Happy Week of Days With Descriptors!

We are nearly at the end of said days, but as the focus of today is "Giving" it is the perfect time to remind everyone of my raffle. I have six Audible codes for the An Unattractive Vampire audio book and if you give money to an at-risk cause, your name will be entered in to win one of them. If you need more information, visit my website or see my last update. There are lots of lists out there of groups who need help. Groups like Trans Relief Project, CeaseFire Illinois, Doctors Without Borders, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and more. 

Once you’ve donated (and you did donate, didn’t you? *Guilt stare*) tell me you did. You can respond here with a comment (don’t just like the post, that doesn’t actually tell me anything) or find me on twitter or e-mail me at anunattractiveemail@gmail.com. Your name will be entered into the contest which ends December 15th.

Look it’s win/win. You win because you get to feel good about yourself AND might win a free audiobook. They win because they get the money and resources to help people who desperately need it. And humanity wins because the entropic decay of the universe will be put off a little longer. EVERYBODY WINS!

Except for the cannibal Futurekind. They don’t win.

Another update? Already?

Just a quick one, I promise! I have made some gift certificates you can print up if you want to preorder Fae Child as a Christmas/holiday present. The PDF file is here, on Google Drive, and is available for ebook or paperback orders.

Still chugging along, on our way to 250 orders! I am considering requesting another extension from Inkshares, and I will if Fae Child is getting orders and support but will still fall short at the end of the year.

Thank you!
Jane-Holly

At 81,369 words, yesterday I submitted the final draft of The Punch Escrow manuscript to Inkshares and Geek & Sundry. There are still a couple of rounds of developmental editing coming which may see the story change somewhat, but I’m fairly confident the narrative arc is concrete (or firmly crooked, to quote Douglas Adams) at this point. Good news is: the book is coming on for super duper sure in July 2017

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Here’s the schedule going forward for those following along at home:

TK hand in manuscript: 11/28/16
MH to begin dev edit: 11/28/16
Dev edit letter/assessment due back to TK: 12/9/16 (1.5 wks)
Dev edit rework due to MH: 12/30/16 (3 wks)
Dev round 2/line edit due to TK: 1/11/17 (~2 wks)
Dev edit cleanup due to MH: 1/30/17 (2.5 wk)
Final dev edit version to INK: 2/6/17 (1 wk)
INK hands MS to CE (copyeditor): 2/13/17
Copyedit due to TK: 2/27/17 (3 wks)
TK’s copyedit review due to CE: 3/13/17 (2 wks)
Clean copyedited MS to INK: 3/20/17 (1 wk) {INK will print galleys}
INK hands CEMS to proofer: 3/20/17 
Proofread due to TK: 4/4/17 (2 wks)
Proof comments due from TK: 4/9/17 (1 wk)
Clean proofed MS to INK: 4/18/17 (1 wk) 
Send clean proofed MS to interior designer: 4/25/2017
Book published: 7/11/2017
Geek & Sundry SDCC book launch: 7/19/2017  

Hello, readers!  

Apologies for the radio silence over the last fortnight. I haven’t had a lot to update on since Witherfist successfully hit the light publishing goal of 250 preorders (woohoo!). There is still just over a month remaining during the funding period, which means at least one month left before we officially become part of the Quill imprint - but also a month in which you can continue to preorder signed paperbacks.

Thanks for your continued support!

~ Jenny

When challenged for his use of questionable racing tactics, three times world F1 champion Lewis Hamilton said, “I had to help myself, because no one else was going to help me.” A gritty sentiment from a gritty competitor. 

Photocred: Sky Sports (Lewis, on the right, reminds me of how grateful I am that us writers aren’t forced to shout slam poetry to the death in order to get published.)

The extreme self-motivation and tenacity demonstrated by these athletes is undeniably tremendous, whether you’re a racing fan or not. They’re inspirational. To other drivers, athletes, and yes, even fiction writers. 

