Ten Years Off…

/ Diane Henders

You know the expression “That took ten years off my life”? I know the feeling well — I’ve had quite a few experiences that felt as though they’d shortened my life. That ‘ten years’ must be metaphorical, though; otherwise I’d be dead already.

Nearly drowning at a swimming lesson (there’s irony for you), getting cornered by a guy much larger than me, having my dirt bike’s brakes fail on a steep mountain trail: Thirty years gone right there.

Watching a steel lawn dart (which I had thrown) plummet toward my sister’s head: That must have taken at least twenty years off my life. If I had yelled a warning and she had stopped and turned, I probably would have scored a bullseye on her brain and this story would have had a tragic ending. Fortunately I was paralyzed by horror and she was walking away, so the only end that suffered was hers: I scored a bullseye on her butt. It’s funny in retrospect (as long as you’re not my sister), but at the time it was terrifying.

Okay, no; it’s still terrifying. I love my sister, and just thinking of ‘what might have happened’ makes my stomach clench. I don’t know whether the patron saint of idiot kids was on my side that day, or whether her guardian angel was working overtime; but, yikes! *shudder*

Having a bear sniffing around outside my tent in the middle of the night: Ten years. Seeing a funnel cloud bearing down on our house: Ten years. Getting a phone call saying, “Your husband has a head injury and the ambulance is taking him to the hospital now”: Ten years… no; actually about thirty. But I’m deducting a couple of decades after the fact, because fortunately Hubby was fine. (Except for six hours of amnesia where he didn’t know where he was and he asked the same three questions every five minutes. Those were lo-o-o-ong scary hours.)

A couple of weeks ago I took another ten years off my life, but this time the process was much more relaxing: Instead of abject terror, I used Photoshop.

Yep, it’s time for another cover update for the series — it’s hard to believe it’s been over ten years since Book 1 was published! And since I’ve never been thrilled with the image for Book 1, I decided to change it as part of the new look, too.

Posing for the covers seemed like a good idea at the time: The model is always available, and I never have to pay her. But unlike Aydan, who has only aged two years since 2010… well… let’s just say I’m not forty-eight anymore. Thank goodness for Photoshop’s ability to erase a decade! (Or thereabouts. No need to elaborate.)

Here’s the new look:

The updates should start appearing in retail channels in the next few weeks.

What’s new in your world this week?

Book 18 update: My time has been spent on cover updates lately, but I’m on Chapter 7 and looking forward to getting back into my writing routine!

32 thoughts on “Ten Years Off…”

  1. I love the new cover!! I enjoyed your memories about things that took ten years off your life! I could relate. For me it was a child choking on a candy that I’d given them, I had to use the himeleck maneuver to pop it out. The old window coming down on my daughter’s finger and fracturing it on the growth plate, (a trip to the walk-in) then the ER. Both my daughter’s antic’s were hair raising.
    I will definitely look for your books. I also love to write, and am in the process of writing my life story.

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  2. I refuse to relive the incidents that took 10 years off my life. I refer to think of ones that added ten years. Like being fired from Saskatchewan Agriculture.
    Your photo covers have always looked good to me. The new ones are awesome but more legs please. I never knew I had a foot fetish (feetish) until I saw the album cover for Diana Krall’s The Love of Love. I have a friend who is a leather worker. A tall lovely lady brought a pair of shoes like Diana Krall in to his shop to be repaired. He asked her how she could walk in them. She said she didn’t. Put them on once she got to the night club, dangled one off her toe and waited to see who would buy her a drink

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    • “Foot feetish” – hahaha! And I like the story of the temporary shoes. Looking at the pair Diana Krall’s wearing on that album cover, I have to agree that those shoes are only good for horizontal activities. ’Cause nobody could stay vertical while wearing them. 😉

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      • (Pro tip: In the photo for Book 2, I actually had a doubled-up piece of duct tape stuck under my heel to keep the shoes on my feet. It’s amazing how many problems can be solved with duct tape!) 😉

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  3. That’s a lot of lost decades, Diane!
    I stopped ageing at 24, so I don’t have that problem. I just keep going back there regardless.
    Your book covers look fantastic all together like that!

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  4. Oh, I’ve had some of those moments too! Each time my son has ended up in the ER (all three times) took at least 10 years. Luckily he’s fine now too. Love all the new covers! They look so nice all together like that.

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    • Thank you! I’m so glad you like the new covers! It’s a lot of work to change them over, so your encouragement means a lot to me. 🙂

      And I can only imagine the terror of taking a child to the ER. I don’t have children of my own, but if I did, I suspect I’d never sleep again.

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  6. I wonder if you ever get ten years back as well during “opposite” situations… 🙂 I guess you kind of did with Photoshop.

