Meet Terra Weston-Koster!

Yeah, I'm late again...But honestly I had nothing interesting to post about. That is until the amazing woman who designed my book cover agreed to be on this blog! It gives me a whole bunch of pleasure to introduce you to Terra Weston-Koster, the graphic designer behind my first cover, but certainly NOT my last!


Tell us about yourself...


Im Terra (Weston) Koster and I grew up in central Minnesota. My biggest passions in life are family, horses, singing and Art. Im a former Sailor (so please excuse any language slips and currently a graphic artist.



How did you become a graphic artist? What drew you to this line of work?


I love art in any form. I love drawing, painting, photography, throwing on a wheel, basically everything involved with art. I realized that the only way to make a living as an artist is by living out of your car… or about 100 years after you die ☺ So I decided it would be smarter to mix my love of art with Technology because that is never going to go away. I went to school for Multi Media so I could do everything from digital art to websites and photo editing.




Where do you get your inspiration?


I get my artistic inspiration from all different sources, from my kids to nature, animals and I love fantacy/SciFi.. However for book covers I definitely get my inspiration from the characters in the book! I love books that are so well detailed that there leaves no questions about the characters. That being said, it’s also interesting when a characters personality is very specific but their physical attributes are more vague. I think that helps the reader put themselves in the story.




How did you come up with that genius cover for 'Thoeba'?


There is so much emotion in Thoeba! Sorrow for her lost Love, Joy and discovering new things, anger at the demons that pushed her from heaven… and a snarky sarcasm as she deals with the new humans she meets. There was just no way I could fit all that on one cover, so I decided to use an image that shows her as overwhelmed as possible, and holding herself/the Energy for support. She clearly misses heaven so I wanted her to have her head thrown back and her face up.

She is an angel so of course I pictured her beautiful, and when she lost her wings the description of her scars was great, so I wanted to make sure she had a “tattooed scar” look instead of cuts and blood which is not how they are supposed to look. And although you cant see The Energy, you can see the necklace she is wearing. There is also a darkness with the demons so I had to add lots of falling ash.





Could you explain to us how the average cover comes together?


That depends on the cover. Reading the book to get a feel for the characters is a must. Sometimes it depends on the author as well. Many times there are certain things they just love and really want incorporated. It can be as elaborate as the whole theme, or something as simple as the font ☺

Then you have to think about your target audience. Just because it might be a cover that I personally love, if it wont appeal to the targeted readers it wont be good for the book. The cover needs to grab them long enough to get them to pick it up and read the back ☺ After that it’s a combination of cover, and blub that gets someone to read it.



I see your facebook profile photo has a horse. It seems you have a passion for them. Can you tell us about it? What else makes you happy?


I grew up with horses and I love to ride and show. I would live and breath them. My husband says my love of horses overshadows everything else, but he also says most people don’t have a passion that strongly for anything at all so its not all bad. We have some very good cow horses, and we compete as often as time allows. My kids have been riding since they were about 15months old, and my daughter is 7 and competes with me. The other loves of my life are my husband Scott, our daughter Shane and our son Wyatt. They are the 3 funniest people I know. I tell Scott that I was normal before I met him… and Im pretty sure I get my sarcasm from my kids.


Thanks so much Terra for my perfect cover art AND for taking the time to do this interview. You rock.

A good excuse

Actually, I have TWO good excuses for being late. Number One, I'm sick. Have been for 10 days. I allowed myself a few days here and there of couch hibernation, but as typical of most women, I wasn't able to just lay around doing nothing. I've been running errands, doing garage sales and puttering about in my yard. I could have just blogged about that I suppose... But I really wanted you all to see my homemade bookmarks. That's them in the photo. What a pain in the butt! They are inexpensive and rather simple, but they're all mine. (Well, except for Terra's cover)I'll pass these around like business cards. THAT'S what took me so long today. Sorry...Would anyone like some? Send me your address via Twitter or Facebook and I can mail you a few :)

Tickled to Tell

Got lots to tell you all today. It's a little crazy as usual, but things are coming together. I've finally started 'Chasing Monsters'. I only got 400 words in, but it's a start. I just have to re-learn the art of not caring what I write now, and edit later. I've been second guessing all my sentences. But at least I've started. I'm also pleased to announce that advanced copies of 'Thoeba' are available. Heather Savage is hard at work getting it ready to go and promoting the heck out of it. To order your guaranteed advanced copy, contact www.staccatopublishing.com I'm so excited!! Meanwhile, "Entities Unknown" is having our first fundraising garage sale. It will be on May 12th and 13th. It starts at 8 am and will go until 4 pm...or 6 pm. Depends on how many people we get. The address is at Brandy's house--3415-138 ave. Edmonton, Alberta. Bring your friends and family! We are also having a bottle drive and a jar for 'Pennies for the Paranormal'. If you can help us out with that, we'd be grateful for any contribution. Thanks! Hope to see you there!

