Questions: on cover modeling

Patrick asks:

How did you become a Cover Model? Have you done other modeling?

I’ve actually answered this in detail elsewhere. But the quick and dirty story is as follows:

I know a woman, Tara Kearney, whose mother is an author friend of mine (Susan Kearney). Tara and I were both aspiring artists: I wrote, she took pictures. Tara needed models for some book covers she was designing on spec. I volunteered. The photo sessions were a blast and I really enjoyed doing them (I was into drama in high school and college). I actually did several before she sold any, but one session I did resulted in a bunch of covers. We worked on trade: I posed for her, and she took author photos for me. My publicity shot is done by Tara. I’m not a professional model in the sense of having ever been paid to model. I could still be in the modeling Olympics, I guess.

Other modeling? Well, I posed for photos in a couple of issues of my newspaper when I worked there, when we needed art of whatever it was the article was about (there was one of me eating a grouper sandwich, for example). Does that count? My mother tells me that once when I was six, I played the “daughter” in a family shot for a promotional brochure of my local hospital (my dad was a physician there). I bet I was paid in popsicles.

That’s it. Sorry it’s not juicier. Try Robin Hazelwood for some real scoop on modeling.