July 2023 Newsletter

Sorry we missed you all last month, it's been an incredibly busy summer but let's dive right in!

Current Events

See the book cover reveal on our Instagram!

Yup, so here it is! This is the official book cover for Shades of Resilience, drawn by the amazing artist, James Marsh. Mr. Marsh created all the album artwork for the 1980s new wave band, Talk Talk, whose hit singles included, "It's My Life", "Life's What You Make It" and "Such a Shame".

The final Talk Talk albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock were my saviors during Elliot's heart surgeries. The basis of my tattoo for Elliot is the tree on the cover of their final album. On a whim, I emailed Mr. Marsh last year to see if he would work on this project. For someone with such a portfolio ranging from business/brand logos to famous album artwork, I never expected a response. To my surprise he emailed back and agreed! The first step was to come up with a solid title (thanks Ashley) and then work on themes. In the process of working on the book cover, Mr. Marsh also redesigned our Elli Twy logo to reflect the adult books while we repurposed the old one for the children's material. The butterfly theme was kept for both logos.

I'm in the editing phase of the book now, which has been going though tedious at times. There's nothing like finding typos and grammatical errors, which is why a good editor is so crucial! Fingers crossed the book will be released this fall.

Writing Updates

Ashley has begun work on her poem book with the illustrator so we can't wait to preview some of the art thus far. Similar to Shades, the "Heart Warrior" book is heavily based on Elliot's medical journey. Our hope is the poem book will inspire adults and children alike. The goal is to release it in February 2024, coinciding with Heart Awareness Month.

Similar to Manju's Kerala Christmas, Ashley went through several galleries of work before finding the artist she felt best suited the project. For Manju's we used Reedsy, which is an online platform that pairs authors with various illustrators, ghostwriters, marketers, editors, and even publicists. This time around, Ashley found the artist on social media. With most of the poems written and finalized, the illustrator will be interpreting them and bringing the pages to life. We love her style and will be sharing more as we get further along in the project.

Writing Inspiration

Courtesy: https://mykoreankitchen.com/army-stew-budae-jjigae/

This month's source of writing inspiration comes from the very embodiment of resilience, Budae Jjigae, also known as Korean Army Base Stew. It's a hot pot of what one would consider clashing ingredients. With American staples like Spam, Kraft cheese, and canned hot dogs in conjunction with the traditional Korean fare of kimchi, ramen noodles, and Gochujang sauce—everything but the kitchen sink and it somehow works.

The dish became popular during the Korean War when food was hard to come by. Surplus U.S. Army provisions were incorporated any way they could into Korean dishes to survive the hard times. The result is a recipe that is incredibly simple, wonderfully flavorful, and enjoyed best in good company. It's a reminder that no matter how hard life can be, we all have the ability to make the best of it.

I've made this twice so far and it is beyond addicting. Elliot and Twyla nearly ate their plates along with the stew—it was that good.

Happy Writing!

Elli Twy Publishing