Thank you everyone that has been following Human Resources here on Inkshares. Today I received some exciting news. Actually, "exciting" doesn’t cut the mustard in this circumstance. 

Today, The Launchpad Manuscript competition announced its Top 75 finalists -- and Human Resources is in the list! I am humbled, excited, and a little intimidated -- but I am strapped in and ready for the ride now taking off.

If you don’t know about the Launchpad Manuscript Competition -- it is one of the "Inkshares" competitions, but a little different to their others. This one is run independently in conjunction with Energy Entertainment and  Scott Free Productions 

(yes, *that* Scott). 

Apart from being a partnership, this competition differs from Inkshares regular fair by having an expert judging phase -- entrants had to submit a traditional synopsis and up to 50 pages of manuscript for industry judges to assess. 

The Top 75 have been selected by that panel.

 You get to pick the winners (hint -- pick me). 

At some point there will be a more traditional Inkshares crowdfunding competition -- I’ll be reaching out to you when that happens. For now, I’m just too excited not to share the news!

Robert

Meh Update:
Those of you who follow these updates regularly (and I genuinely have no idea how many of you do) may have noticed that I haven’t had much to say over the past two-ish weeks. You may also have noticed that my pre-orders have barely moved at all. So what’s the deal with that?

I’ll be honest. I’m exhausted.

I’ve been working this campaign since March now. This has taken up the majority of my year. We’ve come an incredible distance in that time, but the distance to our goal is still vast. We’ve sold six pre-orders in the past ten days, and only eleven days remain to get the remaining 158 we need, which is virtually impossible barring a miracle. I’ve been told I can get another extension if I need one, (and if I need one I will get one) but...good lord am I ever tired....

I’ve poured my life, heart, and soul into this campaign, and right now there’s just not much of me left. My brain is fried and I’m having a hard time thinking of new interesting story-based content to update with that won’t spoil anything I want to keep secret, or lore-related content that isn’t completely disconnected from this story. I have a few ideas left, but I haven’t had the energy to put them together cohesively yet (expect some soon though).

I miss having a life outside of campaigning. I’ve had to put a lot of the things I love on hold for the duration, and I miss those things. I miss being able to hang out with friends regularly on my days off. I miss going to see movies in the theatre. I miss acting in plays. I miss DMing my custom Star Wars tabletop campaign on Friday nights. I miss...just life in general.

I probably sound whiny in this update, but honestly, I’m saying this more for my own benefit than anyone else’s. I’m still confident this is all going to be worth it. I have a literal lifelong dream within reach, and I’m not about to let it slip out of my reach. If I can get my campaign finished within the next eleven days and get back to having a real life, that’s fantastic. If I need to ask for another month or so, I will do so, and probably die young of old age shortly thereafter, but I’ll die happy.

Obviously I’m not giving up. I’m too stubborn, this is too important, and Tantalus Depths is too freaking good. But man am I ever tired.

P.S. I have something else really cool that I am working on, but it’s nowhere near ready, so I’m just going to be really obnoxiously vague about it for now. But stay tuned.

9 away...so close...

I am out of people to contact! Please help me finish my preorder campaign! We can do this TODAY! Thanks for believing in this story! Thank you for getting me this far! Now, let’s finish this!

PREORDER NOW: https://www.inkshares.com/books/sunshine-is-forever

Kyle T. Cowan

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

Recently, Rick Heinz, the author of The Seventh Age: Dawn and all around mensch, wrote an article  highlighting five of the underdogs in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest. Yesterday, A Beast Requires returned to the top ten list, with 95 backers and 117 pre-orders, putting the book 45% of the way to that elusive Quill goal. With 57 days left, doubling the number of pre-orders is totally doable, so let that specific type of hustle begin.

I like underdogs. Hells, I write about underdogs, seeing as I am one. When I told people I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, they laughed. There was no way the kid who couldn’t spell, let alone write, would ever string more than five words together in a coherent thought. I’m a stubborn one. Tell me I can’t do something and I will bust my ass to prove you wrong, then send you a postcard with a crudely drawn middle finger. 

I’ve been an underdog most of my life. I lost a lot when I came out, especially my family, and survived for almost two years living out of my car and on people’s couches. When I got sick, they told me it was terminal, and this month now marks my 6th year in remission. Yea, I’m so stubborn I told cancer to fuck off. When I lost my job of ten years, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever recover, I wrote a book. A Beast Requires has taken me four years of blood, sweat, and tears. When you tell people you’re writing a book, they think you’re a fool, that you’ll never finish it, and that there is no way in hell that it will be any good. Well, fuck those people.

Don’t ignore the underdogs. While they face incredible odds, eventually they will be victorious, and they will have done it their way.

57 days. Yea, we’ve got this.

The Animal in Man is done. I can hardly believe it. No one doubted that this day would ever actually arrive more than me, I assure you. After months of what I called Radio Silence, I’m back - fingers trembling - to send out this reader update.

So what happens now? Well, I’ve sent all 350+ pages to Inkshares just an hour ago, and from there they’ll put together my production timeline and all the other wonderful things they provide. I’ll collaborate with them to nail down some ideas for the final cover design. In the months that follow there will be edits… load upon load of edits. The more meticulous work, you see, is really just starting.

I’ve never finished a project this massive in all my life, and yet, it’s not entirely finished. Still, I can’t contain my excitement. This is a turning point for me, and I couldn’t have done it without all the follows, all the interest (all the pre-orders!) for The Animal in Man. I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support. You’ll be hearing from me on the reg from now on!

(“Natural Collapse” - Design by Diogo Hornburg via threadless.com)  

Happy Monday!

Sunshine is Forever is 22 preorders away from a full publishing deal with Inkshares. INCREDIBLE! Please help me spread the word so that I finish the campaign this week. Preorder a second copy to give as a gift, share the link, message a friend, or Tweet about it! 

Help me get to 750!

If you haven’t, PREORDER NOW: https://www.inkshares.com/books/sunshine-is-forever

Thank you so much for rallying behind my book. I am ecstatic.

Kyle T. Cowan