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30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 19

Day 19 is represented by the LGBTQ+ novel Before We Were Men by Kai Parker! This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Sean Childers-Gray!

Before We Were Men

Two best friends who lose contact after school, meet again at their 10-year school year reunion having both transitioned (FTM). Their friendship reignites and becomes so much more.

About the Author

The author has chosen to keep their identity a secret!

About the Designer

Sean Childers-Gray (he/they) Designer | Educator | Transgender Advocate -

Sean has spent almost two decades working in the field of graphic design. He earned his MFA in Media Design from Full Sail University. He works as the BlendEd Learning Coordinator for Davis Technical College in Kaysville, Utah.

He and his wife spend their free time volunteering for the LGBTQ+ community and he serves as the President and Marketing Director for Ogden Pride, creating festival materials, branding, environmental graphics, and more. He has been featured in PRINT Magazine’s Creative Voices series.

You can read and subscribe to his work, The Shape of Our Dignity, on his Substack. Follow on Insta @s_childersgray

Cover Design Process:

This year. we gave designers the optional prompt to explain their design process for the cover! Here’s Sean’s:

I initiate my design process with brainstorming and seeking inspiration. Sketching follows, as I contemplate the emotional impact and aesthetic elements that lead to what I’d assume the author wants the reader to feel, consistently refining my ideas. This ongoing process allows me to balance creativity and functionality throughout the design journey. While there is a great deal of trending covers in this particular genre, I wanted to take a more grunge textured approach, setting a timed feel to what seems a great timeless story. The half-tone pattern, layered imagery, and nostalgic layout of memories past gives it an overall complexity that the story probably leans into.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 18

We’re heading to another world! Day 18 is represented by Science Fiction novel Mona and a Bee by Nina Fortmeyer! This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, David Hisaya Asari!

Mona and a Bee

In a future where bees are extinct, a single mom who lives with a 12 year old son discovers her cat door is a portal. On the other side is a verdant ancient world that people can’t enter because they can’t fit through the door. After her cat , Mona, comes home with a bee, Linn and a neighbor collaborate to make contact with the world on the other side. They eventually do, only to find a warrior about to be wrongly executed. They help him by providing antibiotics, proving he isn’t a sorcerer, he gets them a beehive, and it ends with Linn and the neighbor in an implied happily ever after

About the Author

Nina Fortmeyer is both a visual artist and a writer. An avid gardener and pastry chef, like her protagonist, she enjoys living close to nature with her husband, a passel of scenic chickens, and two silly dogs.

About the Designer

David Hisaya Asari is an Oakland-based graphic designer and design educator. He is a faculty in Graphic Design, Critical Ethnic Studies, and Special Programs at California College of the Arts. His studio course focuses on research and information visualization. His Japan study abroad course frames the student experiences through the lenses of wabi-sabi and emptiness. President Emeritus and current board member of the SF chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design. He’s served on AIGA’s national Design Educators Community steering group. “Tsudonku” is his word of the day.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 17

And here’s day 17! We’re here with the Mainstream novel Chasing Banksy by Kaelyn Daughetee. This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Lauren Vajda!

Chasing Banksy

A coming-of-age novel set in a community college where two creative, grief-struck characters try and re-discover who they are despite their challenges and flaws. Through new friendships, experiences, and possible romances, these two characters are forced to work on an art history project where they try to uncover the Banksy-copycat street artist lurking about their city, but find themselves along their journey.

About the Author

Kaelyn Daughetee rediscovered her passion for storytelling during her art historical studies. While she still loves art history, today, she enjoys writing fiction and fantasy, free verse poetry, and haiku. She is a lover of stories especially if they contain juicy enemies-to-lovers plots, gut-wrenching bromances, or found family stories. When she is not writing, she enjoys traveling and accumulating new experiences, or she can be spotted assimilating to a teenage mutant ninja turtle lifestyle: practicing martial arts and eating pizza.

About the Designer

Lauren Vajda is the founder of the studio Verso Design, a Bay Area-based design studio working closely with thoughtful organizations in education, nonprofit, and commerce—leading design endeavors with the potential to make positive impact. In her downtime, she is likely hiking with her family, attempting to become the next Star Baker, or escaping into a good book (or three).

