Greetings Team Shaping Fate!
Well, this will be my final dispatch here, because we have reached the end of the road for the Nerdist contest. Did we win? Well, not the contest, but I feel like the whole experience is a win. I met some really great fellow authors, got to read some exciting new fiction and got to share part of Shaping Fate with you; a project that I've been working on for a very long time. I know I've said it about a zillion times now, but I'm so grateful to all of the people who followed and pre-ordered the book. Putting myself out there in this capacity was hard, but when I was met with such amazing and unwavering support, it made me wonder why I ever hesitated!
So what now? I'm going to keep going. "Shaping Fate" and it's follow up books, (yes, it's at least a trilogy) will see the light of day. Thank YOU dear readers for giving me that confidence.
If you want to keep up to date and haven't already signed up for my newsletter, here's where you can do just that: http://vrleavitt.com/newsletter-2/ (Don't worry, I don't send frequently)
Not into email? Here's my website, Facebook and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/coffeeandakeyboard
http://www.twitter.com/vrleavitt
I also want to thank The Nerdist and Inkshares for putting on this contest and bringing attention to authors. It means a great deal!
Lastly, congrats to the top 5.
Very best of luck!
All of my gratitude,
-V.R. Leavitt
This is stressful and I'm not even in the top five. Haha
Here's some to check out: https://www.inkshares.com/projects/she-is-the-end
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/the-seventh-age-dawn
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/it-s-all-fun-and-games
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/u-turn-at-next-synapse
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/these-old-bones/
Good luck with these last 10 minutes!
Congratulations to everyone in the top 5! And the Top 300- however many of us there are!
Less than an hour left of the contest and 6th place is closing in fast. If you haven't ordered my book yet, please consider doing so ASAP. We are so close to securing this book deal, and I'd hate to see all my hard work (and your endurance of my incessant emails) go to waste. Help me become a published author and pursue my dreams! I love you all. The End.
So, we're in the last hour and 30-or-so minutes of the contest. Disintegration is in 15th and I'm hoping we can hold onto that spot, even though it's really just symbolic; only the top-5 win anything. The rest of us are the also-rans.
But, still, if you haven't ordered yet, please do. If your wife, husband, brother, cousin, uncle, mother, father, godfather and -mother, priest, rabbi, imam, yoga instructor, fitness coach and anyone else I can't think of right now hasn't been roped in yet, rope them in! Nana needs a copy!
The contest may be ending, but there's a long road ahead. I need 700 copies sold by 12/6 and I want to make that goal. I want this book published and I'm hoping you do, too. You've invested in the book's (and therefore my) success already ... please continue by spreading the word, recruiting new supporters and getting them behind the project. That's the only way it's going to happen.
Finally, please check out the following books (my five faves), if you've any interest in supporting worthy writers who share the same dream that I do. Give them a bump before the contest ends, at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 p.m. Pacific.
IT"S DONE!
The 100 for $100 contest has 100 entrants. That's right, Blood Dawn is at 204 pre-orders! Less than a month ago I was at 104 pre-orders. This is amazing! Blood Dawn's support nearly doubled in a month, which was exactly what I'd hoped to do. To all of you who jumped on board during this time, you're AWESOME. Thank you so much!
Stay tuned for what comes next -- I have a exciting announcement for you all.
But first, stay tuned tonight for the results of the draw. As promised, I will be printing out the 100 names of the entrants and putting them in a blue wizard's hat, then drawing the one who will be the lucky winner. I'll post a short video on Vine so you can see the process and know the contest wasn't rigged.
Please continue to spread the word. I'm just thrilled to see the momentum growing!
Hey, nerds! Look I did an interview about the coloring book for the Inkshares blog looook!
I had a bunch of new ideas for collaborative projects while I was writing it, so... be prepared for more cool stuff to come along...
In other news, I decided Tuesday should be Museday. I'll highlight things that inspire my writing! Get it?
Hello to all my supporters.
In my area, the leaves are about to turn and fall. School is back in session and to me, the year is terrifyingly close to the end. Most of you were introduced to this work mid-year when the rollercoaster of funding started, but back in January this work began with a simple goal, publish a book in 2015 by any means necessary.
I could not know where this would all lead me when I started, but it's been an adventure, at times stressful, at times incredible and illuminating, and I'm glad you've all come along on this experience.
With happiness and relief, I say to you all that the book is nearly ready to be handed off to the capable hands at Inkshares. In the next month, I am reading the book, smoothing out the lines, and making sure the content is in the best shape I can put it in before the editors get it. To see the novel in the condition it is now is very inspiring, and I am excited for you all to get your hands on it.
I'll share more chapters with you, but not until I'm certain I don't want to tweak them much more. For now, here is a passage about thirty percent into the book. In this version, I've altered out any spoilers, so you can read it without fear.
Snow fell in heavy sheets and blanketed Hammond Bay all in white. Rooftops took on an icing glaze and the coverage blurred the divide between the walking paths and roads all but for the fire hydrants, little red markers with white caps in a row. By way of the heavy grey clouds in the sky and how light cast itself against the fluffy covering, the days looked much like the nights except for the way the shadows moved. And when the darkness did come, it came so gently that eyes did not perceive it until the there was a calm moment to look around and take in your surroundings.
Along the road a taxi carefully crawled, leaving fresh treads, two long lines to mark its path. It moved along the roads in the district where the buildings once stood. The roughshod buildings replaced by with solid foundation, infrastructure, electric strung along the lines above, a network of webbing that brought modern convenience to a place where there was once none. The taxi stopped in front of a social club, The Turned Coin, and idled in its place. The engine hummed with soft revolutions.
After a moment, Duke stepped out from the taxi, snow already collecting, little flakes that clung to his shoulders and hat in speckled spots. In this time, the place he knew as a child had become unfamiliar. The dramatic collapse and reimagining made this a foreign place and as if anything, he was a stranger now.
I hope you like what you've read, and if you haven't pre-ordered, please consider doing so. I promise you will want to get comfortable with the characters and a place of Lost Generation.
P.S. I'd like you also to consider pre-ordering Andrew J. Ainsworth's These Old Bones. Click here to check out his book. Andrew has survived two Inkshares contests and is currently in fifth place. Your pre-order helps him cement his position and ensure publication. There are many talented and deserving writers in the Inkshares system, but Andrew has run the gauntlet and put himself out there so many times that he deserves a spot on the published list. Give his work a chance.
Thank You! More Soon!
Just a quick Tuesday update to clog up your inbox. A Beast Requires now has a Facebook page. Yea, it's a thing.
https://www.facebook.com/abeastrequires