It’s difficult to stay motivated. It’s hard to keep going. Each of us who are in this together, know exactly what I mean. But when I see champions like Nico Rosberg —the man on the right who trounced Hamilton in spite of his questionable tactics— single-mindedly chase down his dream over decades, I’m reminded that only by overcoming adversity, over and over, can I make it to the other side. The world needs people to persevere, and champions like Nico provide motivation so that we may. 

I will never claim to be in the same league as a world champion like Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, or Jensen Button —to name but a few contemporary F1 bigwigs— but each and every morning that I wake, still in it to win it, I know I get a little closer to the other side.

I’m proud to be at 60% of my Quill goal —I still need just over 100 pre-orders to meet it— and I’m unspeakably grateful for the amazing show of support I’ve received from the people in my life thus far. Most of all, I’m overwhelmingly daunted to know that there are hundreds more people I need to touch with my story, to achieve my publishing goal.   

But if this journey were an easy one, I wouldn’t be given the opportunity to know what it’s like to persevere (said every masochist, ever).

All that said, I’d be lying through my teeth if I didn’t say that every little bit counts. 

If you’ve been thinking about reading my first chapter (https://www.inkshares.com/books/where-the-sun-sets/book_segments/the-last-welcome), sharing an awesome and heartfelt story by a debut author with a friend, or even thinking of placing a pre-order and just haven’t gotten to it yet, now’s a great time revisit the notion!

I have just over a month left to reach my pre-order goal. When I hit it, it will be because of you.

PS - I have a new video! Check it out here: https://youtu.be/ozTWldcFDNE I’d love to hear what you think!

Have a great evening & thank you for reading.

Donna

Hello Readers and Followers,

Fae Child is currently at 89 copies sold. At this point I am no longer in any contests on Inkshares, only in the race to 250 copies sold before December 31st. 

My stuffed animal giveaway for orders 71-80 has been drawn, and Maria Aleman was the winner of the pink dragon! Thank you so much for your support, Maria. All three mythical creatures have now been boxed up, and I hope to send them out on Monday.

That being said, I am going to announce my next giveaway! This one will include referrals! For every 15 orders (so 81-95 is the next targeted group) I will be giving away another toy. I will also add in the names of everyone who referred one of those orders - if you have a friend you know has bought the book on your recommendation, email/PM/DM me their name and I will add yours to the hat. ADDITIONALLY - if you refer 10 or more orders before the end of the campaign I will send you a super special prize. I haven’t determined exactly what it will be yet, but probably a Pop! or Funko figure.

Don’t forget to review or recommend Fae Child through the Inkshares site. Every little bit helps. Thank you so much for all the support: having friends, family, and my new Inkshares family coming together and believing in me and Fae Child has been wonderful.

Jane-Holly

Greetings!

Food Holiday is over! I hope everyone loaded up and then promptly slept like lions. Then came the blackest of black Fridays where humans stampede over each other in a time honored ritual of consumerism. 

Now, as we continue our march of metal holidays into the land of illuminated trees, impractically wide candles, and finally putting 2016 in it’s grave--there is one more holiday that needs to be highlighted: 

Krampus Day.

St. Nick’s counterpart. The Half-Goat Half-Demon comes on December 5th and his soul purpose is to give children who misbehaved the gift of murder. That, or coal. You see, right before St. Nick’s day on December 6th, Krampus comes out on the night before hand and rather than reward children, he gives terrible presents instead as a reminder. 

If you are curious at just how awesome Krampus day can be over in Europe, check out this video of a parade. (I am going to try some embedded HTML code below and I don’t know if it will work. There is no preview feature on these updates)

;;

This is just a quick heads up about the status of LandFall.

During the week LandFall was moved out of ’The List’ and placed over in the LaunchPad contest. This is an error. I’m hoping it’ll be resolved soon.

I’ve done some looking and I think I have a pretty good idea as to what’s happened, but until I know for sure, I can’t say what the outcome of that resolution will be. For now though, I’ve put a hold on working on the story until I know what’s happening.

I wanted to be transparent about the situation and will continue to be so going forward. Stay tuned, when I know, you’ll know.

Keep an eye on that horizon.