Samantha Mullins's Blog - Posts Tagged "ai-powered-creativity"
What Happens When I Go on an Editing Sabbatical
(Spoiler: Apparently, I accidentally rebrand my entire series)
Welp. Here I am. On my grand editing sabbatical.
You know, the thing where you’re supposed to take a break from your own writing to breathe, recharge, not compulsively open your manuscript every four minutes?
Yeah. That’s going great.
In theory, this time was for rest.
In reality? I’ve devoured four full books, three novellas (Iron Fey series — shoutout to Julie Kagawa for owning my soul), and am now aggressively attached to Ethan from The Lost Prince, who is somehow both grump and cinnamon roll.
Like… do I hug him? Do I yell at him? Yes. The answer is yes.
But of course, while I’m not editing, my brain is like:
“You know what we should do instead of resting?
Redesign all the book covers. For the entire series. By hand. With AI. From scratch.”
…Sure. What could possibly go wrong?
Enter: Me vs. DALL-E
So here I am, on my sabbatical, spending quality time with my favorite emotionally unpredictable creative partner: DALL-E.
Let me tell you — we’ve been through it.
There were tears. There were battles. There were threats (some from me, surprisingly one from DALL-E).
But you know what?
I now have book covers for the entire Heavens Keys series.
ALL. FIVE. BOOKS. 😌
And honestly? They look pretty dang good.
It started with Lightfall Rising (Book 3). That cover was my Everest.
I wanted a magical twilight Aurora Borealis vibe — DALL-E kept giving me “Lord of the Rings meets Lisa Frank.”
Eventually, we made peace. There was light. There was fall. There was… rising.
And I was actually happy with it.
And Then It Spiraled
Because naturally, once you finish one pretty new cover, your past covers start looking at you like:
“…are we a joke to you?”
So then came Fateborne Arise (Book 4).
And then Obscured Embrace (Book 5).
And damn. I love them.
But that meant looking back at the OGs:
Heavens Keys and Under Darkness.
And while I still love them deeply, they kinda felt like they showed up to a royal ball wearing their Walmart best while the others were in custom moonlight couture.
So. You guessed it.
I went back in.
Redesigned the first two covers to match the tone and aesthetic of the series.
Do they match perfectly? Meh.
Do they vibe together now? Absolutely.
And most importantly — they don’t look cartoonish, childish, or like I let my Sims create them.
What’s New?I’m officially updating the cover for Heavens Keys (Book One) across all bookseller platforms — you should see the new one live within a week or two (depending on the publishing gods).
BUT I’m giving you a sneak peek today. 👀
You can find it right now on the Heavens Keys / Book page.
And while I’m at it, I’m also dropping the Under Darkness cover and a little teaser of what’s inside.
Spoiler: Things get shadowy.
In Summary:I went on an editing sabbatical.
Accidentally redesigned five book covers.
Argued with AI.
Made peace with fate.
Discovered I apparently like twilight reflections and glowing magical orbs a lot.
And now my back hurts, my shoulders are plotting revenge, and I’m going to go lie down with a heating pad and possibly cry into a pastry.
But hey — the covers are done. The vibes are vibing.
And Heavens Keys has never looked better.
Take care, happy lives, happy reading.
Toodles 💫
(Goodreads and pictures give me issues) you can see the new cover of Heavens Keys on my Profile on GoodReads and the book cover for Under Darkness and even Lightfall Rising on my website. https://samanthamullinsfantasy.wordpr...
Welp. Here I am. On my grand editing sabbatical.
You know, the thing where you’re supposed to take a break from your own writing to breathe, recharge, not compulsively open your manuscript every four minutes?
Yeah. That’s going great.
In theory, this time was for rest.
In reality? I’ve devoured four full books, three novellas (Iron Fey series — shoutout to Julie Kagawa for owning my soul), and am now aggressively attached to Ethan from The Lost Prince, who is somehow both grump and cinnamon roll.
Like… do I hug him? Do I yell at him? Yes. The answer is yes.
But of course, while I’m not editing, my brain is like:
“You know what we should do instead of resting?
Redesign all the book covers. For the entire series. By hand. With AI. From scratch.”
…Sure. What could possibly go wrong?
Enter: Me vs. DALL-E
So here I am, on my sabbatical, spending quality time with my favorite emotionally unpredictable creative partner: DALL-E.
Let me tell you — we’ve been through it.
There were tears. There were battles. There were threats (some from me, surprisingly one from DALL-E).
But you know what?
I now have book covers for the entire Heavens Keys series.
ALL. FIVE. BOOKS. 😌
And honestly? They look pretty dang good.
It started with Lightfall Rising (Book 3). That cover was my Everest.
I wanted a magical twilight Aurora Borealis vibe — DALL-E kept giving me “Lord of the Rings meets Lisa Frank.”
Eventually, we made peace. There was light. There was fall. There was… rising.
And I was actually happy with it.
And Then It Spiraled
Because naturally, once you finish one pretty new cover, your past covers start looking at you like:
“…are we a joke to you?”
So then came Fateborne Arise (Book 4).
And then Obscured Embrace (Book 5).
And damn. I love them.
But that meant looking back at the OGs:
Heavens Keys and Under Darkness.
And while I still love them deeply, they kinda felt like they showed up to a royal ball wearing their Walmart best while the others were in custom moonlight couture.
So. You guessed it.
I went back in.
Redesigned the first two covers to match the tone and aesthetic of the series.
Do they match perfectly? Meh.
Do they vibe together now? Absolutely.
And most importantly — they don’t look cartoonish, childish, or like I let my Sims create them.
What’s New?I’m officially updating the cover for Heavens Keys (Book One) across all bookseller platforms — you should see the new one live within a week or two (depending on the publishing gods).
BUT I’m giving you a sneak peek today. 👀
You can find it right now on the Heavens Keys / Book page.
And while I’m at it, I’m also dropping the Under Darkness cover and a little teaser of what’s inside.
Spoiler: Things get shadowy.
In Summary:I went on an editing sabbatical.
Accidentally redesigned five book covers.
Argued with AI.
Made peace with fate.
Discovered I apparently like twilight reflections and glowing magical orbs a lot.
And now my back hurts, my shoulders are plotting revenge, and I’m going to go lie down with a heating pad and possibly cry into a pastry.
But hey — the covers are done. The vibes are vibing.
And Heavens Keys has never looked better.
Take care, happy lives, happy reading.
Toodles 💫
(Goodreads and pictures give me issues) you can see the new cover of Heavens Keys on my Profile on GoodReads and the book cover for Under Darkness and even Lightfall Rising on my website. https://samanthamullinsfantasy.wordpr...