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 16

And here we are with day 16! Put on your headphones for Children’s Fiction novel The Mixtape Mystery by SarahZ. This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Roshanak Keyghobadi!

The Mixtape Mystery

Thirteen year old Sarah lives a typical life in Hershey, Pennsylvania until her world is turned upside down when she stumbles upon an old, mysterious mixtape in her parents’ attic. This tape, created by her long-lost uncle who disappeared in the 1980’s, isn’t an ordinary recording. It possesses the power to transport her back in time to the vibrant era of her parents’ youth.

With each song on the mixtape, Sarah embarks on a new adventure, reliving her mom’s teenage experiences in the ’80’s, even meeting the uncle that until now she never knew she had.

The Mixtape Mystery is an engaging middle-reader novel that combines the magic of time travel, the nostalgia of the 1980’s, and the universal themes of family, friendship and self-discovery.

About the Author

Sarah divides her time between working in the public school system and performing in the wonderfully creative community of Lancaster, PA. She loves the unique perspective of 5th and 6th grade kids as they dance on the cusp of early childhood and adolescence. Sarah writes for them, hoping to offer mirrors and windows to kids about the complex and curious experience of childhood. The Mixtape Mystery is her first NaNoWriMo attempt and is so grateful for the motivation it’s provided!

About the Designer

Roshanak Keyghobadi is an Assistant Professor at the Visual Communications Department, Farmingdale State College - SUNY. She holds a doctoral degree in Art and Art Education from Columbia University and her MFA (Indiana University) and BFA (University of the Arts) are both in Graphic Design. She studied Visual Communication at Tehran University’s College of Fine Art prior to moving to New York. Roshanak conducts lectures, does research and writes regularly about design histories and designers in global context. Her essays have been published in the United States (AIGA Voice, Design Observer) and Iran (Neshan). She was also the managing editor of Graphis publications in New York City. Roshanak’s artworks have been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally and featured in books and magazines (Fiber art Now) and newspapers (NYTimes). She has been designing book covers for National Novel Writing Month’s 30 Covers 30 Days since 2015!

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 15

And here we are with day 15! This is a Personal novel titled Out of Darkness: One Woman’s Journey to Healing from DID by Eliza Glass. This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Victor Davila!

Out of Darkness: One Woman’s Journey to Healing from DID

Eliza Glass has it all — the wonderful husband, the beautiful house, the spunky kid, the perfect job — but she’s the one destroying it and she has no idea why. When she discovers that she has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and there isn’t just one Eliza, but dozens, she begins a journey to unveil the childhood she barely remembers. In the safe context of trauma therapy, her alternate personalities share the truth about her father and the dark cult he was a part of. Step by step, Eliza befriends her alters, listens as they share their secrets, and integrates them into a courageous new self. In this vulnerable memoir, Eliza pulls back the curtain of child abuse and cult practices happening every day in America. It’s a story of resilience that unflinchingly tells the truth, no matter how dark, and proves that healing is possible for all who suffer.

About the Author

Eliza is a reader, a writer, and a steadfast pursuer of healing. She rediscovered writing in 2020 and is exploring many genres, including fantasy, short story, modern fiction, and memoir. When she’s not working out those creative muscles, she enjoys adventuring with her found family and snuggling with their rescued pup, Daisy. 

About the Designer

Victor Davila is an illustrator and designer from the Orlando, FL area, as well as an Associate Professor in the University of Central Florida’sSchool of Visual Arts and Design teaching illustration and design. He has worked on everything from character designs and storyboards for animation, to editorial illustrations, interactive games, and children’s books.

Victor is also the founder of the central Florida illustrator collective Giant Illustrators, President Emeritus of AIGA Orlando, Presidents Council Chair and on the National Board of AIGA, on the organizing committee of Creative Mornings Orlando, and an Adobe Education Leader.

Cover Design Process:

This year. we gave designers the optional prompt to explain their design process for the cover! Here’s Victor’s:

My process is pretty simple: Since the author tells her own story and I don’t know what the author looks like, I wanted to avoid making assumptions of her appearance by putting a figure in it. Instead, I went the typographical route. In order to capture some of the way her life may be crumbling before she discovers her DID diagnosis, I went for a crumbled paper look. So, my process is a tried and true one—I laid out the cover, printed it, crumbled it, scanned it, and inverted it. While it may seem straight forward, I did this several times with slight variations in the text, which also caused the crumbled texture to look different every time. The text is meant to seem as it’s gradually emerging from the black background.

