Praying Books into Being

When I began writing Lament Forgive, I designed a mock paperback cover for it.

On the front, I put my name in capital letters at the top, an isolated image of a bird underneath, and the title and sub-title at the bottom. The background was a plain light grey. At the time, lamenting wasn't on my horizon, so the title I used was Memories of Broken Wings: Choosing the Way of Forgiveness.

On the back, I wrote some blurb detailing what I wanted the book to be about, and slapped on a mock barcode, my publishing logo and website, and even the FSC logo.

At the same time, I designed three other covers for an idea I'd had for a series of short books on prayer.

I printed them out and folded them into the shape of paperback books. I then placed all four empty covers on a book shelf next to real, published books as a daily reminder of my dream. This was what I was working towards.

Occasionally, I would pick these "books" off the shelf and imagine flicking through their pages, praying them into being. There was obviously still a lot of hard work and self-discipline ahead of me, but doing this helped keep me motivated and focussed on achieving my dream.

Tonight, I designed and printed a new cover for my shelf.