Late in the fall migration hawk-watching season, which usually peaks in late September, Princess Gail managed to capture this amazing image of a mature Red-tailed Hawk. This was taken two days ago at Pilot Mountain State Park, close to our home in Winston Salem, NC.
There are only tangential mentions of birding in Mission 51, but still, I thought you might enjoy Gail’s pic. :-)
Updates, Faoii! Listen up!!
Another amazing victory for our army today! We’ve officially been backed by the Epic Fantasy Syndicate. Their medal is now proudly displayed in the barracks next to the other 2. Welcome our new brothers and sisters to the fray!
Today also brought us to 200 pre-orders and 5th place in the contest!! 200 pre-orders, Faoii! 50 more and we’ll reach Quill. Victory is so close I can taste it.
Don’t forget-- I’m still raffling off the chance to name one of several characters AND an edit/beta read of the work of your choice. Everyone who’s pre-ordered is entered into the contest, so don’t fret if you’re a seasoned Faoii--I haven’t forgotten you or what you’ve done for us.
Take care of yourselves and each other, Faoii. We’re higher up the hill than we’ve been yet. Only 2 people stand between us and full publication. Let’s show them who we are!
Faoii-Tahani
The Weefolk refers to the collective races of the Courtless people’s that live in the realm of Tír na nÓg. They live far and wide and can be found in cities, forests, mountains, and rivers throughout the realm. A great majority of the Weefolk make their homes within the safety of the Greatwood Forest. The Weefolk have and affinity for the natural world largely because a great portion of the nomadic peopleś are elemental in nature, living in trees, rivers, and rocky caverns. They are peaceful peopleś who keep to themselves and rarely involved themselves in the political or religious realms of the Fae and Mankind. As they are part of the Courtless races of Tír na nÓg those that make their home in the Greatwood Forest are guarded by the Kentaros. Those who live outside of the Greatwood are protected by the sacred laws of the Goddess, however, due to their valuable elemental essence, many who live beyond the Greatwood are at greater risk of being poached. TheWeefolk are countless in number largely in part to their reclusive nature. They come in many shapes and sizes, each with a magical gift that harnesses elemental magic. Some of the more well known Weefolk are:
These are but a few of the many mysterious and magical Weefolk that one can see while traversing the lands of Tír na nÓg.
Hello lovely readers,
If you are following any of the other wonderful projects here on Inkshares, or running your own, you may have noticed that you haven’t heard from me about The War of Wind and Moon as often as you’ve heard from other authors. There is a reason for that, one that I’ve taken some time to realize, and it’s that neither I nor the story were ready to undertake funding.
It’s not simply that I’m still writing the first draft but that I’m still discovering the story as I write (as any writer does) and crowdfunding requires that I have more to share than one needs to on an Amazon page or the back of the book in a shop! Each time I sat down to try to pen an update I realized that I could not be sure that the bit of world-building I was going to share wouldn’t end up being a massive spoiler or, worse, something that I discover won’t actually work as I envisaged it when I get down to writing the relevant scenes. What is more, I need the freedom to be able to change the skeleton of a story and even some of the world-building that I do have and - whether I was right to feel that way or not - I felt that anything I shared as a funding update would commit me to it.
So, I’m sending you this update to thank you for your support so far and let you know that I’m going to ask for this project to be switched into ’Draft’ mode so that I can keep working on it here, and updating you but with a different perspective :)
Those of you kind enough to have already pre-ordered will receive refunds, my understanding is that it happens quite quickly - please do let me know if it doesn’t. Thank you so much for your faith in the book, I hope you will see this as my commitment to making it the very best reading experience for you that I can, rather than as letting you down.
I hope you’ll continue to follow The War of Wind and Moon, either to be alerted when it is ready to go into funding again, or to be given behind-the-scenes, potentially spoiler-y updates about which I’d appreciate your feedback as readers. Of course, if you prefer not to risk potential spoilers, I’ll completely understand!
I wish all the writers who are still funding and in the running for the Geek and Sundry contest the very best - I’m a big fan of Sparked and so happy to see how well it is doing!
Wishing you courage and creativity in all you do,
Darcy.
Hello dear readers,
A lot has been going on and that’s kind of why I’ve been rather discreet in my communications. Also, I bet with three contests currently vying for attention, you get enough emails already. So what could possibly have taken up so much of my time?
Let’s start with how I had to do revisions to the manuscript for A God in the Shed. I had already handed it in but after a meeting at WeedRoad Pictures in L.A. a few weeks ago, several ideas to further improve the story demanded to be put to the page.
WeedRoad Pictures? What the hell is that? Well, that’s the second bit of paralyzing news. A God in the Shed has been optioned by Skydance Productions through the help of Akiva Goldsman from WeedRoad (props to Greg Lessans and Alexandra Neil for their part. Amazing people). I can’t do this news justice but you can read the article by The Tracking Board if you want to know more.
So what does this mean? The short answer? I don’t know! It doesn’t mean that A God in the Shed is going to be a television show but rather that there are efforts behind making that happen. Needless to say that the book is in the hands of some incredibly talented and hard working people. I’m still reeling from the news and gathering the details myself, but as far as excuses for my silence, I think that’s the best I can do right now.
What’s next?
Let me finish this with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Adam Gomolin and Brooklyn Weaver who worked like tireless maniacs to make this happen, along with the rest of the Inkshares crew for their support and of course, you guys, the readers, without whom none of this would be possible.
On to the next step!
JF
Happy Friday!
There are a few exciting things as far as news goes! We are 56 orders away from making Quill!! We did drop to 6th in the contest, but that’ isn’t so bad. 6th out of 366? I’ll take it. Unfortunately, my network has gone a bit dry. Aside from the stragglers I know who want to make pre-orders but are waiting until an opportune time, I don’t have many left. Well, at least not enough to shoot up to the 3rd place. Those authors knocked this contest out of the park! There is still a month left and miracles can happen, right?
That being said, we are 56 orders away from making Quill and going into small publishing on Amazon and print-on-demand.
Cover Art promotion is still going strong. I’m working hard on them. I’ve got a few things in life right now that have slowed down the process, but those of you I’m working with know that I’m still on top of those projects. I volunteer with the Young Friends of Independence National Historical Park as a committee member and every October we do a huge fund raiser to benefit something in Independence National Historical Park (where the liberty bell is). I’m the one in charge of setting up the information booklet for the big party that we throw. On top of that, I offered to donate a painting to be raffled off so.... I’m doing a lot of things right now.
It is all for a good cause. We’re raising money to preserve a quilt from 1761 and ensuring George Washington’s chest doesn’t crack open again this winter. Seriously, his wooden statue splits like a CGI fault line in a bad disaster movie. We gotta help a Founding Father out. If you’re local to Philadelphia and want to support the project, you can place half-page ads in our event book or attend the Darkside of Philadelphia party on the 14th at 6:00PM. Booze, food, tarot card reader, and some ghostly historical figures. Going to be a fun night.
There isn’t a character profile today, but I am attaching a link to the story that was created at the Collingswood Book Festival using the Story by Sentence game. I’ll be honest, it is... different. Check it out!
