At ease, faoii. There are no orders tonight, only words.

I am 28 years old today. 

I know it doesn’t seem like a particularly important milestone, but look around you. Somehow, in one year, we have gone from The Last Faoii sitting on my shelf, consigned to gather dust for the rest of eternity to this. An entire army of people willing to lift a blade to make sure that it becomes more than just a dream. That it becomes something real-- a sword for our daughters to wield when it seems there are no more heroines. I had given up a year ago. I knew Faoii was a story worth telling, but had lost hope that it would ever happen. It was on a whim that I decided to try Inkshares for one final charge at an unattainable victory. Who would have thought at the time that so many would come to the call?

I don’t think I ever truly expected to be where I am now. I play many roles, depending on the day. I am a mental health activist, a political blog writer, a teacher, a sign waver... and a faoii. I didn’t expect to be these things-- Blades, on many occasions I didn’t even expect to see this birthday. But now I’m here, and I am, as always, eternally grateful to be able to say that I fight many wars on many fronts-- but there is only one where so many people stand behind me in the name of a tale that no one else but us can make happen.

I know that everything seems uncertain, faoii. Inkshares can’t tell me when our story will be published or even when they’ll request the manuscript that waits so tentatively on that shelf. It would be so easy to lose hope; to regress to where we were a year ago. But we will not.
 
I will continue to fight for this story until there is no more breath left in my body. And I am honored to have you at my side during the battle.  In 28 years, I have never wanted to be anywhere as much as here. Shields up.

Faoii-Tahani

Greetings, Faoii. 

FAOII! I’m SO SORRY. In my last update the second link sent you to "Define Forever" (which has NOTHING to do with writing when it should have sent you to "My Author Journey So Far". This was an accident and I will go back and see if I can edit the link.

I would like to blame my current medications for that one, but it seems like something that even regular me might have done. 

Greetings, Faoii. 

Greetings, Faoii!

I know that many MANY of you have been sending messengers asking for information about our army’s progress. And, I wish I had more information for you. Inkshares is still working their way through other books before they can even start on ours, so there is no new information yet. In fact, nothing has yet changed from when we hit Quill originally, except that, for some reason, we hit Quill AGAIN randomly nearly 2 months later and Inkshares asked me about how far along the story was. I was pleased to inform them that the manuscript was ready to begin the publishing process, but so far, that is as far as we’ve gone.  I have offered to send them my completed and edited manuscript on several occasions, but they have asked me to wait. So, we’re waiting, faoii. I know that that’s definitely not our specialty, but it’s currently our only option. Don’t lose hope.

I will not lie-- I had hoped to at least send in the manuscript before my surgery at the end of this week. I wanted assurance that it was in the hands of people who could turn it into something real,  just in case.  However, if the nearly-impossible happens and something goes wrong on Thursday, don’t worry. My husband has all of the information as well as the completed manuscript and is prepared to continue the process if necessary. You all WILL get your copies of The Last Faoii. We just need to trust in the people of Inkshares and wait until they are ready for us.

This is not the first time that The Last Faoii has met bumps and obstacles on the way to publication. Remember-- I contacted 200 agents and waited for nearly 2 years before I went through a massive overhaul and at last found Inkshares.  It has been a fight every step of the way-- this is just one more. But we are faoii-- we know that great battles lead to great victories. This will happen, and it will be glorious. 

Hopefully, by the time I contact you next it will be to say that the process is finally underway, but I know I said that last time, too. Shields up, regardless, faoii. We may be waiting, but we are not idle. 

Faoii-Tahani

Faoii! Have you looked outside? Have you seen the news? Millions of women (and men, too, of course) are marching. Are making their voices heard. Are being more today than they were told they could be in the past. I am amazed to live in this world. I wrote THE LAST FAOII and created its society to encompass these women. I wanted to give them a world where they could be who they wanted to be--warriors. And here we are, making this world into that place. In real life. Right outside my door. Isn’t that amazing?