Waiting for paint to dry...

When I was co-authoring a book named "Nina's Corner" with Joyce Marie Taylor, one of the sayings she wanted to use in the book was "boring as waiting for paint to dry".

I immediately called her and said, "No!  We can't use that metaphor.  I like waiting for paint to dry, to me, that's not boring.  I'm an artist, I like watching paint dry!"  She chuckled.

So we settled on "as boring as watching grass grow".

While we were collaborating on the book, I was also busy creating the cover painting which would appear on the book.  When I sent the image to Joyce, she was blown over.  She loved it.  She explained to me a book's cover doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with the story on the inside.  It didn't, as it was the front of a house which is located on Boca Grande, Florida.  (Although I took the house out of the picture and just painted the gate's entry, it still was the front of a house but had NOTHING to do with the story at all.)

Here is the cover of our book as seen on Amazon.

Here it is laid flat.  

Here is the original painting.  

I LOVE this painting.  It's small and is hanging on my dining room wall in the corner between the front door and the dining room table.  It has a lovely beige cloth inner frame and a gold outer frame.  It speaks volumes to me.  (See how I took the house out?  Yes, there was a house behind that entry gate but it isn't needed for the painting.  Is it really that pretty?  Well, let's just say I gave it more color than was there and the palm fronds are all seemingly alive in the painting whereas in real life they weren't.  

Actually Joyce and I wrote another book together titled "Life in San Argle".  We had fun writing together and if she ever wanted to write together again, I would happily say yes!  Joyce is not only a talented writer but she did the complete layout for the book cover, including the placements of our photos, wording and where to put the painting, what to cut out, etc.  She is an amazing, talented woman.  I adore her.  Our second book, "Life in San Argle" is dedicated to her father who passed right before we started writing the book, and to my mom who also passed.  There is some serious writing going on in that book which would bring tears to your eyes as her feelings were still so raw from losing her father and not to give the storyline away, she blended in the focus of the story well with things that were happening in her own life at that time, although the majority of the story was mine.  There are also really funny, knee slapping moments, especially in the bathroom at the wedding.   We truly do work good together, if only it could get greater recognition.  I'm so proud of both books and everything that went into them.  Joyce Marie Taylor brought more out of me than I ever knew I had.  

All available on Amazon.com

Nina's Corner

Life in San Argle

 by

Joyce Marie Taylor 

and Kathleen E. Kelly

Can be downloaded into a kindle and other devices.

Better yet, check out her website at www.joycemarietaylor.com