inclination might be your genre. 

Write the book you'd love to read.

Don't be stopped by whether that genre is acceptable to your social group. I am well aware romance is not okay for many liberals. It's actually the Cinderella of writing which gets little respect (sometimes justifiably so). Women in certain social sets hide romance books from their friends. They will show off the latest NYTimes bestseller, which got rave professional reviews, but not the book with the hot couple on the cover. Although, these days eBook devices make it easier to hide what is socially unacceptable. They don't make it easier for the writers of such books. 

What are you writing?

Romance.

Oh....
no more questions...

But here's the thing, if it's your natural genre, it's what you will enjoy writing. It takes more nerve to write in a genre that is unacceptable to your crowd and talk about it. I know about that. I suspect it's why romance writers tend to hang together as it's somewhere they can share their work and ideas without feeling that silent criticism.

If you want to write and enjoy the writing, if you want to be more than a formula writer, you have to find your genre, the one where you love to read and where you have an idea for a story that you haven't read anywhere else. 

When you want to write it so much that you don't care if it's socially acceptable with your friends, that's the passion you need and that will make your book come alive for you. 

If you aren't there yet, then you probably aren't ready to publish. You can still write, but but don't think you never will publish and make public what you write. Someday it'll be-- who cares. This is for me! It is my creative gift, and I am going to use it.