Welcome Elaina Lee

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My guest today is my fabulous cover artist Elaina Lee. Elaina did the cover of A New Dream for me. Elaina, welcome. I'm not as savvy on a computer as you are so I'm afraid my cover is a bit bigger than yours which I snagged from Facebook. Sorry about that. For the benefit of those who may not know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure! I am Elaina Lee, romance author and cover artist.  I'm mother to a toddler and a teenager. Talk about a big job, LOL! We didn't plan for the age gap to be quite so large, but life happens and we wouldn't have it any other way.

I love the cover you did for A New Dream. Could you walk us through the process you use when you create covers?

Yay, I'm so glad you love your cover! And oh gosh, it's a long process! First I start with your cover art sheet (I wrote a blog about how important it is to fill out your cover art sheet, you can find it here), then I do an often lengthy search for images. This is one of the hardest parts. Then I start creating your cover by removing portions of the images I need and placing them into one main image that will eventually become your cover. When I'm finished, I show it to Stephanie (or the author if it's freelance) and we start on what's the most time consuming portion of cover art creating: the final touches. Then I send it to the author, holding my breath. Waiting for what the author thinks is anxiety inducing for me, LOL! I'm so impatient and I want to know right away if they love or hate what I created to represent their book.

What set of skills are necessary for the creation of a book cover? An artistic eye and I think a level of perfectionism. You have to have that bug that drives you crazy when something doesn't look right or isn't set up perfectly. And patience, lots and lots of patience.

Let’s change focus for a moment. You write as well as do fab covers, so tell us a little bit about your writing.

Right now I have a romantic suspense, published by Noble Romance and a contemporary romance soon to be released by Decadent Publishing. My romantic suspense, Written in Blood, much to my shock and amazement, received Honorable Mention for LoveRomancesCafe Best Romantic Suspense of 2010. I'm still handing out hugs to everyone who voted for me. *grin*

I would too! Would you share your links with us so we can find you on the web?

Absolutely! My websites are www.elainalee.com and www.forthemusedesign.com and my blog is www.elaina-lee.blogspot.com

We’d love to read an excerpt. Don’t forget to give us a buy link.

If only she knew the temptation she caused, the start of a war between craving and reluctance bursting to life within him. "Aside from our being strangers, I don't want to lose my job, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to lose yours. You've worked as hard as I have, if not harder, to get where you are in your career. Why waste your status on what would be nothing more than one night?"

"Are you concerned about me or you?"

Tossing the jacket to the small backseat, he asked, "Do you really care what my answer will be?"

She looked out the window, her face disappearing in heavy shadows. "Honestly? No, I don't, but give me one all the same."

Alek glanced over his shoulder at the oncoming traffic before opening his door. He stepped out, closed the door quickly, before venturing around the front of the car. Opening her door, he held his hand down to help her out and said, "I'm concerned about the mutual damage we will cause each other. Is that a good enough answer for you?"

The wind blew wisps of dark hair across her skin. The soft angles of her face illuminated under the streetlamp's yellow lighting. With an annoyed flick of her hand, she cast the strands away. "That's fair."

"I'm glad you agree," he said, closing the door. Stepping to the side, he motioned for her to walk forward, though he made no movement to do so himself. "Have a good night, Ms. Crisdean."

She walked up the brick stairs, pulling keys out of her purse. Then, just before she opened the community front door, she turned and glanced down at him. Alek raised a brow and took the few steps to the bottom of the stairs, meeting her gaze.

"You know," she began, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this little air of mysterious danger you constantly seem to have around you. But I am. So much surrounded your name, I figured you wouldn't live up the hype. No one ever does."

"You have so far."

An alluring smile crossed her lips. "Why, thank you; hopefully I won't disappoint you in the future."

This little game they played was becoming precarious, yet Alek could not stop, too intrigued by what her next words or actions would be. "Somehow, I find that highly unlikely."

"Mmm." She drew out, sending a shiver racing up Alek's spine. "Too bad you probably won't ever find out."

Alek let his gaze wander from her exposed ankles to the breeze-teased fabric blowing around her thighs. Higher still, his eyes shifted, along the smooth, flat planes of her abdomen to the soft mounds of her full breasts—perfect breasts, just bigger than what he could hold in his hand. Finally, he settled on her beautiful face. An expression of both exasperation and humor danced in her eyes and toyed at her still kiss-swollen lips.

"You keep this up, Lyndi, and I'll find out sooner than you may like."

BUY LINK - http://www.amazon.com/Written-in-Blood-ebook/dp/B004GXAYZ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1299334424&sr=1-1

Thank you so much, Elaine!!!

Thank you for coming. This is a nice excerpt. Makes me want to find out what happens next. Readers, A New Dream will be out on March 15 at http://www.astraeapress.com .