I just checked in two days ago! Wait…I was a day late. 🙂
I’ve been making some progress. In the last three days, I’ve written for about an hour and a half, 1908 words. I didn’t write last night because I was SO upset with CreateSpace. When I got my proof, the cover of Fire Wizard was so dark and bland. Nothing like the colorful cover Anya had made for me. 😦 I just couldn’t focus. So I went to my friend’s Jamberry Nail Facebook party. Retail therapy is so effective. You know, that’s the first Facebook party I’ve ever attended that wasn’t an author’s party. It was the first party I’ve ever attended on my “real life” Facebook account. And I won something!
I did write about 30 minutes during lunch today. Wednesday isn’t usually a writing day, but since I was feeling sorry for myself last night, I thought I better make it up a little. LOL
lauralynnelliott.com 
If the screen the image is edited on is not properly calibrated for print, the print version is going to come out much darker than what you naturally see on screen. It’s why half the time stuff you buy online is a totally different color than what comes in the mail. My photographer husband recalibrates his every time he gets ready to edit for a print run. They have specific calibration software for that.
The thing is, Anya uses specific colors and they are supposed to be true to print. I’ll mention to her what you said, though. Any advice is appreciated because this is a pain. It even changed his hair color, and I did see that in real life. LOL. I’ll point Anya to your comment.
Congrats on your win! And I’m sorry about your CreateSpace cover. I hope you get the quirks worked out and it ends up brilliant and beautiful.
Kristen, the cover is so beautiful on the screen, but so dull in real life. My cover artist is working on a solution before I contact CreateSpace. We’ll get it worked out!
When I got my first CreateSpace proof of my book Beneath Manhattan Skies, it was much darker than it should have been also. I had to go back to the designer who lightened the artwork. The second proof was much better and I went with that. Then I purchased a copy of my book and the cover was different again! I think it depends on the printer.
It’s very frustrating. I hope Anya can figure out how to fix it so CreateSpace will print it lighter. I printed it here at work on our professional printer we use for our brochures, and it was nowhere near as dark as when CreateSpace printed it. But it was a little darker than the version I can see on the screen.
Sorry to hear about the CreateSpace kuffuffle. How aggravating! I love Jamberry stuff. One of these days I’m going to go crazy and get matching hair and nails. 🙂 (At least I’d like to do that.) At any rate, all the best with your writing. And congrats on writing yesterday.
Hi Steph. I’m hoping my cover artist can figure something out. And these nails are really cool. My friend gave me a sample nail, and I have it on my pinky nail. It’s definitely holding up better than polish.
I hope this will soon be a blip in a smooth journey, with experience and learning gained, and a perfect cover gracing the book in your hands.
Yay for making the best of it, Treating yourself to something pretty seems like a good idea, and so does the extra writing session.
I’ll celebrate your success, and sending along good cover vibes!
I really need those good cover vibes. Anya is trying to figure out something before I contact CreateSpace, so we’ll see what happens. I need that cover to be as vibrant as it is on the screen!
I’m sending along oodles of vivid brightness, in the hopes that it will help! =D
I’ve read through the other updates to get caught up. It sounds like you’re right on schedule for your word count weekly goals. 😀
I’m sorry to hear about the cover. CreateSpace can be tricky that way, and I know with this particular cover, the colors are important to have as they are when you look at them online. I hope you and Anya can get it figured out.
I hope I can keep up the momentum. I hate that I let the cover problem get me down. Maybe we can find a solution.