Full details of the Up from Here Project can be found here.
ALL COVER DESIGN CANDIDATES:
This is a job opportunity, not a pick-and-choose contest where "best design" gets an X-number of dollar prize. 
Please contact me to post your rate proposals, contact information, and a link to where your sample work can be viewed.
I am answering all inquiries via email!  Please CHECK YOUR SPAM folders for emails from my @newerenaissanceink.com addresses.

My deadline for COMPLETION of this cover design project is 30 April 2012, as we expect to publish the book on 16 September 2012.
Send initial designs to info@newrenaissanceink by 10 March 2012. 
Once I receive your first designs, I'll provide my phone number to designers who prefer  to consult with me voice-to-voice.
Deciding Factors:
1.  The way the initially submitted design appeals to me.  I created the concept photo album on Facebook to give designers a starting point.   
2.  The designer's availability to work on the design to produce a finished product by 30 April (or beyond, if press schedule allows). 
3.  The designer's rates or fee for the work. 

MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT:
One hundred percent (100%) of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to charity.  For concept ideas, I posted a photo album on my New Renaissance Ink, LLC Facebook page to give an idea of the concept. See the album here, and feel free to post your own questions and comments.

COMPENSATION (for Cover Designers ONLY):
Once we agree upon a rate/fee with the selected designer, we prefer to make compensation via Paypal, but we also have access to electronic funds transfer to any savings or checking account, as well as to some prepaid cards. The selected designer will also receive a copy of Up from Here upon publication. Compensation will be half up front and half upon delivery of completed work.

ADDITIONAL INCENTIVE: As a gesture of thanks to the first five (5) design candidates who submit a design, we plan to offer an extra monetary compensation, whether or not your design is selected for this project. If you are among those first 5 candidates, congratulations, and thanks!  REMEMBER:  Being among the first 5 candidates to submit a design does not imply that you will be hired for this project.

SPECIAL NOTE:  If you are still interested in submitting content for consideration for the book, please see the Special Projects tab at New Renaissance Ink, LLC.

 

I'm pretty sure that you can tell a lot about a person's TRUE character by the way they drive a shopping cart or navigate themselves around a grocery store. I'm the LEAST patient person I know, and I still know how to be courteous, wait my turn, and say, "Excuse me," when I'm in a crowded aisle or frozen food section. Sometimes, I just wanna slap folks for being jerks.
On one hand, I should have known better than to go shopping on Super Bowl/Payday Weekend, but on the other hand, people should just have better manners.  You ain't the only one in a rush.
I'm convinced that these military spouses are just crazy.  They act like they're the only ones who want to shop in the commissary; and then bring nana and pawpaw in with the kids to add to the confusion, while they mean mug you for picking up that last pack of cheap chicken wings, or getting to the check out line faster than they did.  Honey, my nerves.  Just madness.

I'm a pretty fast shopper. I don't just stand in folks way because I got there first, and just stand there for the heck of it.  I think some of them heffas do it on purpose.  Yes, I over-thought it, but I think it gives them a sense of power to inconvenience the hell out of somebody else.  I don't even think they're really reading the labels.  Just in the damn way.
As for the kids, move your little no-money-having, not-buying-a-damn-thing butt out of the way.  I now understand why our parents left us in the car when it wasn't everybody else's business that they did so.