it’s that time. i’m biting the bullet and finally getting an author pic for DUALED. i’m giving myself a week or two to sweat about it.

this is another one of those roads that are riddled with potholes, loose shoulders, slow-moving moose. travel at your own risk.

an author pic might elicit one of these reactions:

1) possibly ruin a book for a reader because you’re so ugly they’ll forever associate your face with the book’s main character/side character (and it’s not remotely the face they had in mind).
2) possibly ruin a book for a reader because you’re not ugly and they’ll forever associate your face with the book’s main character/side character (and it’s not remotely the face they had in mind).
3) you’re older than they would have thought.
4) you’re way older than they would have thought.
5) you definitely look like one of those pale, crazed, talking-to-yourself, holed-up-in-your-house-with-your-two-cats, not getting-enough-sleep-because-you-have-duffle-bags-underneath-your-eyes, not-getting-enough-exercise-because-you-have-bloat-face, living-on-caffeine-and-white-carbs-because-you-have-duffle-bags-under-your-eyes-and-bloat-face, writers.
6) it must have been a bad hair day.

or

7) you look…normal.

and because i’m a dork, i googled “how take great author photo”. came to the conclusion that there is much more not to do than there is to do. a mental list of what to avoid:

prop
props
fireplace
armchair
tea
coffee
mug
lenseless glasses
too casual
too stiff
crazy smiles
gummy smiles
no smile
cat
cats
head leaning against hand
head at an obviously unnatural tilt
nostril shots

it’ll definitely be an interesting experience.

Follow @wordpressdotcom