(The Dreaded) Author Headshot Time!

Getting a headshot is one of my least favorite parts of being an author. One day, you have the photo taken, and days, weeks, months, years, eons later, the same photo is all over the place. But I have to confess, I want my photo to capture what I REALLY look like, so when I do get the opportunity to meet my readers, they aren’t thinking, “Whoa. She suddenly aged, like, twenty years!”

So. Since my last head shot was snapped 3 or 4 years ago (oh, how time flies!) I thought I’d have my wonderful friend, fine artist and photographer, Sherry Ferrin, take a few shots of me at the same time she was taking the Toliver Family Portraits for our 2015 Christmas cards.

Confession: I never feel fabulous about photos of myself. Like how I can’t help but cringe when I hear my voice on radio or TV interviews or the “you missed me, leave a message” spiel on my phone. However, it’s a necessary evil, as every time I’m asked to present at a school, conference, or convention, they need a headshot. Each time I do a book signing event or agree to do an interview or contribute to a blog or website, I’m asked for a headshot. Truly, the request for a current headshot comes up quite often, as it did today, for Salt Lake City’s Fan X convention.

Here are the 3 photographs we ended up with. Full disclosure: the first one is actually cropped from one taken with my adorable husband. So realistically, #2 and #3 will be better choices for pixels and so forth. The only feedback I’ve sought so far is that of my 13 year-old son, who votes for the middle (#2) one. If  you’d take a moment to give me your opinion, I’d be very grateful. Thank you!