5 Ways Journaling Can Help You Write Your Novel

ALT

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events.  Day One , a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor , is an award-winning journaling app. Today, author and journaling expert Kristen Webb Wright shares a few tips on how journaling can help your creative writing:

Aspiring novelists often find themselves on a challenging journey to bring their stories to life. The blank page can be intimidating, and writer’s block can strike at any moment. However, there’s a powerful tool that can help you overcome these hurdles and fuel your novel-writing dreams: journaling. 

Journaling is more than just recording daily events or jotting down your thoughts—it’s a practice that can supercharge your creative process and sharpen your storytelling skills. In fact, numerous famous writers kept journals or diaries throughout their lives, using their personal chronicles to cultivate their literary masterpieces

 Here are five ways journaling can help you write your novel:

1. Draw Inspiration from Everyday Life

Novel writing often draws inspiration from the events and experiences of everyday life. Use your journal to document intriguing encounters, interesting conversations, or even mundane moments that can be woven into your story. Everyday life is a treasure trove of material for creating relatable and authentic narratives. Your journal can serve as a repository of these real-life gems.

2. A Private Space to Explore Ideas

Journaling offers a unique and private sanctuary where you can explore your wildest ideas without judgment or fear of criticism. It’s a space where you can experiment with unconventional plot twists, quirky characters, or daring themes. Since your journal is for your eyes only, you can be completely honest and uninhibited in your exploration, allowing your creativity to soar to new heights.

3. Overcome Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is a formidable adversary for novelists, but journaling can be your secret weapon to defeat it. When you’re stuck, turn to your journal and simply write. Pour out your frustrations, write about your day, or describe your surroundings. The act of writing, even if it’s unrelated to your novel, can kickstart your creativity and get the words flowing. Journaling serves as a safe space where you can experiment, break through creative barriers, and rediscover your writing flow.

4. Develop and Organize Plots and Character Details 

A well-organized plot is crucial for a successful novel. Journaling can help you outline and structure your story effectively. Use your journal to jot down plot ideas, timelines, and chapter summaries. Create mind maps or visual diagrams to visualize your story’s progression. The act of putting your novel’s elements on paper will help you maintain a clear and organized narrative as you write.

5. Track Progress and Set Goals

Writing a novel is a significant undertaking, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Journaling provides a space for tracking your progress and setting achievable goals. Record your daily or weekly word counts, celebrate milestones, and reflect on your writing journey. You can even use your journal to set writing goals and deadlines. It’s a motivational tool that keeps you accountable and focused on completing your novel.

Journaling is a versatile and invaluable tool for aspiring novelists. So, why not pick up your journal and start harnessing its power to write the novel you’ve always dreamed of? Every word you write in your journal is a step closer to bringing your story to life.

Start your journaling journey today, and watch your novel flourish like never before. Happy writing!

All NaNoWriMo participants get  25% off a Day One Premium subscription  throughout November. Use the discount code  NANOWRIMO  at  https://dayone.me/subscribe  to claim it. Offer expires November 30, 2023.

ALT

Kristen Webb Wright is the author of three books on journaling. With a passion for writing and self-reflection, Kristen uses her experience with journaling to help others discover the benefits of documenting their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. In her role at Day One Journa l, she helps to promote the power of journaling so people from all walks of life can experience the transformative power of journaling.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 14

Ready for Day 14’s representive? Let’s dive into an investigation in Thriller/Suspense novel Those Who Stay by Alex Wolfe! This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Joe Schwartz!

Those Who Stay

Harmless fiction becomes a gruesome reality when mystery author Jacob Fox finds himself at the center of a police investigation. A serial killer is on the loose in Seattle, replicating the murders in Jacob’s novels. The detectives recruit him as a consultant to keep them a step ahead of the killer. Jacob is happy to help, especially if that means leading them away from his own secrets.

