SHORT UPDATE!
I’m working on the next draft after some interesting feedback from my editor. I’m still buckling down, still pounding out the words, and still crafting this book to be the best it can be. Just thought I’d let you all know and thank you once again for your support and patience.
I’ll let you know when I send in the next draft. Until then, feel free to reach out.
Thanks again, and I love you all.
-Michael
At ease, Faoii. No orders today, only words.
Last night was the Mechcraft Launch Party, and it could not have gone better! Catered taco bar, live band, and a headcount of 126 people!! We had a blast, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all who came to the event, and all who wanted to, but couldn’t.
Since a lot of you live far away, here’s the Photo Album of the event!
Thank you all once again for supporting me and this project. I could not have done any of it without you!
And please be sure to leave a review on Amazon once you’re finished with the book. :)
Brian
THE MANUSCRIPT IS IN!!!
After two months of rewriting and revising, with the help of my friends Peter Ryan and Cari Dubiel, and. of course, my wife, I’ve turned in a fine tuned 76,900-word manuscript after the first round of developmental editing. That’s nearly 10,000 darlings killed. It was probably closer to 15,000 of the original words that suffered their terrible fate, but I changed a couple of scenes and added about 5,000 words back in. It was all for the better, and I’m proud of what this book has become.
I know I promised mid-January for turning in this manuscript, but I’m going to play the sympathy card, because I was hospitalized in January for acute abdominal pain and had my gallbladder removed and subsequently stolen. They wouldn’t bronze it and let me keep it, the jerks, they just took it God only knows where. But, I’m glad it’s out. The good news is that I got my author bio picture in the process:
That’ll sell a lot of books on its own. Might even make it the cover of the book. Not sure my publisher would go for that, though.
Speaking about the cover, design will start happening in a few months, but I already know one thing will be remarkably different when it’s done: the title.
Yup, I am almost sure I’m changing the title. The book is in two parts now, and I’ve named part one "The Madness of Mr. Butler," while part two is "The Courage of Mr. Butler." As much as I love the title as it has been, it doesn’t really sound like a science fiction book, which it mostly is. I’m changing the title of the book to "The Man Who Stole the World," which, for those of you who are in need of improving your musical tastes, is a play on the title of a David Bowie song. (And David Bowie might have a cameo in the story, but I’m not at liberty to say at this point).
wink
So, what’s next?
Right now, we wait. Matt Harry, my editor, already got back to me that he’s currently working on a few manuscripts and plans on starting on mine in a few weeks. So, it’s probably going to be a while before I can report on further progress. But, this means that this year will begin the next levels of edits on a manuscript that is actively in production. I feel great about it all. I’ve had a wonderful experience with Inkshares.
Thank you all for your support. Your investment in me is something I think about and appreciate daily. I’m working my tail off to get you the best version of the book. Thank you for the opportunity. This is all because of you. I hug you.
In the meantime, if you wanna interact outside of email, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, and fairly soon I’m getting my blog back up after some reconstruction.
Hang in there, it’s all coming together!
Love always,
-Michael
Unless there are delays,
BB will
release in thirty days.
It’s a poem I’ve been wanting to write for ages. Congrats to us all, and I wish everyone FANTASTIC success!!!
Thank you for your patience, everyone. This is a big update, but an important one!
At ease, Faoii. This isn’t really an update. Instead, I’m sending out a reminder to all of you other hopeful authors out there who are working for a dream but constantly feeling like you’re just spinning your wheels.
I get it. It’s not easy. It’s exhausting and soul-crushing and painful. It feels like you’re giving everything you have and that you don’t even have dignity anymore after all the times you’ve begged and pleaded and prayed just to get this far. Then you get another rejection or one hurtful comment or the hundredth "seen" notification on your messenger feed that will just sit there without a response for the next six months (assuming that person doesn’t just straight-up unfriend you for being annoying) and you realize that maybe you did have some dignity left-- because it just got crushed a little more. I know you want to give up. I know how hard this is.
Don’t. Don’t give up, okay? Because some part of you still thinks that this is worth it-- that’s the part that keeps convincing you to send out one more DM, one more Tweet. That’s the part that keeps encouraging you to write one more sentence. Sometimes only a single word, but it tells you to keep going. And that’s the part that people are going to see and respond to. Don’t let it die.
If you follow my Facebook or my blog, you probably know that I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out lately. Blades, my last blog post might have been a full-on mental breakdown. And I kept asking myself the entire time "who can blame me for giving up here?" After battling armies on all sides during the crowdfunding phase of things, I thought this entire book thing would get easier. But then I fell short of the contest I was going for, my health failed terribly at the end of my campaign, and I didn’t have any idea how hard marketing would be. Trying to get people to review or even share posts about your book is an insane battle all on its own, and you start to doubt yourself. Maybe no one is sharing because I’m not a good enough friend. Maybe I really can’t write. Maybe this entire dream was stupid. It’s mind numbing and heart-wrenching and terrible.
And it’s wrong.
I’m sorry I forgot that, Faoii. I’m amazed that it took the help of others to remind me of what I’m fighting for. What we’re all fighting for. But today I got an amazing letter from a fellow Inkshares author that you should definitely follow. And I (for probably the millionth time) got more encouragement than I deserve from this Inkshares friend who has picked me up and dusted me off after every single fall thus far. (Make sure to follow him, too--of everyone I know, none are more deserving of happiness than he is). And between the two of them, I remembered something that I tried so hard to put into words when I was writing an entire book that it’s ridiculous that I might forget it myself.
Keep going.
Keep going. We forget sometimes that even our hardest moments can be beacons of light for others. Standing to face our demons can sometimes give someone else just enough courage to rise against theirs. Facing and overcoming challenges means proving to others that it CAN be done. And so, while we face our own challenges in hopes of overcoming them and forging ahead to our own future-- do not forget that by rising up, you may also be helping others to do the same. This book is greater than you, now, and has been since the first day you chose to put yourself out in front of the world and declare it worthy.
I know it’s hard, these demons you face on and off your book’s platform. But, whatever you’re going through--don’t be afraid to tell the world that it’s happening. Some might come to your aide (and hopefully many will), but if they don’t-- that might be because they just needed someone else to be strong for a while. You can be that person without ever knowing it.
Quick update-