    Scary about the dart and your sister. Did you ever tell her at some point that this event might have been fatal? Love the new cover!

    Nothing new here. Still not liking Peru. I’ll get there…

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  7. I live on Photoshop but am way past where it could help me look younger…..there is only so much digital art can do without making the subject look completely different. 🙂 Love your covers and can’t wait for your next book!! Side note: being a visual thinker, your close calls brought too many of my own back to the front of my mind!! Ugh!!

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  9. Hi Diane – I love the covers! Speaking of time going faster or slower … wow, Book 18! I was just showing my daughter (the Reigning Queen of Pink is heading into her junior year of college!) Book 1 yesterday! I have some serious catching up to do!

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    • Hi BUMD — it’s great to hear from you! Wow, it’s been a while. The RQOP is in college?!? Yikes, how time flies.

      Thanks, it’s great to hear you love the new covers! Your copy of Book 1 is practically an antique by now — I’ve edited and updated it several times in the past decade. I haven’t changed the story, but I’ve fixed most of the ‘debut author’ mistakes. It’s still free on Kindle/Kobo/Apple/etc., so if you’re going to dive in, you might want to download the latest version. 🙂

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      • No kidding!

        And, lol I may, but I’m still hoping to have you sign the antique version – an awesome first edition when you’re (even more!) famous! 😉

        So glad you’re having fun with this series!!

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  10. Just the thought of all those photos of me scares me half to death. And such photos could only go on horror – a genre I try to avoid (unless you count the news).
    Your new covers look great and I hope that the writing is going well too.

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    • Thank you! The writing has been at a standstill while I’ve been updating covers, but I’m eager to get back to it. The story is fully-formed in my brain, just waiting to leak out my fingers onto the keyboard!

      Photoshop is definitely my friend. So is our digital camera. I have a gift for spoiling photos — I always seem to be doing something idiotic with my face and/or body. (That doesn’t bode well for how I present myself in person, but I prefer not to think about that too much.) Fortunately I can choose one photo out of fifty awful ones and Photoshop it within an inch of its (my?) life. 😉

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  11. >> Except for six hours of amnesia where he didn’t know where he was and he asked the same three questions every five minutes. <<

    Wait…ever try too many cannabis gummies all at once? 🤣 That ranks up there with the typical gummy overdose reaction: "Go outdoors, grab onto your lawn, and hold on as tightly as you can so you don't fall off the earth, while simultaneously reconsidering your poor life decisions."

    Yeah, ten years…I've had a few of those myself. Or I get that "life in slow motion" feeling where impending doom is slowed down as you helplessly watch it happen. It's like my brain can't engage until something has already happened. I can't count how many times I've thought "I could have avoided that" if I had reacted immediately.

    Love the new covers! And no worries about erasing 10 years off of your appearance–we're all aging gracefully. 😁 Luckily I have a face for radio, so I don't have to worry about Photoshopping the ugly out of my own photos…or the age. If I even attempted to dial my age back a few years, I’d probably wear out the dark brown crayon in Photoshop, and there isn’t enough flesh-toned putty in Photoshop to fill in all my wrinkles.

    Such is life!

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    • LOL! If I managed to age gracefully, it would be the first time I ever did anything gracefully. I’m aging grudgingly at best. Kicking and screaming all the way…

      I know what you mean about the impending-doom time-freeze. That’s what happened to me in the lawn dart incident. It was probably a good thing in that case, but usually I have the opposite problem: I react too fast. A moment of considered thought would usually provide a much better solution. But hey, at least it keeps things interesting! (By the definition of the ancient curse, “May you live in interesting times”.)

      You made me laugh with the gummy overdose description! I’ve never tried them, and it’s probably a good thing. We don’t have enough lawn to grab onto. 😉

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      • Lacking a lawn to grab onto, find a 70s home with shag carpeting. Or a 70s conversion van, as it probably still has that Cheech & Chong aura surrounding it.

        I miss those lawn darts–ours were called Jarts. Lawn darts were outlawed here in 1988. So much for living life on the edge! We have something apparently safer here, not to far from the house–a local pub (Cadieux Café) has Belgian feather bowling. I mean, how much trouble can a person get into with a feather?

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        • I think lawn darts were outlawed in Canada around that time, too — obviously with good reason. And feather bowling! I learn something new every day! Those rounded cheese-shaped wooden ‘pucks’ do look fairly harmless, but I can imagine they’d leave a dent if the game got too heated. 😉

          Ooh, 70s shag… I dunno. I think that might be the very definition of ‘a bad trip’.

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    • Photoshop is a wonderful tool, but I’m thinking soon it won’t be up to the task for me, either.

      And you made me laugh… and think… with your first conundrum. I’m not sure I want to find out what might happen. 😉

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