About the Author

Alex Wolfe has played many different roles in the world of writing, ranging from a technical writer, a managing editor of an arts journal, and a communications consultant specializing in social media. Their first foray into fiction was through fanfiction which eventually expanded into collections of short stories and novels. Those Who Stay is their second novel. Outside of writing, they enjoy art history, true crime, and going on road trips. Alex currently lives in Olympia, Washington.

About the Designer

Joe Schwartz is a New Jersey-based visual designer and educator. This is his sixth cover for NaNoWriMo and he couldn’t be more honored to have been asked to participate again. A designer and art director in New Jersey and New York for over 30 years, Joe currently teaches History of Visual Communications at Kean University’s Michael Graves College and classes in visual design and photography at Spotswood High School.

Cover Design Process:

This year. we gave designers the optional prompt to explain their design process for the cover! Here’s Joe’s:

The concept for this cover is based on peeling back layers of a mystery. As the story is centered around the landscapes in and around the Seattle area, it was important to create a sense of the vast geography of the area despite the small footprint that a book cover allows. It was also important to maintain a hint that the reader will be invited into the story of the serial killer with a motive to be discovered.

4 Ways To Cure Writer’s Block

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events.  NovelPad ,  a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor , is a novel drafting software designed to make it easy for writers to write. Today, they’re sharing a few tips to help you beat writer’s block:

NovelPad loves NaNoWriMo because we have the same goal: Helping authors get the thing done!

Starting a book is usually fun and easy—your fingers dance across the keyboard as you explore an exciting world, meet your characters, and stir up intrigue for the coming plot. But once you get into the weeds of how that all works, and how you and your characters get from Point A to Point B, you might find yourself losing momentum. You might find yourself so encumbered with obstacles that you might get a case of the dreaded writer’s block.

The very good news is that writer’s block isn’t terminal, and I certainly don’t think writer’s block is as enigmatic as some people seem to think. I believe it’s actually quite a simple problem, and usually due to one of a few common factors. Let’s look at four ways you can push yourself through your case of ye olde block.

1. Check in with yourself.

Step one is always to check in with yourself. 

Start by reviewing your basic self-care needs:

Are you staying hydrated?Do you feel hungry?Would a shower or a nap be beneficial?Is it time for a walk or some stretching exercises?

Consider your environment as well. Maybe you need:

Noise-canceling headphonesA change of sceneryA babysitter or someone to help around the houseTo open or close some windows

Next, evaluate your level of focus. Is your mind wandering elsewhere? It can be useful to create a “dump list” to jot down anything that’s causing you stress, such as work-related issues, pending tasks, or upcoming events. Setting that list aside can give you the tangible feeling of pushing those things off your desk to worry about later.

Once your body, mind, and environment are sorted out, you’ll likely discover that writing becomes a bit easier!

2. Look back at where you’ve been.

Even if the first tip did or did not do the trick, let’s take a look at the project itself.

Sometimes writer’s block is a blessing in disguise! Your creative gut might be telling you that something went awry. Try reading your project back and pinpointing where it became difficult to keep going. Consider alternate plots or paths to get your writing flowing again.

If you’re managing multiple plots and subplots, identifying the moment you deviated from the main path can be quite challenging. To pinpoint which plot line is causing issues, you can take advantage of NovelPad’s handy feature: Plot tracking.

On the Plot Board, you can review every scene of a particular plot in order, making spotting those errors in your plotlines much easier.

3. Rewrite a problem scene.

Once you’ve identified the scene causing issues, it’s time to make improvements! This can be challenging because there are countless ways to approach a scene.

However, don’t hesitate to embrace revisions. Often, a scene benefits from a thorough rewrite. With NovelPad Revisions, you can save limitless scene revisions, compare them side by side, and effortlessly switch to the one they want in the live manuscript. This keeps your different versions safe, well-organized, and readily accessible.

4. Freewrite to free yourself.

Freewriting is a great way to get your creativity flowing again. Write some poetry, compose a letter to a friend, or simply let your thoughts flow without judgment. Freewriting without judgment can help turn on your writer mode and even help you solve some problems! It’s especially beneficial when you’re stuck on something specific, because we often find brilliant solutions when we stop being so critical of our ideas.

