As the eupho­ria over being a Golden Heart® final­ist set­tles into a quiet joy, real­ity intrudes. RWA® wants an author pho­to­graph. At the July 31st cer­e­mony, they will project this photo on the biggest screen you have ever seen in your life. A screen so ginor­mous that it will make the one at the new $1.2 bil­lion Cow­boys sta­dium in Dal­las look piddly.

Well, maybe not quite, but it will seem that way to all of us with our faces splashed up there.

Hav­ing my pho­to­graph taken is one of my least favorite things. Most of the time, I think pic­tures of me look more like Charles Laughton in “The Hunch­back of Notre Dame.” So, when I get one I like, I hang on to it. For­ever. For exam­ple, I’m very fond of the pic­ture that I use on this web­site (see About Me). When the time comes, I fig­ured it could go on book jack­ets, book­marks, and what­ever other authory things I need. But it’s black and white, and RWA® wants color. Drat!

For­tu­nately, my bril­liant graphic designer hus­band is also a pho­tog­ra­pher. This after­noon, we’ll tot­ter off to the botanic gar­den and another site or two so he can take a few thou­sand shots in hopes that one of them will be rea­son­ably suit­able for appear­ing a mil­lion times life size.

Jumbotron+Me=Nerves

Should you be in search of tips on avoid­ing the cheesy author por­trait your­self, here’s advice from Author Tech Tips, a cool web­site with all kinds of, um, tips about using tech­nol­ogy to pro­mote your books and yourself.