FYI. Dora the Explorer has taken a walk to the weird.

I don't really know what is going on.

All I do know is that my little kidlets are exhausted and needed a little extra TLC from TV this morning.

Scarlett won't keep a hair tie in to save her life and she looks like the toddler version of Albert Einstein. And Stella flat out refuses to change out of her pajamas, and the poor things shirt is much to short.

We haven't given them up yet, because they claim to be a 5T. But it's like a 5T for a short squatty, very wide five year old....

Oh. And they have princesses on them.

So.

Ok, but while my kids recover from the three day weekend I have some exciting news!

I have a new cover for my online book!!!

I am so thrilled about it, I could die. Or throw up. Or.... Talk about it on my blog.

Yes. That's what I will do.

Well, let me explain first in part, how I came to get the first cover.

Cover Art is one of those creative processes, I would never be good at, even if the continuation of the human race depended on it.

I can be a creative person. I like to think of myself as one of those... Right Brained people.

Is that the creative side? Or is it Left Brain?

Nope. I Googled it. I'm definitely a Right Brainer. The link I found to explain the difference said Left Brain people make really good CEO's.

I am not that person.

Anyways. I see myself more as an artist than a.... thinker.

But artist in the more abstract way. Like, music, writing, creative cooking, make-believe with the kiddos.

Those things.

Usually though, Right Brained people can draw. If you tend to be artistically minded, I think it's also a trend you can draw. Or paint. Or... be crafty.

I am not.

Ok. A little bit crafty, but never with finesse. I always have a brilliant idea in my mind, but it usually comes out looking like a toddler drew it.

Or shoot. Now that I have toddlers and they do a better job than me, maybe I should compare myself to like.... a bunny, or cat or something.

Something without opposable thumbs.

It's pretty common knowledge around this house that I can't draw. Having known my hubby since second grade he has seen me able to doodle one and only one thing my entire life and it happens to be the same flower that I've drawn since exactly second grade.

That's it. A flower. And it's not even a fancy flower. It's like a circle, and than circles around the circle.

Wow.

I'm amazing.

Sometimes I even add a stem and a leaf.

Sometimes there's grass and a sun and like a ladybug or bumble bee.

But trust me, this is first grader stuff. Not Picasso.

The other day, I suggested to Zach, that maybe I could redo the entertainment center in the living room. Zach brought it into our marriage from his bachelor pad and it's part of a matching set his parents picked up at Goodwill.

It's light colored fake wood, with metalic handles and cabinets.

It reminds me of the 90's. In not a good way.

So, I say to him, because until we win the lottery we are not even playing, or I get a job it won't be replaced any time soon.

My first priority is a new couch.

End of story.

No. Not end of story, ok, so I say, "You know, I could like paint it a darker color of brown and then the metallic outline like a copper color."

Don't you think that is a good idea?

I mean, at least the colors would fit in somewhere in the current living room scheme. And I feel like it would be a positive upgrade in general.

Zach looks at me and says, "That is a terrible idea!"

When my mouth dropped open and I feigned horror he continued, "Look at your toes (which I had just painted the night before.), can you even paint your toes?"

Dang it! He is right!!!

So. No. I won't be taking on any home improvement projects any time soon.

So, when I wrote my book, well first I had always hoped to just be picked up by a regular publisher and they would solve the problem of Cover Art for me. When that didn't happen and we decided to go the Kindle/Ebook route, we knew Cover Art was going to be an issue.

We talked through a lot of options. One included Zach and Aaron's tattoo artist, but he was actually going to charge me.... :) And. His astethic is more geared towards that Japanese style of art. Which. I am not. Nor is my book.

We talked about other options too.

I pulled something together in Paint on the computer, to give people an idea of what I was looking for.


I mean seriously. That's awesome right? You would buy that book....

Oh my gosh. I told you. No. Talent.

Anyways, we decided on a friend, whom I just LOVE. And is going to school for graphic design.

She came up with the current concept. Which. As a print, Zach and I just love. I have never heard Zach compliment a piece of... well... anything... the way he complimented that cover. He loved it.

My concern was, and she hasn't read the book, so it's hard to create from nothing, that the cover didn't really fit the concept of the book or the age of the market I am trying to reach.

And since she did this out of the goodness of her own heart and is the busiest working girl on the planet, she hasn't had time to cater to my every specific, diva like instructions.

So.

Me, I'm Irish, I can do something the same way forever. I just loved that my book actually had a cover to it. That my name was on it. And. That it was out there in the world, with a title and a picture and a price next to it.

But Zach. My husband. My reason for living. The love of my life. The only one that's anywhere near being business oriented around here. Had bigger plans.

So. His childhood's best friend's dad (did you get that?) is an artist. Like that's what he does for a living.

Since. This best friend, is also a childhood friend of mine, like I always knew he was an artist, but what does that really mean to a kid? Nothing.

Basically it meant that Paul always had the best looking presentations at school, because he cheated and his dad did them.

Just kidding. Kind of....

So anyways, Zach makes the bargain with Mr. Osborne, manual labor for a cover and then to my surprise Mr. Osborne asks to read the book to see where I'm coming from and not only comes up with three amazing options for me, helps me tweak the title into something, I think, is better and more appropriate.

Like. The email exchange that happened over the weekend, kind of changed my life.

And now I get to launch a brand new cover with an upgraded title and I could not be more excited.

I might sell one more book because of it, but it doesn't matter because I am just so happy with it!

I just cannot wait to show it to you!

It's not 100% ready yet. We are changing the title from Reckless, by Rachel Higginson. To Reckless Magic, by Rachel Higginson.

As it turns out there are a billion books with the title Reckless.

And not one titled Reckless Magic.

So. We will see.

Plus, if you've read the book than I think it makes more sense.

And since I have a total, of oh... maybe five fans, lets see, my mom, my aunt, my cousins and.... Zach? I am thinking a title change won't be too much of a shock!

So. I am So. So. So. Thankful for the original cover. And I'm pretty sure we are going to get it in a print and just frame it. And So. Thankful for all of Raven's work.

I have to go with this new one. It belongs to the story.

And as soon as it is uploaded, I will share it with you. And all of my followers on Twitter. All eleven of them. :)

Do you know what's weird though. On Twitter, and even though I still don't understand it, I am like in this whole circle of Indie Authors.

That's right, Indie as in like Indie Music. Like Ebook stuff. I didn't know there was a name for it either, and I certainly didn't know I would be apart of it. But thanks to Twitter and blind luck falling into this whole group, there are other people out there that are doing what I'm doing!

I just had no idea.

Whew. Dora got out of Wizzle World. All is right on Nick Junior again.