I took first place in the Nederland, TX Centennial art contest for kids in 1997 and was over the moon about it. At ten years old, I was gobsmacked when my elementary school (or city?) presented me with a check for something like $25. I remember what I drew. It was a huge windmill surrounded by āNederland Centennialā in bubble letters, all on white construction paper.
There will always be that 10-year-old inside of me who just wants to know what I create matters and that it holds even a smidgen of value.
Iām nearly 36 years old now, and that same over-the-moon feeling came over me when the marketing director for my publisher reached out with the offer to illustrate my own cover.
I judge books by their covers. If you donāt, you are a rare bird (or a liar š). And while not everyone will like the cover I illustrated, it is a wonderful representation of what youāll find should you do me the honor of reading my debut book. At itās core, Othered is about a good God who radically welcomes those of us who often feel like misfits in the church. He pursues people on the margins, leaving the 99 to find the 1. But this is not a book about sunshine and gumdrops. I didnāt want an overly pretty cover because I didnāt think it would represent the hard things youād find inside. But I also soaked each word with hope, so a despairing cover wouldnāt have worked either.
I wanted a cover than held tension well. I wanted simple, dark, and beautiful.
Hereās where my imagination took me.
I love this cover. And I love that, out of all the concepts, my publishing team loved this cover too.
Whatās the deal with the wheat?
I use the wheat š¾ emoji a lot on social media. Iāve explained before that much of this has to do with my silly love of movies, and the wheat stem š¾ reminds me of Gladiatorāhow Maximusās idea of paradise was his family home. After a life of war, chaos, and in-fighting with his own people, the wheat field marked Maximusās way to peace and rest on all sides.1
Likewise, wheat š¾ reminds me of a return to homeāof the goodness of the Garden, which, in the beginning was always a place to be tended and cultivated. For OG readers, youāll remember that before I wrote on Substack, I was writing on my now-deactivated website To Till the Soil (totillthesoil.com). To Till the Soil was my way of giving a nod to Genesis. In Genesis 2, God formed the human (Hebrew, adam) from the earth (adamah); the writer of Genesis is clever, using wordplay to show that humanity and the earth would be forever linked together.2 The Hebrew adam can literally be translated as earthling. It isnāt used as the name āAdamā until later in Genesis. The adamah-earth relies on the adam-earthling āto till it and keep itā (Gen. 2:15, NRSV). Earthlings need the earth, and the earth needs us earthlings.
Garden-tending and cultivation metaphors are riddled throughout Scripture. Writers have used gardening and agricultural metaphors a billion times over to describe Godās goodness. For Isaiah, a return to goodness included beating our swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4). Iām no gardener, but writing has become my way to till and tend to the portion of creation to which God has called me.
I wanted to include the wheat strands on my cover because they are a reminder of a home that includes all of usāa place of peace with rest on all sides. They are a nod to my writing roots. And they serve as a reminder that we each have tremendous good power to tend, build, and cultivate something good.
Othered is my encouragement to all of usāto not lose hope in finding home and in cultivating goodness in your life and the lives of those around you.
The Process
I wanted the cover to be simple, but at some stage in the cover-illustrating process, I got lost in the weeds (pun intended). I was drawing overly complicated illustrations, hyper-fixating on elements that I ended up scrapping. I reached a point where I said out loud to friends, āIām done with designing the cover, and I wish someone else would do it.ā
But I had one final idea.
Reader, I drew the selected, final book cover design ONE DAY before my concepts were due. Thankfully, it panned out;I love the final design
If you donāt like it, well, you could do me the courtesy of keeping that to yourself. š
Where Othered is at in the publishing process
Iām currently reading through the galley copy and making final edits before the manuscript goes into page proofing
Slowly but surely, yāall. This is for real.
Thanks for cheering me on and supporting this book. Both the 10 year old me and 36 year old me are dancing with delight. Iām really, truly grateful for the encouragement and support.
I asked my publisher about sharing the cover with you all because some of you are finding it online at retailers, preordering, and sending me screenshots. š š
Save that preorder information! Iāll post more about preorders and the thank-you bonuses Iād like to send you after the new year.
I know Gladiator is about the Roman empire, and Iām critical of empire-building. Cut me slack. It was a good story, and one of the last movies I watched with my dad.
I need to give a nod to my seminary professor, Dr. J. Richard Middleton, who revealed the adam/adamah connection to me. Go find his books and read them.
Itās soooo beautiful and perfect. Congrats šššš
I LOVE the cover! How cool that you got to draw it yourself.
I also love that you are studying with Dr. Middleton. I got to work with him on his Seminary Now course, and he is an absolute delight.