Tech Angels and other Slush-brains

Hey everyone, 
Hope you have all been well?
I have news, stories and more news. The last couple of weeks for me have been a rollercoaster of emotions. Literally up and down in the space of minutes. It was enough to turn my hair grey but luckily mid-craziness, I had a hairdressing appointment to beautify my locks and she killed all the pesky whiteness sprouting from my head.
So what caused all this stress?
Well, once I’d finished editing Unveiled, it was time to seriously lock down the book cover and formatting so that I could upload it to the publishing platform that I’m using this time. With my first book, I published through an actual company but with this one, I went true indie and decided to publish it myself. This meant I had to do everything. And I am a slush brain when it comes to all things technical – I call it slush because whilst I know some basics, the more complex stuff is too much for me and information just slushes around in my brain, bouncing from brain cell to brain cell, with no traction. And here was I taking on the task of formatting my manuscript – what the heck was I thinking?! 
Truly! What possessed me?   😡😳🙄😢
Thank God, the Tech Angels sent down from heaven their little human representatives to save my sorry butt. Not only did they help me with formatting and setting up all the techno stuff that I needed to get the manuscript in an acceptable uploadable condition with all the thousand and one rules and regulations that had to be followed, but they helped me to create, then recreate my awesome book cover. Yes, recreate…because once I had the concept of what I envisioned, I had two wonderful friends draw up the pictures and we had it perfect! It was so awesome.
But then, horror of horrors, technically it wasn’t approved on a technical level by the publishers!! Gah!!! Because of such sexy terms as Hi Res and dpi (be still, my heart) the cover had to be scraped and rebuilt from scratch. Scratch! And like a winged Angel on a pearly white-haired unicorn, along came my third Tech Angel, swooping in to rescue me. Just like two little Frankensteins, we rebuilt that sucker from beginning to end, putting heads on bodies, cutting out eyes and filling out cheeks.and voila! It’s a Thing Of Beauty Now! I can’t wait to show it to you. 
Not only did this particular Angel save the cover but she did all the heavy lifting in terms of formatting. I had to read my own book in its entirety five night in a row – FIVE!! – and I wrote the damn thing. But she did all the work and she swears she can teach me – this ole tech slushy – how to do it myself! Ha!  😜😁
Oh and to add to the crazy-making, I had serious insomnia for days on end. I swear to you at one point, my eyes were hanging from their sockets and swinging like the tassels on a stripper’s boobies.  
It was a down-right ugly time and if it weren’t for those Angels, I would not have survived. They were so patient in dealing with my perfectionist tendencies and didn’t once yell at me. Not once. And now it’s done! Couple more things to do but essentially I can now organise things like a Book Cover Reveal and announce the release date….which I will do in the next couple of days. A beloved friend suggested I do the jigsaw puzzle reveal as I did last time and I think that’s a great idea. That will start in the next few days too. All I can tell you at this stage is the release date is in August! Yes, this August. And I’ve chosen the perfect date I think.
The thing about all the time consuming drama that’s been happening is that not only did I learn a few new things, as the White-Haired Angel keeps reminding me but I gained a valuable friendship out of it. And THAT is the best thing of all. 
Overall, as life continually shows me, if you remain faithful and positive, the universe will send you the help you need through amazing people and unexpected, wonderful places. Over and over again. 
I’m blessed and grateful. Thank you to each of my creative team – you know who you are.
In other news – I now have three translations that are complete and in the hands of proofreaders. How amazing is it that I can have five translators in five different parts of the world and ten different proofreaders in ten other different parts and I can talk to them all through the wonders of technology from my lounge in Melbourne?! Extraordinary, isn’t it? That kind of technology I do understand.
Mind you, that’s another crazy-making adventure. It’s one thing to trust your words to someone on the other side of the world but it’s another yet again to trust the people you have chosen to proofread that translation. I speak none of these languages and so my faith in the proofreader is vitally important and absolute. Once again, I’m blessed that I have great support here and I thank each and every one of them. Even with all the communications flying back and forth from one country to another adding to the general busy-ness of my daily life, it’s a joyous busy, a happy busy…… Yanno what I mean? 
So…Book Cover Reveal 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Book Release Date 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼. Translated languages Release Dates 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Keep an eye out for loads of blog updates in the next week!!!
So excited and much love as always,
Zelly 💖💜💖💜💖