Gold Stars and Book Covers

When I worked out at the gym an awful lot, back in my college days, I used to give myself a gold star for every visit to the gym. My appointment book would glitter with gold when I flipped through it, and that was good thing. It let me know that I was doing the right thing, because taking time to go to the gym meant that I was taking care of myself.

I had Dennison stars. These ones are so old, they are from Pay ‘n Save and only cost me eighty-nine cents.

I also had Avery Foil Star Labels, which were my star of choice, on account of when you stuck ’em on, they looked as though they’d been embossed on the paper. They had a nice, long-lasting plastic case, too.

Some of those Avery labels are so old that they are without packaging and the stars do not stick to their backing anymore; the stars flutter in my hands when I pick up a sheet of them.

Then I had SuperShape Stickers, which have nice long sheets of stars, but the stars are all the wrong shapes. I never cottoned on to using them, so there are a lot left.

This was a thing I did, and so devoted was I to working out that I actually would run out of stars, and have to go by m0re.  But then, one might ask, how on earth does a gold star, worth, at most 1/2 penny, make for reinforcement?

All I know is that to look at something like this calendar, somewhat full of stars (it was a busy week!), it makes me feel good. Like a second grader might feel good, perhaps, to get a smiley face on the top of their homework.

Getting to the gym is more difficult these days, probably because it is so very easy for me to justify doing more important things, such as paying bills, doing laundry, taking the car for an oil change. You know, grownup stuff.

As a writer, I got lucky, because now my gold stars are book covers.

When I finish a new book, I get a new book cover. My cover artist, James at Bookfly Design, probably has no idea what happens to me when a new cover is due from him. But here’s how it goes. When the email comes from Bookfly Design, and the little paperclip announces to me (before I’ve even opened the email) that there’s an attachment, I dance about like a giddy kid on the first day of school. Or, better yet, like a giddy kid on the last day of school.

I actually get UP from the computer and walk around my house, as if the attachment were of little or no interest to me. I’m an adult, you see, and far above getting excited over my writerly version of a gold star.

But it’s a lie. You know it is, and I know it is. All I’m doing as I walk around is drawing out the anticipation, building it up, because unlike gold stars, those new book covers only show up two or three times a year. So I savor them like a sommelier does his wine, and a courtesan her conquest. I make it last and last until I can’t stand it any more. Then I rush to the computer, sit down and, in a feverish haste, I download the attachment.

It goes into my Download folder, so first, before anything else, I have to move it to the appropriate XYZ Novel folder.

Then I have to unzip it; it appears as a new folder with the same name as the attachment.

This I stare at, my mouth watering a little bit and my heart beating wildly. (It’s okay if I use adverbs in my own blog post, right?)

And then, oh then, I open the folder.

Then, at last, I get to open my covers!

There are several different sizes of the same cover, one meant for Amazon covers (.mobi), and one meant for epub covers, and then a small one for posting just about anywhere. They look like this:

Then there are the covers that I can use for different types of posts, such as one that looks like its inside of an ereader or tablet…

…and another that looks like a printed book turned slightly sideways.

My favorite, I think, is what Bookfly calls “The Series.” This is the image of all of the books thus far, lined up in a row like the happy little campers they are. These are my gold stars. These are my works of joy.

So what do you use for gold stars, now that you’re adulting and writing at the same time?