Hello friends! What a weird time it is right now, huh? In America and everywhere. In my little corner of the world I’ve been working full time as a freelance writer for a month now. It’s been scary, and fun, and scary, and exciting. My main focus for the last few weeks has been getting my collection of benedictions ready to publish. It’s a lot of work, but I’m really excited at how it’s coming along. So many of my readers have asked for this, and it’s really a labor of love for me to get it into your hands.

I spent a LOT of time researching cover designers and illustrators, and with the help of some t-shirt sales and the donation of a few friends was able to hire the amazing Kozakura from Trinidad and Tobago. I found Kozakura on Fiverr, which is a little strange to me in that I don’t even actually know their name (or pronouns), but when I asked to give them credit they said to just call them “Kozakura from Fiverr.” Here’s the link to their portfolio there.

I had a kind of specific vision for the cover, of the view from a kitchen table looking out over treetops and the night sky. I wanted it to be cozy and inviting, but to suggest depths and dreams beyond our kitchen doors. I’m so happy in the way that the artist captured that idea and added their own details, like the broad leaves on the plant-pots and the hanging lamps, so that it could be a kitchen in Boston, or Trinidad, or the place where you are reading it, or you can imagine, like the plants in the Frank O’Hara poem, that you are someplace far away and warm:

“The plants imagined us all in
Trinidad.”

~from A Rant, by Frank O’Hara

Isn’t she beautiful??

I’m still hoping to have the book launched by November 1st, but there is still a lot to do, and a lot of unknowns. I’ve never done this before! But I’m doing it. Stick around, and I should have more info about where to order the book soon. And hopefully some updates about other projects, as well.

Love,
Jessica