Thank you to all my supporters I've gained in this past week! I love to see people excited about my project! I will give a proper update on Sunday to everyone.

The main purpose of this update is to ask: Have you heard about the Review-a-Thon going on at Inkshares tomorrow? If not, please read below. If you have, read again!

Copy/paste INITIATE:

Get ready for the inaugural Inkshares Review-a-Thon, an independent event, organized by Inkshares authors!

On December 19th (tomorrow), all authors and readers are invited to leave reviews on currently funding Inkshares books using the Inkshares “leave a review” option.

Throughout the day we’ll be hanging out on Twitter in the #InksharesReviews tag as we share our favorite book projects, answer author Q&As, debate the merits of astronauts with swords versus cavemen with lasers, and much, much more!

From 6 - 8pm ET, JF Dubeau and Paul ‘such a nerd’ Inman will be hosting a Google+ Hangout livestream filled with author interviews, review readings, and live announcements of prize winners!

Prizes?!?!

Everyone who leaves a review on December 19th by 6pm ET will be eligible to win one of our fantastic general prizes:

• Sword & Laser Contest Winners Package - print copies of the six winning books from the Sword & Laser Inkshares contest!
  

• Nerdist Contest Winners Package - print copies of the five winning books from the Nerdist Inkshares contest!
  

• An immediate pre-order of the book of their choice for five winners!
  

• $30 in Inkshares credits!
  

Readers: Peruse the “currently funding” books on Inkshares and leave as many reviews as you want. You could even start up a “must-have” list of books to order in case you win a free pre-order or the $30 in credits!

Authors: Join our review exchange to leave three reviews in exchange for two guaranteed reviews on your Inkshares project and a chance at author-exclusive prizes!

Email Cara Weston at cara.c.weston@gmail.com with questions, or simply to learn more.

It’s gonna be fun.

Chapter 3 has finally arrived! I had every intention of posting it on Wednesday, but two things happened:

1.) I have been extremely busy with "real life" stuff.

2.) I was not content with how Chapter 3 was when I revisited it, so I rewrote most of it, and bumped a lot of the remaining material to Chapter 4.

Both of the items above are great, because it means:

1.) I still kinda have a social life.

2.) I improved something (in my opinion).

Hopefully what you read will be enjoyable, and for those still on the fence, maybe it will convince you to hit that Pre-Order button?

My goal this weekend is to now look at what I want to keep for Chapter 4 and work on filling it back out. It will continue to test Jacob's trust, and will start to set up the introduction to a host of new characters.

You should be carrying a lot of questions right now, and that's good. Even though I am a pantser, I do have answers to all the questions I'm stirring up. I plan on addressing all of them, to some degree (I want to leave at least a little bit of mystery).

Again, please consider a pre-order if you like what you see here, and tell a friend if you think they'd like this novel.

Have a good night, and happy dreaming!

Wow, what a week!

First of all, let me give a huge THANKS to everyone who has already placed a pre-order. You have no idea how much it means to me! I will never forget my early adopters. You are the ones who took a chance on me, and obviously something with me or my writing resonated with you enough to click the button. That is extremely flattering, and I am so thankful for you believing in me.

A lot of the supporters this week were family and friends, and so I count myself a lucky man to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who rally around me when I need them. Even though I already knew you were amazing people, it's still such a happy reminder.

I was astonished to see my book hover in the top 5 of the Sword & Laser Contest for most of this week. I am in the company of some truly great authors. There is a lot of talent on this site, so that is also a huge compliment to be among their ranks.

Congrats to Joseph Asphahani for absolutely crushing the contest so far! He is completely deserving of it, so I tip my hat to him. Also, I hope that if I ever meet him in person, I say his last name correctly.

This contest has me doing strange things. I've started using Twitter, which is a different sensation for me (brevity is foreign to me). I also jump at every e-mail when my phone buzzes, hoping it's something novel-related. But most importantly, it has forced me out of my shell, which is a pretty thick layer to crack. Putting myself out there is extremely scary for me, so this is a bigger deal than you could imagine.

I'm also going to be a first-time father in May, and so I feel like this is probably the best time to focus my time and effort on something that is near and dear to me before taking on the role of "Dad" in five months. What a hectic (but fun) time! If you see me in person and I'm in a bit of a daze, please forgive me. I've got quite a few important things bouncing around in my brain right now.

For those of you who are following the novel, but haven't opted to pre-order it yet, I truly hope at some point I can convince you that this is a project worth your investment. If there's something specific you'd like to see from me or this book, please reach out to me and let me know. I am more than happy to answer questions or share with you whatever it is you want to know. The only thing that is off limits is the ending of the book. ;)

I am a few chapters deep, and constantly in a state of figuring out how I can make something better. Jacob's journey will be a bit trippy, no doubt about it. But I want the reader to walk away from the book with a certain degree of paranoia that perhaps something is always lurking in the dark corners of our world. Those small oddities we ignore could be part of something much greater.

As you may have noticed, Chapter 2 takes a bit of a breather after Chapter 1. This is before shoving Jacob further down a twisted path in Chapter 3 (yet to be seen by you). He isn't exactly a willing participate in anything going on around him, but he doesn't mind humoring something that might improve his current condition.

I plan on posting Chapter 3 on Wednesday. If I hit 25 pre-orders before then, I will post it at that milestone. It would mean the world to me to see this book's numbers start to rise again.

Thanks again, and happy dreaming!

I can finally say it: my novel has gone live!

It's scary, and it's exhilarating, and it's fun, and it's nerve-racking, and it's kinda giving me an anxiety attack. But oh well, this is half the fun, right? It's time for me to throw down and make this happen!

I honestly don't know what to say right off the bat, but I'm committed to getting the draft for this novel to the finish line. I'm currently five chapters deep in this thing, and I'm working off a mental outline. Yes, I am a bit of a pantser!

The first chapter, which has been posted here for the past three months, was reworked and re-posted a couple hours ago. So if you're an early follower who read the first chapter before today and thought you'd seen it all, I must kindly ask you to go back and check it out again. I think it plants a deeper seed for future chapters, and flows a little better.

I'm always open to hearing your opinions, because I value the words of my peers. Of course, pre-ordering my book is a huge compliment in itself.

Take care!

Granted, I can't "officially" participate in NaNoWriMo since I wouldn't be starting from scratch, but I will say that my mind has been wrapped around my book.  The timing of NaNoWriMo has me wondering if Inkshares will perhaps have another contest around the corner that I could participate in, since the timing personally wasn't right for the Nerdist one (hint hint).  ;)

I will likely be doing a lot of writing again here soon, but this will involve starting at the beginning and reworking a lot of parts that I think will structure the story a lot better.  It helps to go on vacation and get some fresh perspective.

I really hope these ideas will translate to paper as well as they look in my head, because I'm excited about how they will help shape the novel.  I can't wait to share it with all of you when it's ready to post here!

I've posted chapter 2, which introduces new characters and continues Jacob down a strange and winding road (kinda literally).

Please read and enjoy!

I am about five chapters deep in my debut novel, and am hoping for some feedback, both positive and negative (but if it's the latter, please be kind).

I have posted the first chapter with full understanding that there may require some slimming, fattening, and fine-tuning in certain parts.

I thought about entering the Nerdist contest, but I know the odds are firmly stacked against me with a late start and low readership.

Thanks to everyone who finds this page and follows it with genuine enthusiasm. A few minutes of your time to read my draft and leave a comment would be much appreciated.

So it begins.