Congrats to the Inkshares Nerdist contest winners! Sorry for the radio silence on my end this week. I've been a bit preoccupied with my own brand new creation - I gave birth to my son on the the morning of September 29th after a very. very long labor! I'll be back at home this weekend and I'll provide  a more substantial update when possible. Thanks everyone for your continued support. I am going to continue my journey towards publication however I can and I can't do that without all of you! 

Sincerely,

Erin

Friends! Thank you so much for all your wonderful support throughout the Nerdist Sci-Fi/Fantasy contest. At the end of the day, The Fable Hunt came in 9th with 367 individual readers pre-ordering a copy, and you are one of the great people who helped me get there.

The next step is a bit more daunting, but I'm feeling motivated again now that this deadline has passed. I have until November 17th to presell 505 more copies of the book to guarantee publication.

You'll hear from me less frequently now as I'm going to be focusing on writing and advertising via social media rather than updating all the time through Inkshares, but I promise to keep you up to date on milestone! 

And the basic ask remains - if you know someone super passionate about books, nerdy stuff or crowdfunding, definitely tell them to come order a copy of The Fable Hunt. I'm pretty darn proud to be the only girl in the Top 10 of the contest, and now I'm going to focus on actually pre-selling enough copies to make this book a real physical thing you can hold in your hands. 

In closing, check out the awesome drawing of Learid that my friend Jay Lugo created. I love getting a chance to see what my friends absorb from the words I write. 

Peace out awesome folks. I'm back to writing!

Rachael

The Aftermath...

It took me a couple of hours to move from the corner of my couch where I usually sit when I am depressed. “One book, you lost by one book.” I kept telling myself while wondering whose fault that was. Was it me for not moving fast enough? For not asking enough people? For skipping doors in my neighborhood? Or was it that friend who said she was pre-ordering 3 weeks ago and after 5 reminders never did?

If I have learned anything from 50 years of Doctor Who, is that there are moments fixed in time that cannot be changed no matter what we do. I believe this was one of them. I was not meant to win The Nerdist contest, and I have to live with that.

Yesterday’s urgency and  later on grief made me miss something magical happening around me. A chain of people from all over the world; from Eugene –Oregon-  to Sydney; and from Hamden to the Chilean Atacama Desert, spent a day fighting shoulder to shoulder with me to help me win.

My phone was ringing the whole day with messages and texts from friends who decided to turn yesterday into a global “get out the vote” day for The Catcher’s Trap.

 It certainly felt like an election day. By noon –Eastern Time- I knew it was going to come down to 1 or 2 books. I was hopeful, though; orders were pouring, and an entire contingency from the University of Utah had joined the campaign mid-morning. In the opposite side of the globe, my massive Chilean family worked as a team trying to figure out a website written in a language unfamiliar to them.

At 2:58 I knew I had fallen short. I watched the seconds fly away as a landslide of rage and sadness overcame me. For the next two hours, I obsessed over the failure.

Today I feel nothing but blessed. The universe decided that the best way to show me how many people care about me was making me lose one of the most important campaigns I’ve ever run. Well played universe; I get it, I totally get it.

The Catcher’s Trap will become a reality one day. I am not sure when, though. I am really close to the 750 copies needed for an electronic run of the book, but I am not sure I will go that road.  I need an actual book, one that I can sign and personally deliver to that core group of people who yesterday put their lives on hold, just to support a friend’s silly dream.

Thank you all for your support. I promise I’ll be in touch.