Absolutely Dave!

Happy Friday fellow robot enthusiasts, 

I love this. I really shouldn’t, but I do. I’m currently juggling two projects at the same time. More than two but ultimately two major projects. On one hand I’m bounding approvals and changes on ‘The Life Engineered’. Now that the final manuscript has been sent to copy editing, we’re working on covers, interior layout, cover copy, etc. It’s all very exciting. Much like an artificial life form, every piece is played out, examined and added to the final assembly, bringing it one step closer to life. 

On the other hand, I’m running this crowdfunding effort for ‘A God in the Shed’. This requires me to get in touch with as many supporters as I can and find ways of getting exposure for the project. Some of you may already have received emails asking for your support. I try to make these as personal as I can. You deserve more than just a mass copy/paste email, but it’s very time consuming. 

All of this is emotionally draining but I love the excitement and the sense of purpose. While I do worry about being a pest with requests for help and pre-orders, I’m getting to really love getting in touch with those who pre-ordered ‘The Life Engineered’. My favourite is when people both pre-order a copy of ‘A God in the Shed’ and get in touch. The one-on-one interaction with readers is always a blast. 

I’ll leave you with this cool thing that fellow writer Paul Inman (author of the upcoming ‘Ageless’ and currently funding ‘Motor City Chronicles') did for me. It’s a voice over of the prologue to ‘A God in the Shed’. I think you’ll agree that he completely knocks it out of the park. The tone, the atmosphere. It elevates the material. Have a listen, then pre-order the book and pre-order his books. 

All the books. 

 JF  

Hello friends!

(Don't feel like reading all this? Just go to this link for the important part.)

I remain impressed and grateful for your support. Even if you’re just following me to keep track of what’s going on, I appreciate your presence. But, what is going on?

I’m sending personalized emails to followers and supporters of my other book, ‘The Life Engineered’ to ask them to support ‘A God in the Shed’. It’s fun but time consuming and doesn’t leave me much time to create things that might be entertaining for supporters. Thankfully, this awesome little community we’ve formed amongst the participants to this contest have my back. 

Paul Inman, fellow winner of the Sword & Laser contest, author of the upcoming book ‘Ageless’ and currently funding ‘Motor City Chronicles’ surprised me with this awesome voice over of the prologue to ‘A God in the Shed’. Have a listen. It’s incredible. He absolutely nails the tone of the narration, conveying perfectly the sad, detached emotion of the scene.

I think if I take anything away from this contest it will be how much we are now so much more than individual writers trying to break into an insular and increasingly political industry. We are now a burgeoning community of fellow authors supporting each other in our desire to create worlds and tell stories. The lesson of the first contest, how these people with whom I’m competing today are my contemporaries and colleagues of tomorrow has permeated the consciousness of most of the participants. We all want to win the contest but we also all want each other to get published and that’s amazing. Crowdfunding depends on community for its lifeblood and to see this forming in real time is a fantastic experience.

I’d love to think my initial blog posts about working with each other have something to do with it but the truth is that this is something in the very nature of the people involved. My initial plea for mutual support was less a motivator than an observation of an inevitable truth; we are all in this together.

Have you pre-ordered ‘A God in the Shed’ yet? If not, please consider doing so. If Paul’s narration doesn’t convince you then at least go pre-order ‘Ageless’ and/or ‘Motor City Chronicles’ to reward the man for his amazing work.

Thanks Paul.

Thank you everyone for your support.

JF