Book Update: The Cover that Made me Exhale!

A few weeks ago, I finally shared the cover for Mom Dropped the F-Bomb.

My first reaction when illustrator Jon Kalvin sent it to me was pure joy. I probably gasped.

It felt like a giant exhale after years of imagining this book, writing and revising this book, and picturing how great it would look sitting on a bookstore shelf.

And then there it was. Perfect, yet not what I expected at all.

When I imagined the cover, it featured characters from the story. That seemed like the obvious choice. But when Jon presented the swear jar cover, I immediately knew he was right.

Mock-ups make it feel real!

The swear jar is such an important part of the story. It's at the centre of the boys' plan to help their mom stop dropping the F-bomb, and it manages to tell the entire premise before you've even opened the book.

Mom said the word. The boys have a solution. There's going to be some money involved.

I especially love that the title is written directly on the jar. It's simple and it’s funny, it perfectly captures the spirit of the story.

I started this book way back in 2019. I’m not sure why, but I tucked it away as a “crazy dream”. The rewrite that became this book started in 2024. When I committed to the idea, I knew that if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right! I enrolled in Miriam Laundry’s Children’s Book Masterclass because, despite writing all my life, I had absolutely no idea how to write a children's book.

From there came many revisions, a few rounds of professional editing with Jennifer Rees in New York, and then the long process of querying agents and publishers. Did I mention that was a long process? Super long.

The responses were understandable. I got excellent feedback, many positive reviews but ultimately, a picture book about a mom who says the F-word doesn't fit neatly into any traditional category.

People weren't sure where it belonged. And honestly, neither was I.

Then one morning in February of this year, I woke up and made a decision. I was done waiting for someone else to tell me whether this book deserved to exist. I was going to publish it myself.

Since then, every step has been a learning experience. Some things have taken longer than I expected. Deadlines have moved, plans have changed and yet, every step has brought this project closer to becoming a real book. And then I saw the cover and it truly became real.

It became especially real when I started creating cover mock-ups. As a photographer, I've spent years creating images for other people and helping them bring their ideas to life. Seeing my own book sitting in a stack on a table, even in a mock-up, was surreal.

Seeing my own book sitting in a stack on a table, even in a mock-up, was surreal.

It stopped feeling like a manuscript and started feeling like something I would actually hold in my hand.

One of my favourite details isn't even on the front cover. It's on the back.

Jon created caricatures of both of us for the author and illustrator bios, and they're absolutely perfect. I'm saving those for in-person reveals because they're too good to share online. It wouldn’t feel right!

The long awaited cover captures exactly what I hoped this book would be. It's cheeky. It's warm. It's funny.

And the F-bomb, although front and center, is not the main event here. She is. The mom. The mom who isn't perfect but is deeply loved anyway. Because the heart of this story has never been the word she says. It's the family that loves her in spite of her flaws.

Thank you to everyone who followed along with the cover reveal, shared it, commented, and cheered this project on. Your excitement made this milestone even more special.

And now we move on to the next adventure: pre-orders.

They're taking a little longer to set up than I originally expected, because it turns out publishing a book involves approximately one million moving parts. But they're coming, and I'm excited to share more details soon.

Thank you for being here for the journey.

We're getting closer every day.

Cathy