Bringing Up Brits has a new cover design

Egham International School in Surrey contacted me back in June to see if I’d be interested in coming to their school to give a talk to the parents, most of whom are foreigners and many of whom are American expats. With every part of me wanting to say NO, I made myself stay cheerful and say ‘Yes! I’d love to’. I’m not the greatest public speaker and if I could avoid it, I would. However, I knew what a great opportunity this would be and I was assured that the parents would find my talk really useful. Then in August, after speaking to their Parent Talks organizer who was so wonderful on the phone, I felt determined that I could do this and do it well.

Now that a date has been set, my fee agreed, my books ordered and delivered for me to take on the day, my talk nearly all planned, I’m starting to feel optimistic and excited. I also felt that this would be a good time to re-design the cover art of my book Bringing Up Brits. After trying several different ideas, I narrowed it down to three and then got some feedback. One of them seemed too messy and ‘like an old woman’s washing line’. (and these are actual quotes from the feedback). One seemed too ‘boring and overused’ and one seemed ‘so British in that it looks like a lonely day at the beach at a party that no one is at’. Well that did it!  It’s actually quite fitting in a way – loneliness is a theme and raising children who are quickly becoming very British is also a theme. At first glance, the cover, to me, looks like a celebration and the beach is quintessentially British. But it also has that underlying feeling of isolation and loneliness that can sometimes go hand in hand with moving to the UK, not knowing anyone, learning how to live and raise children in a foreign culture.

Then I asked for some help from Wendy Barratt who is also a graphic designer. She sometimes does work for me and I sometimes do work for her. It’s really difficult to design something for yourself and especially something so personal, I felt I needed another designer’s point of view. Wendy helped me with the typography and put my name big and bold – something I never would have done myself. But it seems to work with the overall design and balance of the copy.

Cover photo is by my good friend and professional photographer Moose Azim.

My daughter loves the new cover and says it’s an improvement on the old cover which she’s now told me she thought was too ‘strict looking’. ?? Anyway, great to get her opinion because she’s very clever and has a good eye for these things!

So here I go, my very first parent talk and at an actual American style campus as well. I need to find some time to finish off my Prezi and practice my talk. Practice practice practice – that is what I did for my talk in Amsterdam last November which seemed to go really well. Too bad I have a full time job to do, otherwise I might try and line up one of these talks every week! Could I even make a living out of that? Doubt it, and I would probably go crazy with the stress of it all. Some people are natural public speakers. Others have to learn how to be good at it. I’m one of the others, I am learning.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.