Help Me Choose the Cover for My Piano-Practice Book

I have been spending a lot of time with my book this week.

At this point, I think the main draft is finally there. I am now working through the less glamorous but very necessary parts: finalizing the content, checking pictures, organizing the tool pages, and making sure everything actually belongs together.

This book has been living in my head for a long time.

It begins with piano-practice methods, but it is really about something broader: learning strategies, mindset, and the inner struggles that happen behind the keyboard.

Practicing is not only technical training. It is also learning how to learn.

The real difficulty is often not just the notes. It is how we understand practice, how we respond when we get stuck, how we build methods, and how learning slowly becomes more reliable.

I also hope the book helps people outside the practice room understand what practicing can feel like from the inside.

Sometimes a student is not being careless. Sometimes they are confused. Sometimes they are trying very hard, but without a strategy that actually helps. Sometimes they are afraid of making the same mistake again. Sometimes the struggle is not visible from the outside at all.

That is the space I wanted to write from.

There will be both a Chinese version and an English version.

That part is important to me, because so much of my teaching life has existed between languages. Some ideas come to me more naturally in Chinese. Some ideas sit more easily in English. Writing this book in both languages has made me think even more carefully about what I really mean.

This week, I also received four possible cover designs.

And now I need help.

A cover is not just decoration. It gives the first feeling of the book before anyone reads a word. Since this book is not meant to be flashy or intimidating, I want the cover to feel clear, thoughtful, and welcoming — something that matches the kind of book it is.

There was also one small moment this week that made me very happy.

I sent the draft to my dad. At first he told me his eyes were tired. Then the next day he told me he was almost finished reading it because it was actually quite interesting, so he kept going.

If you know my dad, you know this is not a small compliment. Haha.

So here I am, a little tired, a little nervous, and very happy to be this close.

I would love your help choosing the cover.

Which one feels most like this book: thoughtful, practical, honest, and welcoming?

Please vote for A, B, C, or D in the comment section below!