inspiration

Life & Death (Tuesday’s Tell All)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

The gruesome photograph that inspired the title [and the book cover] for Once Upon a Dead Gull.  That was roughly eight years ago and [amazingly] this cover hasn’t changed much.

A peculiar short story anthology, I admit, but it was written for the horror genre.
Even more peculiar is that none of these stories are about a dead gull.
The poor seagull’s parting gift to mankind…  to me, was simply to give life to a book title and cover I had been struggling with.

Fast forward eight [very short] years and one [bitter] historical freeze and…

No, I don’t have a new book release to announce but I do have a dead bird.

I couldn’t save the beautiful little bird but I did (in a poetic way) paint him back to life.

My skill level does not do him justice.

Tuesdays Tell-All (Behind the Scenes)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

Pretty Kitty Puddin Jam aka Jammin Jim, Jimmy, One eyed Jimmy Jones... (1024x683)

It was a cat very similar in appearance to pretty Kitty Puddin’ Jam [aka Jammin’ Jim, One-Eyed Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Jam and plain Jimmy] who played the character Strudel in the short A Hard Candy Christmas. The story is beautifully narrated by Julia Gayden Nelson.

Dolly Pardon’s song Hard Candy Christmas played in the background, fueling my imagination as I pecked out the words to the story.

Strudel was actually a stray feral cat who sought refuge with me through one rare snowy winter. Jimmy insists he could play the part and probably win a prestigious theater award. He would also totally love to hang out with Dolly.