Crazy Nights

Sorry everyone...I don't actually have time for a real post. I'm busy writing an outline for 'Chasing Monsters' while writing bios for 'Entities Unknown'. I'm still trying to find time to write the erotica. I still do Food Bank twice a week and 'Wing Nites' on Tuesdays. I've been attending meetings for Edmonton Paranormal every second Saturday and on Wednesdays for 'Entities Unknown'. Did I mention we'll be doing garage sales? Our first one is next weekend at 8 a.m. at 3415-138 ave. Saturday and Sunday. I'll probably be tired because the troll's birthday is the night before, and I still haven't figured out what to get him. Also we have a silent auction coming up. I still have my walking workout on Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons. My spring cleaning is finished, but I still have to finish raking the front lawn, and I have to bottle the Strawberry Riesling wine I made. Right now I have to go grocery shopping because I have company coming tonight after I take Sully to the vet for a booster and after I do the walking workout. Whew! Did I forget anything?

Fear of Flying Solo

I'm having a hard time admitting to this. No, I haven't got writer's block. At least not exactly. 'Thoeba' will be out in June, and my beta readers are reporting favorable opinions about 'Aphrodite's War'. It's time to start writing 'Chasing Monsters'. In fact, I've started the character resumes and the outline. The problem is...I'm nervous. This will be the first time since I started writing Thoeba that I will have no critique partners. I will be writing my novel without anyone to tell me when I'm being cartoony, or how I could tighten my sentence a little more. There will be no one there to check my grammar or give me kudos for a nice turn of phrase. I'll be going at this alone and it scares me a bit. What if I compose the entire book and find out it sucks and I can't write without someone holding my hand? What if I discover I'm really not that talented? I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of the nest and somebody is fixing to kick me in the pants. Still, I'm a big believer in change being a good thing. In a lot of ways this will make me a better writer. I will be forced to rely on myself rather than anybody else. It will give me a more critical eye. I will learn a new kind of discipline. Besides, this ties right in with my tendency to do things BECAUSE I'm afraid of them. There are hundreds of writers out there who've never even HAD the benefit of crit partners. I'm going to count myself as fortunate, and use all the valuable things I learned from Suzanne, Jan, and Dawn. It's time to jump off the branch head-first.

Get by with a Little Help From my Friends

Been really busy lately. Mostly getting the little things done. Writing outlines and guest blogs...herding cats. Snow tires are off and I'm almost finished washing walls. I love my friends but I SWEAR the next time one of them says "Oh hey, you could come wash mine." I will scream. Seriously. Is that supposed to be funny? When I meet you people in hell, I'm going to ask, "Hot enough for ya?"

Nah...Even as I bitch, I smile. It's months like this that I'm grateful for the whole bunch. It never ceases to amaze me how I wound up with them in the first place.

Growing up, I was extremely unpopular. Being the only one wearing Metallica and Megadeth shirts in a town of 2000 will do that. I had three friends.

I don't know when my loner tendencies came to an end. I think it started with Facebook. I only joined because my writer's group demanded it. As resistant as I was, it let me keep in touch with all my new friends who shared a common interest in the gift of words. Then it happened...Highschool classmates that I thought didn't care about me friended me in droves. As my confidence grew, I attended places like EPIC, Kendo and writing clubs alone until people started talking to me.

And thanks to facebook, I was able to hang on to people I used to work with as well, despite how job situations change and we all move forward with our swamped lifestyles.I even kept friends from therapy.

I was shy and moody. Now I'm happy and overwhelmed with my love for all kinds of people.

And the best part is the variety! Everybody's there from Christians to Zombiewalkers. I have a smorgasbord of writers, jewelry makers, photographers and other creative people. There's paranormal interest peeps, gays, lesbians, school chums, bikers, goths, kendokka, former employees and co-workers.

All of you make me feel RICH, and you've made my life interesting. This post is for you.

*And a shout out to Dawn Ius, another good friend I met through a writing group. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAWN!! (She's the brunette on the right in the photo. She did my wedding photography)

Uninspired? Clean your desk!

Yeah, I know. A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind. Don't worry, as I write this I'm already getting hummus on the keyboard.

I know my last post was rather sad (Freya is doing just fine) and last week I didn't bother but that doesn't mean I sat on my butt wallowing in contrition. No,I got busy. I made wine from a kit and I washed walls. I ran errands, made appointments, and spent much needed time with friends.

Today, I tackled my desk. And it felt good.

The fun part of cleaning your desk is the treasures you rediscover. Here's some of mine:

A stack of business cards, all from the new friends I made on my trip to Washington three years ago.

An R2-D2 USB key.

A button that says 'Be a Goddess" advertising thegoddessblogs.com

A card representing the word I adopted but rarely use--'macellarious' It means pertaining to butchers. "In matters macellarious, you can speak to Donna, the former Meat Manager."

Old critique notes from 'Aphrodite's War.

And a recipe for Monster Breakfast Cookies...which I'll share with you.


MONSTER BREAKFAST COOKIES

1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar, packed 2 Eggs
1/2 cup canola oil 1/2 cup of honey 1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups of instant oats 2 1/2 cups Robin Hood Nutri-flour blend 1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup sesame seeds 1/4 cup poppy seeds 1/4 cup regular flax seeds
1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add oil, honey, and vanilla. Add next six ingredients. Stir in raisins.

3. Place 1/4 cup dough for each cookie on baking sheets. Flatten slightly.

4. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. These cookies freeze well. Makes 24 large cookies.

How do they taste? I have no idea. I don't bake.