Kick writer’s block off your desk with NovelPad! It’s free to use throughout NaNoWriMo, and we offer discounts to participants and winners afterward. If you find that NovelPad isn’t your cup of tea by the end of November, don’t worry—you can still access and download your project at any time. Just write!

Our team at NovelPad believes in making it easy for writers to complete their books. That’s why we built an uncomplicated, intuitive system that stays out of the way until you need it! We want writers like you to #JustWrite without burdening you with excessive features. Speaking of features, software updates at NovelPad are based entirely on user feedback from authors to keep our features sharp, relevant, and minimalist.

All NaNoWriMo participants have access to a 15% discount on NovelPad with code  WRIMO2023  — use the code during checkout to redeem your discount. Offer expires April 1, 2024.

Top photo by Richard Dykes on Unsplash .

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 13

Representing Day 13 is the Other/Experimental novel Life, Liberty, and the All-Day Breakfast Menu by Ollie Larsen! This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Amelia Nash.

Life, Liberty, and the All-Day Breakfast Menu

It’s finally happening. After ten years of struggling to pay the bills while working towards their goals, Caden Harrison and River Day have finally managed to get their musical from workshop into production to (hopefully) become Broadway’s next smash hit. However, the road to opening night is never an easy one. From fundraising struggles to casting woes to backstage struggles to arguments over revision, Caden and River will have to work harder than they ever have in retail in order to see their dream become a reality.

Told in a series of articles, diary entries, memos, letters, and text conversations, Life, Liberty, and the All-Day Breakfast Menu is a hilarious and heartfelt look at what it means to follow your dreams.

About the Author

Ollie wrote their first serialized novel at the age of six because xe didn’t feel like coming up with a different subject for each sentence in their spelling assignment, which is how they learned that taking shortcuts often leads to more work in the end. It’s also how xe learned that xe loved writing, and they haven’t looked back since. Xe has been a NaNo participant since 2006, a member of the Typewriter Brigade since 2010, and an ML since 2020. They are proudly asexual, panromantic, and genderqueer.

About the Designer

Amelia Nash is a Canadian expat, now living in New York City, and wearer of many hats — designer, strategist, illustrator, storyteller, brand builder — showcasing her multidisciplinary creativity. As each pixel meets purpose under her deft touch, Amelia seeks to ignite change through creative cross-pollination, inviting you to explore the extraordinary in every detail. Amid her diverse creative ventures, catch her captivated by colour swatches or on a quest for the finest G&T.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 12

Representing day 12 is The Shell Game by YWP Writer Stella Holt, and it’s a wonderful Thriller/Suspense novel. This cover was designed by the amazing returning designer, Victoria Pickett!

The Shell Game

A chef. A range officer. A museum curator.

Three people.

One spy.

Jamie McNamara is a bounty hunter but she doesn’t hunt people. Not after a job-gone-wrong three years ago. So when she’s approached with a mission to find Derek Knox, a rogue sleeper agent, and get him back to his employers, she fears the contractor knows more about her past than she’d like. But unfortunately, he pays well, and she’s broke.

She accepts the job, but quickly realizes there’s more to it than she thought. The rogue agent is currently hiding under one of three potential covers. Her task is to find out which two are innocents, and which one is the spy.

But the deeper Jamie gets into the job, the more questions arise. At first, all three people appear harmless. But then not only does Jamie find questionable connections with one of them, all three of their innocence is put in doubt.

There’s only one spy. But what if the other two aren’t all they seem, either?

About the Author

When not stressing out about how few hours are in the day, Stella Holt loves finding beauty in Creation; from the mystique of a caliginous night, to the simple wonder of existence.

About the Designer

Victoria is a recovering design educator working in the Mayor’s Office of Urban Analytics and Innovation at the City of Cleveland. She made the leap from academia to city government almost a year ago. She works with data analysts in data visualization and creates infographics. She enjoys contributing to a team whose work is doing good. This is her fifth year designing a cover for NaNoWriMo.

Cover Design Process:

This year. we gave designers the optional prompt to explain their design process for the cover! Here’s Victoria’s:

The title immediately made me think of each character peeking out from under a shell in the classic shell game. But I wanted to push that idea and created three silhouettes in hotel windows with awnings that look like shells.