| Although I’m generally more articulate in words than visuals, sometimes the balance swings the other way. Still playing catch-up a busy week and weekend, and with a few things to share before I can fully embrace a new week and new month, I’ve gone for an image-heavy post today. First up, is the gorgeous cover of my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, about a woman who has kept her past identity secret for thirty years, which is battling with nine others on cover wars. If you can spare a moment, please follow the link and vote for the one you prefer. |  |
 | I had hoped to post one of my regular posts on reading before June was out, but over-preparing for an event on Saturday stole the time I’d provisionally set aside. This is the poster I created for a stall at a local book fair with fellow IQ author Clare Stevens and members of the creative writing group she facilitates for the Maggie’s cancer centre. |
| Given the amount of stuff going on, it was good to have an audience for our readings although, by the end of the afternoon, it was so unusually hot even the most ardent bookworms had headed home. The overall theme was finding your (safe) place; I read the scene from my second novel, Underneath, when Liesel and Steve first visit the house with the cellar. |  |
Since the theme crops up in all three of my books, it wasn’t easy choosing which to read from. While procrastinating on Friday, I decided to film a video on finding your place in my fiction. Well, someone might watch it! Who knows?
 | I’m glad I took some time away from our stall to attend one of the more formal sessions with Elizabeth Cook, whose historical novel I reviewed in April this year. Elizabeth revealed that Lux took seventeen years to write, and her hard work has certainly paid off. It was good to connect with her, chat a little and get my copy signed! |
| As an introvert, I tend to need some quiet time after spending the day smiling at people who have no intention of buying my books, so it was therapeutic to spend Sunday out on the hills. I was thrilled to come across a dark green fritillary sunning itself, and even happier when it sat around long enough for me to take a fairly decent photo with my phone. |  |
 | Perhaps because I lack the skill to paint it, the scintillating scenery failed to furnish the inspiration for my response to the latest flash fiction prompt. Now I’ve found my story, however, I can trace the influences from being busy, Elizabeth Cook’s novel (because God has a big part in the characters’ lives) to the butterfly that looks as if it was named by someone who is colour blind: |
Painting the butterflies
On the fifth day, God created the birds and beasts. But, as midnight loomed, he still hadn’t started on the invertebrates, so he delegated them to the angels. The angels, however, were too ham-fisted to paint the delicate wings of the moths and butterflies, so they handed over the brushes and paint pots to the elves. All the colours of the spectrum, apart from dark green, which ran out painting the rainforest on the third day. It was a minute to midnight when they checked God’s list, which is why the dark green fritillary is primarily orange and black.
On the fifth day, God created the birds and beasts. But, as midnight loomed, he still hadn’t started on the invertebrates, so he delegated them to the angels. The angels, however, were too ham-fisted to paint the delicate wings of the moths and butterflies, so they handed over the brushes and paint pots to the elves. All the colours of the spectrum, apart from dark green, which ran out painting the rainforest on the third day. It was a minute to midnight when they checked God’s list, which is why the dark green fritillary is primarily orange and black.
A quick reminder you can vote for my cover – or any of the others – over on Author Shout, before the final photo of this post. Click on the image to see my reviews of this month’s ten novels, including You Would Have Missed Me by Birgit Vanderbeke which earned a rare five stars.
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