Michelle Balge's Blog, page 2

Cover Reveal

Here is the cover of A Way Out!

The meaning behind the cover is to inspire hope. I originally was going for something more dark, but the title already lets you know it’s going to be that way. I want the cover to evoke mostly positive emotions with its colours, though the teardrop is a sad symbol. I cried a lot during my depression and from social anxiety, so it represents all the tears I’ve cried. Tears are most often now from happiness unless I’m watching a movie or intense tv show.

You could also choose to see this as rain, being the storm in my mind. I had a dark cloud of depression over me and many times it felt as if it would never go away. This cover shows that the cloud is gone.

No matter how you choose to interpret it, the message is still clear. There is hope.

 

Love always,

Michelle

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Writing and Cover Progress

Things are moving along well! I have less than 1000 words left to write (but then I’ll add a bit more in mid October from grad) and I’m pretty much done the front book cover.

The cover has gone through a bunch of changes, some small and others a complete redesign. I put a couple of my most recent versions onto a site where you can see a mock version of your cover on a book, and one of the designs made me tear up. Pretty ironic that on the cover is a teardrop… I won’t say anything else about how it looks but it will be revealed quite soon!

Love always,

Michelle

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Linkin Park

I’m sure many of you have heard or read about Chester Bennington of Linkin Park who died by suicide a couple days ago. If you remember in a previous blog post I wrote about how certain songs, mostly by Linkin Park, helped to spark my emotions and bring back memories of when I was severely depressed. I hope that Chester knew/knows of what a deep impact he had on people. That even though life became more than he was able to handle, he helped save lives of many others. He will be missed.

My deepest condolences go out to those who have lost someone to suicide, and for those themselves who have passed on.

Here is a unedited excerpt from my book on listening to Linkin Park’s music:

“When I wept, and sometimes to induce crying, I’d listen to depressing music. Linkin Park was my poison of choice, in addition to some songs from City and Colour. I listened to these songs on repeat, certain lines resonating with me and making me wish I could end it all. While the music made me cry more, it allowed me to feel some sort of release. As if someone else could understand what I was going through. Dark as it was, and that it sometimes made me want to hurt myself more, it also kept me here.”

Love always,

Michelle

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