Looking the Part

Following my recent discovery that my books and ebooks are on Goodreads, I've taken the plunge and set up an author page that I can edit.  It's here... 
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6959945.Sarah_Honeysett

Potentially, it's great publicity as there is space for an author profile (done one for Amazon - copied with minor edits to GRs), a blog or a link to an existing blog (check!) and a photo.

Not this one.  The guidelines talk about a 'professional author photo' and other (ie.'real') authors generally have nice head-and-shoulders black and white pics of themselves.  While I'm a stranger to the professional studio, I have no shortage of pictures taken by my husband, some of which are in focus and others I even quite like, but most of the recent ones do make me look like Professor Mary Beard steering a narrowboat.  Not, I hasten to add, that there is any disgrace in looking like the fabulous Prof. Mary but it would be dreadful to be mistaken for the great lady writing under a pseudonym and have people post questions to you in Latin and expect authentic Roman puns and witticisms in reply.

I decided it would also be a shocking cheat to go back too many years and flatter myself with a more youthful image, though I'm sure there are authors who do.  That narrowed the field considerably.

 

 I eventually settled on this one.  It's from 2012, taken by Jon while we were strolling round Portmeirion (the village in Wales, not the pottery) on his birthday.  It's an appropriate choice as, in addition to catching me with a smile (rather than a manic grin) and with my eyes open, it was during this little holiday that I told Jon that while he had been out with his pals on their regular Thursday pub night, I had started writing a book.

After posting it on Facebook, one friend commented that she could imagine it on the back cover of a good paperback.  That's an encouraging endorsement. 

All I have to do now is write one.