(Rather lengthy note because I tend to write these monthly and all at once, but there are new pictures of Nina below if you want to skim.) 

To everyone reading this who pre-ordered: A half-thousand thank yous. 

 I’m starting to really like the 3rd of the month. The campaign to get These Are My Friends on Politics published launched on January 3rd. Thanks to a ton of you, it reached its light-publishing goal on February 3rd. A month later, thanks to a second ton of you, we’ve doubled that goal and stand more than two-thirds the way toward the full-service publishing deal. I won’t bore you with the details of what goes into that deal, except that it includes the ability for me to eventually walk into a physical bookstore and awkwardly stand near my own book and watch customers read it like David Duchovny’s character did in the first episode of “Californication.” (I hope that’s where the similarities between that character and me end, for the record.) 

So again, thank you. What has happened so far is miles beyond what I anticipated happening when I pressed the big green button to start this campaign. I cannot appreciate it enough. 

To everyone reading who has followed but not ordered: Thank you too. 

When you keep an idea to yourself for years while attempting to develop it into something tangible — I’m a big believer in the superstition that discussing projects before they’re presentable is a far worse jinx than walking under a ladder — it’s easy for that idea to grow stale before you even get to share it. Conversely, when you finally do share it, all at once, with people you know and don’t know, it’s extremely weird. But when I see someone react to the book upon seeing it for the first time, as brand new to them as it was to me when I first envisioned it, and when I see them respond positively enough to follow its progress, it’s gratifying every single time. There are myriad great projects in the works on Inkshares, all looking for support, and no one can monetarily support them all. So thank you for expressing the interest you’ve expressed in this project. It does not go unnoticed.

(I’d be remiss if I didn’t still encourage you to pre-order, of course, but mostly, I just want to say thank you.)

To everyone still reading: Here’s a small portion of a page you haven’t seen before, presented completely without context.

Only a portion, because I want to keep as many surprises locked down before the book is in your hands. But in case you’re worried the book is secretly only six pages long because that’s all I’ve shown off, here’s a completely vague part of another page. I won’t explain what’s going on though.

To everyone who’s just here to see the new pictures of Nina: I understand.

As promised. Enjoy. And thank you again. More to come. (Perhaps on April 3rd.)

It has been a while. There are a lot of new followers. Welcome ya’ll, make sure you grab some digital cornbread and pour your self a nice glass of virtual Sweet Tea, just like your robo-granny used to make.  

So, I have been working on so many things for this book. Including but not limited to: designing character sketches, working on a prologue, cataloging and annotating the main draft before sending it off, enlisted beta readers, coming up with a new cover (so far?), at least one more legible and tone specific. And most important, I bought a new hat to celebrate my accomplished goal of reaching Quill and also hitting my sought after pre-order goal of 300. It is called the Good Boy from Goorin Bros. 

A real beauty. As Ned Flanders once said, "Sometimes, you just gotta spoil yourself." Rightly so. There you go, a little update of what has been happening. 

And here is something for all of you to do--tell your friends about this chaotic feverish tale, or if you have not yet, order one for yourself. If you have more time after that, send out a review to be added to my page, let me know what you think, what you feel. Plus, do not forget to Like! and share the official Website Facebook page.

My undying thank-yous to all who have helped, supported, nurtured, and damned this book/put it down/ignore it, for it is the latter that gave me the fire to prove them wrong. 

Checkmate and Rummy my dear Gladiators. 

Lies and Deception is now officially part of the Quill collection

Thank you soo much dear readers, followers, backers  without you this would have not been possible.

more update to come soon :)

I know everyone is tired of hearing me say thank you, but honestly there’s no way to say it enough. Right now we’re at 146 readers of The Sleeping Man, and every single time that number goes up it makes me work all the harder reviewing books and supporting the Inkshares community. My goal remains the same, 250 readers of The Sleeping Man. As you may or may not know, once the number 250 is reached I will open the pre-orders so that when every reader orders one book it will be published.

Thank you to those who have recommended, shared on Twitter/Facebook, and sent the link to friends and family. It means the world to me.

Sweet Dreams,

Stephen Carignan

None of this "before I get any further" nonsense...I’ll just start with it.