Hello Friends!

Well, nearly a year ago ALL of you helped me get to here:

 This "in production" thing still makes me feel like I’ve been crowned Prom Queen.

“So, Meghan, are you still writing?”

One of the teachers I hated the most in the 5th grade was my art teacher. He was a sanctimonious man who did not know how to speak to children. (I mean, we have all had jobs that weren’t ideal fits)  Every time I brought him my work he would hold it out in front of him, nod his head and say, “I mean, it is a good start.”

This was infuriating to a 10-year-old unconcerned with “perspective in a city scene” and who wanted desperately to be excused to free-time coloring.

But, to a woman of a certain age, writing a novel, “a good start” is encouraging feedback! The very thoughtful folks at Inkshares have given me a lot to consider in order to make Eudaimonia better. They have also been A LOT more helpful than my 5th-grade art teacher. I like better and I am certain you will too. Currently, I’m about a third of the way through the second round of edits. My goal is to get them wrapped up before the end of the year. Either way, I’ll let you know :)

This experience is really a lot of fun for me. But your continued interest and support is like sprinkles on top of frosting! Awww, thanks, guys!

Until I have more to report, 

Meghan Godwin

Dear friends and followers,

We’re at the three week mark for the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller contest, with 71 readers counted and 102 pre-orders. We’ve still got some distance to go, and about five and a half weeks to make it in. There’s been an issue in the past couple of weeks of orders not being processed as expected, so please check to see if "Cat’s Paw" is listed on your account bookshelf under "Purchased". I make sure to send out thank you emails during this pre-order process, so if you think you’ve ordered but received no thanks from me, that’s usually a sign that something’s gone wrong somewhere.

Meanwhile, there is also the Inkshares Horror contest, with its own host of entries. The one that’s caught my eye at the moment is "Ereshk", by Frederick Street which pits "an alcoholic ex-cop, a washed-up arms dealer, and a fugitive stripper" against a mysterious cult. I guess I’m attracted to it because it borders on being a crime story, and, well, you know me and mysteries.

I was recently in touch with J. T. R. Russell, author of "Wake Up Call", which was returned to draft mode after its initial campaign a year and a half ago. I remember being disappointed then, as I was looking forward to this story. I thought it had a certain Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams quality about it -- perhaps it reminded me a bit of Adams’s "The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul". Not to worry: Russell apparently still has plans for the book, and I would recommend following it in case he opens up a new campaign or does anything else with it.

In the meantime, keep reading, and have fun.

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit,

I know you have been waiting for an update and I now have something to report. I just submitted the full draft to my development editor. I am excited, relieved, and nervous all at the same time. In about three weeks I should get back lots of advice and suggestions. At that point I will spend a few weeks probably completely rewriting it. Then we go in for line editing.

Thank you all for your continued support.

PT

Hi page pals-

Round two of ’My Place Among Men’ is out the door. 

I took all chapter titles, dumped them on the floor and scrambled the pile. Freaked me out a bit, but I had down time for shoulder surgery so I sorted. When both arms started working a few weeks later, I still couldn’t haul camera equipment but I could write so that’s what I did. Day and night.  

My Inkshares editor wants more ’I’ perspective in this book. He’s asking for my childhood and my failures. Both make me squirm, but both are now in the book. 

I moved, dropped and added chapters including this one: The Wading Game. It’s posted in the ’Read’ section of our project page here:  https://www.inkshares.com/books/my-place-among-men-0699d4

Please give it a read and let me know what you think. I’m sure my Inkshares editor will let me know what he thinks too.

Your wordsmith,
Kris Millgate

Dear friends and followers,

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so for those of you who celebrate it, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For my part, I would like to give thanks for the progress "A Gentleman’s Murder" has made since its release back on 31 July.

• Firstly, that it was released at all. That in itself is a great gift.
  
• Great reviews, both by professional critics and by readers such as yourselves. I’m glad to be bringing some enjoyment into the world.
• Being optioned for TV. That’s rather like winning the lottery with a ticket bought with the winnings from another lottery.

I assume all of the above means, in the words of Sally Field, "You like me! Right now, you like me!" And I hope you like me well enough to consider backing "Cat’s Paw". Important as it is to give thanks for the past, it is as important to look to the future. With this second novel, I want to give you the same degree of enjoyment, if not more, that you and other readers seem to have derived from "A Gentleman’s Murder". Experience has shown that it can be done; all it needs now is your go-ahead.

