This was the original cover for THE COWBOY’S BABY. My sister and I scoured the county for something suitable for a book about a reclusive ranch owner who finds love at her doorstep, the manager of a golf course in a gated community who finds he’s built half of the course on the adjoining ranch, and a very strange bull. All loosely re-imagined in the form of a contemporary Sleeping Beauty story.

I spent years writing this. When I moved from the Tyler area of Texas to Lockhart, Texas I packed the bits and pieces of my writing life and brought it with me. But only what I thought I could continue (plus my collection of rejection slips, going back to junior high school, if not earlier). THE COWBOY’S BABY was maybe a fourth finished. I took a year finishing it. It has been my best selling book, although it’s not my best book.

I also bought an unfinished fantasy manuscript. I love the idea. Hope to get to it someday.

Anyhow, this is about the cover. We replaced it with a professional cover about a year later. What was wrong with the original was that it made the book stand out, and not in a good way. Didn’t fit into any of the romance categories, and was even a bit too big.

Worst of all, it didn’t convey the playful tone of the book. I call this romantic comedy.

You can see the current version here http://amzn.com/B003UYUVZC. It is also available for the Nook and through Smashwords, and especially as an Audible file.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK. The Last Widow By Karin Slaughter.

This is a book by one of my friends.