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Where the Staircase Ends

After her best friend orchestrates the lie that destroys her reputation, Taylor wants more than anything to disappear from her life. But when an accident turns this unspoken wish into reality, instead of an angel-filled afterlife, Taylor must climb a seemingly endless staircase into the sky. Instead of going up, the journey plunges her into the past. As she unravels the mystery behind her friend’s betrayal, she must face the truth about life and find the strength to forgive the unforgivable -- unless the staircase breaks her first.

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Most writers will tell you that there are lots of highs and lows along the path to publication, but one of the biggest highlights is the first time you see your cover art. For me, it was second only to the first time I held a physical copy of Where the Staircase Ends in my hands—I nearly broke the windows with my excited squeals and scared the crap out of my neighbors. But that’s a story for another time. ☺

I received my cover art MUCH faster than I expected. We hadn’t even started the first round of revisions when I got an email from my editor asking for my comments on the first draft of the artwork, which was attached. My hands shook when I clicked on the image.

My first reaction? Shock. It wasn’t what I had expected.

In my head, I’d imagined something different…I thought there would be a close-up picture of a staircase, with maybe some snowdrifts piled in the corners to link to a critical scene in the book. So when I saw that the focal point wasn’t the staircase I was surprised.

Then I started looking at the girl, and I realized she was a PERFECT replica of Taylor, the main character. Especially her elbows. Which may seem like a strange thing to focus on, but the first line of the story literally makes a comment about Taylor’s pointy elbows, so the fact that the cover art nailed that detail was kind of magical.

The more I stared, the more I loved. I actually liked that they made the staircase a subtle background detail and focused more on Taylor, because at the end of the day it’s a story about her, not just a story about the staircase.

We ended up making a few minor changes to the font and the sky, but overall the first version they shared with me isn’t much different from the version you see today. Turns out the hardest part of the process was waiting almost a full year before I could share it with the world. (I may or may not have cheated a few times and showed it to friends, but came you blame me?)

I hope you like it as much as I do.