A deliriously happy, surreal update today:
250 Pre-Orders Attained! Publication now Guaranteed.
We did it! We are now at 101% of the light publishing goal called Quill which means Kingdom of Dreams will be published!
This will now become reality, it’s staggering to believe:
I will serve up a what happens next/moving forward update when the campaign concludes on 12/31/2016. But today is all about gratitude, reflection, and relief!:
When I say we did it, WE should be capitalized. This is a crowd-funded project, meaning if there’s not enough people that literally invest their own hard earned money to move this project across the publication line, this book doesn’t happen. Because of YOU, WE are here.
I recently went through the entire list of my backers, and got pretty emotional when considering each name. There are so many of you I have known since I could first walk and talk, many more since that have become my family, or we were close once, but time, circumstances and distance have moved us into different spheres, yet you still supported me. I have some newer incredible friends from my recent years of acting and getting into the writing game, and you have been right there in the struggle with me, but we have continued to fight to do what we love-we can’t help ourselves can we? And then there’s the perfect strangers that have embraced this project with enthusiasm and given my creativity a vitality and confidence I haven’t been able to harness before.
Some of you have endured incredible hardships and losses this year that I can’t even begin to fathom. Yet, here you are supporting this book. Your selfless faith and encouragement has also given me renewed strength and a clean perspective. It seems like whenever I had doubts and wanted to quit along the way, one of you would pre-order or a fellow writer would answer an e-mail and say something encouraging or take the time to answer one of my silly questions. Or a friend would recommend a friend, and even though you were still completely fuzzy about why you weren’t getting shipped a book within a week, you still supported me. Thank you Inkshares as well for enduring what has been--like everyone else who goes through this--an emotional campaign to say the least. (Elena, you’re a rockstar!)
Most of all, I owe my wife Eileen everything for what she’s had to endure. She’s seen me rise and fall, drift off to Never Never Land probably far more often than I realize, and help me gently--and sometimes not so gently!--return to Earth. (Well, at least long enough to be somewhat responsible!) And then there’s my baby boy, my light in dark places, my motivation to show you can do what you love and be confident in who you are, who will now grow up with a dad who writes and illustrates cool books! I hope...I wish...I pray!
My pledge to you: I will give this book my all. Every last breath. Just last month, I realized the beginning wasn’t good enough. It was okay, but okay doesn’t cut it. I could do better, I could dig deeper, I could be more vulnerable, have more fun with it, be more creative. So that’s where things stand now, and I can’t wait to put this all together.
I can’t thank you all enough for the opportunity you’ve given me. Now it’s time for a strong finish!
Yours in gratitude,
Kevin
