If there’s one absolute truth in our life, it’s that we learn and grow as we gain more experience. That concept applies in our careers, our marriages and relationships, parenting, etc. And it’s also a fact as a writer.
My debut novel, Physical Touch, released over 6 years ago in July 2014. I was an unknown writer, didn’t know a thing about writing or publishing, but I was adamant I’d figure it out. After writing the book, I scraped together enough money to find a freelance editor and a book cover designer to get me started.
And now, six years and 27 books later, here I am, still learning something new every day. The one thing this quarantine has taught me is how to become self-reliant and figure things out on my own. In doing so, I decided to teach myself how to design a book cover. This is something I never even attempted to try because I don’t have an eye for design. However, new tools and easy to use templates gave me a starting point.
After many trial-and-error attempts, I finally landed on a cover design I felt good with using and decided to give all four books in my Physical Series a makeover! Ta-Da! I present to you, the newly recovered series.
They are not perfect. And honestly, I had to go back to my normal cover designer to ask for help in creating the print book jackets because that took a lot more know-how than I had at my disposal.
The point of all of this, though, and what I’m trying to share, is that we’re never too old or too stuck in our ways to learn something new. To hone new skills. To try something we’ve never done before. And while this pandemic and the current times we’re living through has been extremely difficult on all of us, I also think there’s some positive we can find if we really search for it.
If it’s one thing this experience has taught me it’s that the world is changing for all of us in so many unprecedented ways and that I must change with it. I can either look at it as a burden and a difficulty or turn it over and look for the positive underneath it all.
Stay positive, my friends. We’ll get through this together.
Xoxo, Sierra
Ps: Another thing I’ve learned to do is create and record YouTube author interviews. Check out my latest here: https://www.youtube.com/c/sierrahillbooks in my segment called Sierra Talks Books with Authors. And thanks to my wonderful video editor, Saby Z. for her expertise and help!