Covers, Trailers and False Starts (oh, my!)

It's amazing how much more there is to publishing a book than writing a book. Now obviously the author doesn't do all of that other stuff - with a traditional publisher there are editors, copyeditors, sales people, designers, and so many more - but it does still come as a surprise to me to step back and realize just how much of my work time has involved doing things that have little or nothing to do with actual writing.

For example, I recently had a sneaky peek at the US cover concept and design for THE LOST GIRL... 

...and yes, it was every bit as exciting as you might imagine it would be! I've been dying to see a cover for months so it was definitely an OMGIMIGHTFAINT kind of moment. It's early days yet so I'm not allowed to say much about it, but I will say it looked beautiful. 

And it also felt surreal. For so long this story has only ever been in my head and in words. To see it turned into images and colours like that, by somebody else entirely... well. It made my head spin.

I've also been working on a book trailer. Not exactly writing work, is it? But I really want to create something lovely for the book and so far I'm just bouncing ideas around, visualising possibilities in my head, and making lists of clips/footage I'll need to get my hands on. It's fun (for me, anyway, it might not be every writer's cup of tea) but it's also stressful and hard work and I haven't even got to actually acquiring or editing any footage yet! But it does just show how much of my Writing Day passes by without any writing happening.

But I do write. Or I try. I scribble things. I work on new ideas. But lately I've had a series of false starts. Ideas I've brainstormed and gotten excited about, only to find that they fizzle out when I try to put them onto the page. Or stories I've started that I like, but just don't love, and I find that I go back to the same four chapters and reread them and can't make myself go on. 

It's disheartening. It's disappointing. And it's like a physical itch because I want to write, I want to be working on something new, but nothing feels right at the moment. But I guess that makes me feel hopeful too. Because I'd know it if it felt right. So I know these false starts, these brief sparks of ideas, they're just not it. 

At least not yet. And that's okay.

What's gotten you excited or frustrated lately?