Joyous Birds

It's been warm the last two days, well, warm for Wisconsin ... in March ... at the tail end of another brutal winter. Big Sigh. 

Time to walk the dogs, one old and frail, the other full of energy and life. No need for hats and gloves today, but boots are a required apparel. We leash up and open the door to a blinding white light. What is that thing up there? Could it be? Yes, I'm sure the sun is serious this time. Spring is in the air, the birds are singing, and we all sense it. 

We surge forward, through the massive river held in check by the drainage system of my hometown. The young one plunging through puddles with glee, and the old man, seeking the path around. 

Noses plunge into crumbling snowbanks as the softening snow releases a season of frozen scents. Not in a hurry, I wait patiently for their brains to soak it all in. There's no need to hurry. I have the sweet twitters of the winter-weary birds to keep me company. 

The Best of DesignCrowd 2014

It's been an exciting run of news lately. I received notice from my book cover designer yesterday. 

You see, I had contacted her to congratulate and thank her for the beautiful cover for Cairn: A Dragon Memoir. We sometimes forget or fail to give credence to the importance of the cover image. I did, but I learned and went professional last year. 

Anyway, back to my tale. She was happy to learn of our advancement (I consider her part of my work) into the finals of the The Wishing Shelf Book Award, but then she floored me with even more news: a link to The Best of DesignCrowd 2014 posting. 

This is what the site says about their award:

DesignCrowd is now a community of over 400,000 designers worldwide offering design expertise in over 40 design categories.

To recognise our designers many professional talents we asked our customer support team (aka the Justice League) to nominate their favorite designs from this year. With literally millions of designs made this year, we admit the team was set an impossible task!

The list below crosses design genres as varied as stunning illustration design to web design to bookcover design, t-shirts and striking logo and business card designs. I hope you enjoy the range and quality of designs on display made for enterprising business owners like you by DesignCrowd.

If you are looking for a wonderful designer with reasonable prices, I urge you to consider Vanesa Garkova (Vanes7). She is professional, quick to respond, responsive to your ideas, and above all, an amazing artist. 

Vanesa was able to take in my feelings about the story and marry them with a Pintrest board of random photos to make that stunning cover that will always make me smile. I dare you to look at that cover and not feel something. This is what a book cover is meant to be.

BTW - The story inside rocks, too.