Multi-Cover Bookmark

I just received my order for bookmarks and am quite happy with it. This bookmark was printed on a postcard format twice. That is, I placed 2 of these, side by side, and used VistaPrint postcard services. I only needed a few, so I'll take the postcard doubles to a local printer, who will slice them in two.

I only needed a few, because I'm doing a program that explains the different subgenres of romance as it is today. I speak Sunday, Oct 4 at noon at the Missouri Literary Festival.

To create the first bookmark/format, use a graphic program. You'll need measurements to match the printers specs for a postcard. Lay out a background and then add new layers for each cover/photo. That way, they are moveable/adjustable, until you flatten.

I usually leave the original unflattened. That way, if I want to make changes later, I just assign a new name for the update and flatten that one. The backside has two parts to match the front bookmarks. It lists my E-mail, Twitter, Website, etc.

Notice that some of my covers go right to edge of the cut. That is called full bleed. You may want full bleed, or to use the inside cutting margin and draw a rectangle inside to create a border.

This pattern was used first as a .jpg for my Twitter page. But I changed the dpi to 300 and it worked well for 4-color printing. Not advised though.

I wasn't quite certain how these would turn out. But I'm happy with them.

Review Happy Today

  Stuck On You (Feature Anthology)

It's a good day when an older book is lovingly reviewed and that was today. Detra Fitch, alias Huntress, is a long-time respected reviewer. She's just posted 5 stars on my Taking Her Time novella in STUCK ON YOU, a Harlequin anthology. "Brilliant" she wrote in her view of my story. Her review is even written in French!

She hasn't gotten the other stories yet, Carolyn Zane's and Wendy Rosnau's but I'd say they'd rate a "brilliant", too.

Novellas are particularly difficult for me as I am a "long" writer, so this review means much to me.

Thank you, Huntress Reviews

Ode to Exploding Cigars

 
For the last couple years or so, I've enjoyed Love is an Exploding Cigar blog with tremendous authors and guests. Cigars Regulars are: authors Karen Foley, Lynn Raye Harris, Ellen Hartman, Diana Holquist, Samantha Hunter, Shirley Jump, Dee Tenorio and
Jeannie Watt. As a guest, I really enjoyed everyone and the comments.

Now "Cigars" has decided to close, the authors really busy with careers. I understand fully. We're in hugging mode over at Cigars, so please drop in and visit.

Here's one of my guest author posts, modified a bit for this format:
VIBES by Cait London
So I was talking to Wilson this morning about my dining experience with two psychics. Wilson was his usual stoic self, but then large pumpkins don’t often have a lot to say.

I’ve become somewhat attached to Wilson, named after Tom Hank’s Wilson. My Wilson is not pretty, the usual dull tan of a “cowfield” pumpkin. I bought him last October; I knew his kind made great pies, especially when mixed with molasses. But writing heavily, I didn’t have time to deal with Wilson and he remained in the cool basement until late February. It was time to visit my daughter and family and help with their newborn. (Yes, I’m a grandmother.) And that is how Wilson became my traveling companion and quite the conversationalist. As I drove through snow and ice on my way to Lexington, KY, this from MO, Wilson sat happily in my large bread bowl. Again, I was too busy to deal with Wilson, and he returned home with me.


This morning, he sat in his bread bowl on the couch (I hadn’t unpacked yet), and while the conversation was silent, I’m certain he understands about psychic vibes.

There I was, sitting between two psychics after lunch. One gave me a tarot reading, while the other conveyed her “spirit guides” conversation to me. Both readings were possible, sometimes true, and equally hair-raising.

In preparation of writing my romantic suspense Aisling Psychic Triplets trilogy, I’d previously interviewed psychics and understood something of their personalities and experiences. Generally, there’s some trauma in their pasts, just as with my triplets—Claire, Tempest, and Leona.

As I sat between these two psychics, tarot cards and lunch leavings on the table, I felt their vibes mixing around me. I came to wonder if the readings were actually mine. Did I have psychic ability? Okay, reportedly my family has touches of the abilities and sometimes do connect with each other, though miles apart.

With three daughters, I understand the family dynamics of the Aislings, and how the familial position affects their personalities. My middle daughter is a really good character study and Tempest in A STRANGER'S TOUCH was created from her personality. Likewise Claire, the youngest in AT THE EDGE, derived from my youngest, and Leona, the fighter, the most fierce and powerful emerged from my eldest daughter’s traits. (Leona in FOR HER EYES ONLY was a 10/08 release.)

Explaining psychic vibes can get a little chancy, because the whole field is a bog of uncertainties and nonrealities. I’m certain that when psychics of any kind are near each other, their vibes mix, much the same as my triplets’ emotions and thoughts mixed, when in close proximity. That is why the Aislings, contemporary women descended from a Celtic seer and a Viking chieftain, must live a distance from each other. No way would you to romance a hunk, such as Marcus Greystone with your sisters and mother understanding what’s going on. Which is why Tempest Storm, the middle-born, and heroine of the 2nd book in the trilogy, stays away from water, a universal transport for psychic sensations/thoughts, when in Marcus’s arms.

  Wilson, sitting in his bowl with the Hawaiian leis I’d placed around him (after all, he’d been through several states, but never Hawaii), understands Marcus perfectly, probably a male-to-male thingie. After a one-night stand, Marcus isn’t happy with the woman who left his bed, without saying good-bye. He wants a rematch with Tempest, this time without her protective gloves, and he also wants her psychometry ability to solve a cold-case murder. Tempest is psychic-hand endowed, able to feel the history of an object, and the person who held it. To save her family, she’s after an ancient brooch, which is in Marcus’s firm grip and she’ll do anything to get it.

A STRANGER'S TOUCH is set on the shores of Lake Michigan. Wilson’s vibes seemed to shudder when I told him that, but then pumpkins float, so he’d be safe.

Wilson is safe … for now. He understands how very different each book in the triplets’ trilogy is, how very individual the characters are, and how unique they fit within the story arc of all three books.

I think that all writers have their own individual vibes or use those given off by others as we create our stories. We’re probably sucking vibes from each other right now, so watch out.

Or that’s what I told Wilson.