Quite aside from this, of course, I must thank all of you who’ve expressed your confidence in me with regard to "A Gentleman’s Murder": those of you who backed it, who introduced the book to your friends, and who afterwards wrote reviews of it on Amazon and Goodreads. May you have as much and more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

Dear readers,

For all of you in Canada, let me wish you a happy Thanksgiving. May your families all be more functional than the Linwoods of "Cat’s Paw" turn out to be. (Roger Linwood, as the story begins, would tell you that his family is very functional indeed -- he doesn’t know yet that it’s all built on a lie.)

I’ve described "Cat’s Paw" as being "Agatha Christie’s ’Ordeal By Innocence’ meets H. G. Wells’s ’The Island of Doctor Moreau’". The first part is easy enough, knowing that Roger Linwood and his siblings are adopted. But, knowing that I’m steering well clear of science fiction and fantasy, can you guess how "The Island of Doctor Moreau" fits in?

Family obligations over the past week mean I haven’t been able to devote as much time as I would have liked to working on "Cat’s Paw", and I’m sorry to say that we appear to have slipped down to third place in the Mystery & Thriller Contest rankings. I sincerely hope each of you might be able to introduce this book to a friend; and if you’re still on the fence, that you might consider adding your backing to it as well. We can still do this.

And for all of you who’ve done anything at all -- by promoting it elsewhere or especially by backing it yourselves -- I offer my heartfelt thanks. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, after all.

- Christopher Huang

Greetings, Faoii!

Well, my warriors. It’s been one full year since The Last Faoii was published. I don’t really know what I expected a year ago. By then we had worked so hard and for so long to build our army. We had fought and bled and screamed our warcries just so we might be known. A year ago we were unstoppable, tireless soldiers determined to to prove The Last Faoii’s worth. And worth it it was. I feel like many of you have forgotten the fight in that year, placated by 365 days of contentment. But the fight is not over, and I want you to see what we’ve accomplished so far. Beyond that, though, I need you pick up your sword again. Help us reach that victory from a year ago a second time.

Here are our accomplishments so far, my warrios. Be proud. Be strong. But do not be complacent.

(Note: You can click on any of the underlined words to jump to the page that has more info.)

1. The Last Faoii is available in Paperback, E-book and Audiobook versions! The audiobook is narrated by the incredibly talented and award-winning Sara Morsey.

2.  The Last Faoii has garnered 60 reviews on Amazon, with an overall rating of 4.9 Stars! The audiobook currently has 1 review with a 5.0 Star Rating!

3. The Last Faoii has garnered 27 ratings and 18 reviews on Goodreads, with an overall rating of 4.48 stars. (This is partially because of my favorite rating of all time, a 1-star review that simply says:

4. The Last Faoii’s Facebook Page has 417 followers! And 355 followers on Twitter!

5. We have a Faoii short story (The Faoii of Ashwood) coming in an anthology before the New Year. Watch The Writing Bloc for updates!

6. And finally, Faoii Betrayer currently has 67 pre-orders on Inkshares. And I need your help again.

Faoii Betrayer needs 750 pre-orders before it will be real. There are excerpts already on the Inkshares Page. Read them, recognize that the writing is even stronger than it was in last-- and that this is worth it. I had hoped that a year between books would be enough. That people would be able to read Last, realize that the story is wortwhile, and use that to recruit new soldiers. I was hoping we would have a larger army by the time Betrayer started funding. I might have been overzealous in my ambitions, but I don’t think so. I’ve seen lesser stories than ours fund. And I am no less of an author, a friend, or a leader than those that who have succeeded where we are struggling. I know it’s possible. Help me prove it.

Take care of yourselves and each other, my Faoii. We are only as strong as our shieldmates. It will take all of us to succeed again. A year from now, I want to be able to give you more than this. 

Shields up.

Faoii-Tahani

It’s October! I waited a couple days to send this update because THE REVISED DRAFT OF ROCK OF AGES IS IN!

I’ve been working incredibly hard for the last three months. Not only have I rewritten over 91,000 words almost from scratch but I’ve read several relevant books to work on my own style, taken the Margaret Atwood Masterclass on Writing, taken a course on the business of being an author, and taken lots of steps to build my platform leading up to the release of the book. I’ve begun blogging on a weekly basis and contributing regularly to the Writing Bloc website and have had several guest posts published as well. I’m committed to making Rock of Ages as successful as it can be!

There will be more rounds of changes to be made. The good news is that each round should get a little easier! This was the big one.

Thank you, as always, for following along on this journey and for all your support and encouragement!

If you’d prefer weekly updates that include links to blog posts and events, be sure to subscribe to my email list at http://eepurl.com/dBsQdP