Hello Friends!

Well, nearly a year ago ALL of you helped me get to here:

 This "in production" thing still makes me feel like I’ve been crowned Prom Queen.

“So, Meghan, are you still writing?”

One of the teachers I hated the most in the 5th grade was my art teacher. He was a sanctimonious man who did not know how to speak to children. (I mean, we have all had jobs that weren’t ideal fits)  Every time I brought him my work he would hold it out in front of him, nod his head and say, “I mean, it is a good start.”

This was infuriating to a 10-year-old unconcerned with “perspective in a city scene” and who wanted desperately to be excused to free-time coloring.

But, to a woman of a certain age, writing a novel, “a good start” is encouraging feedback! The very thoughtful folks at Inkshares have given me a lot to consider in order to make Eudaimonia better. They have also been A LOT more helpful than my 5th-grade art teacher. I like better and I am certain you will too. Currently, I’m about a third of the way through the second round of edits. My goal is to get them wrapped up before the end of the year. Either way, I’ll let you know :)

This experience is really a lot of fun for me. But your continued interest and support is like sprinkles on top of frosting! Awww, thanks, guys!

Until I have more to report, 

Meghan Godwin

Dear friends and followers,

We’re at the three week mark for the Inkshares Mystery & Thriller contest, with 71 readers counted and 102 pre-orders. We’ve still got some distance to go, and about five and a half weeks to make it in. There’s been an issue in the past couple of weeks of orders not being processed as expected, so please check to see if "Cat’s Paw" is listed on your account bookshelf under "Purchased". I make sure to send out thank you emails during this pre-order process, so if you think you’ve ordered but received no thanks from me, that’s usually a sign that something’s gone wrong somewhere.

Meanwhile, there is also the Inkshares Horror contest, with its own host of entries. The one that’s caught my eye at the moment is "Ereshk", by Frederick Street which pits "an alcoholic ex-cop, a washed-up arms dealer, and a fugitive stripper" against a mysterious cult. I guess I’m attracted to it because it borders on being a crime story, and, well, you know me and mysteries.

I was recently in touch with J. T. R. Russell, author of "Wake Up Call", which was returned to draft mode after its initial campaign a year and a half ago. I remember being disappointed then, as I was looking forward to this story. I thought it had a certain Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams quality about it -- perhaps it reminded me a bit of Adams’s "The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul". Not to worry: Russell apparently still has plans for the book, and I would recommend following it in case he opens up a new campaign or does anything else with it.

In the meantime, keep reading, and have fun.

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit,

I know you have been waiting for an update and I now have something to report. I just submitted the full draft to my development editor. I am excited, relieved, and nervous all at the same time. In about three weeks I should get back lots of advice and suggestions. At that point I will spend a few weeks probably completely rewriting it. Then we go in for line editing.

Thank you all for your continued support.

PT

Dear friends and followers,

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so for those of you who celebrate it, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For my part, I would like to give thanks for the progress "A Gentleman’s Murder" has made since its release back on 31 July.

• Firstly, that it was released at all. That in itself is a great gift.
  
• Great reviews, both by professional critics and by readers such as yourselves. I’m glad to be bringing some enjoyment into the world.
• Being optioned for TV. That’s rather like winning the lottery with a ticket bought with the winnings from another lottery.

I assume all of the above means, in the words of Sally Field, "You like me! Right now, you like me!" And I hope you like me well enough to consider backing "Cat’s Paw". Important as it is to give thanks for the past, it is as important to look to the future. With this second novel, I want to give you the same degree of enjoyment, if not more, that you and other readers seem to have derived from "A Gentleman’s Murder". Experience has shown that it can be done; all it needs now is your go-ahead.

Quite aside from this, of course, I must thank all of you who’ve expressed your confidence in me with regard to "A Gentleman’s Murder": those of you who backed it, who introduced the book to your friends, and who afterwards wrote reviews of it on Amazon and Goodreads. May you have as much and more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

Dear readers,

For all of you in Canada, let me wish you a happy Thanksgiving. May your families all be more functional than the Linwoods of "Cat’s Paw" turn out to be. (Roger Linwood, as the story begins, would tell you that his family is very functional indeed -- he doesn’t know yet that it’s all built on a lie.)

I’ve described "Cat’s Paw" as being "Agatha Christie’s ’Ordeal By Innocence’ meets H. G. Wells’s ’The Island of Doctor Moreau’". The first part is easy enough, knowing that Roger Linwood and his siblings are adopted. But, knowing that I’m steering well clear of science fiction and fantasy, can you guess how "The Island of Doctor Moreau" fits in?

Family obligations over the past week mean I haven’t been able to devote as much time as I would have liked to working on "Cat’s Paw", and I’m sorry to say that we appear to have slipped down to third place in the Mystery & Thriller Contest rankings. I sincerely hope each of you might be able to introduce this book to a friend; and if you’re still on the fence, that you might consider adding your backing to it as well. We can still do this.

And for all of you who’ve done anything at all -- by promoting it elsewhere or especially by backing it yourselves -- I offer my heartfelt thanks. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, after all.

- Christopher Huang

“Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.” - Robert Orben

Aloha All,

It’s hard to believe it was almost three months ago that I submitted my novel Lost in the Fog to Inkshares!

Summer had just started, Elon Musk had yet to smoke marijuana on a live show, and nobody cared what the word “boof” meant.  I guess a lot can happen in 90 days. 

In early July I had just finished the developmental edit of Lost in the Fog, where I had worked tirelessly  whenever I could find free time with a very talented editor to significantly improve my manuscript.  I was ecstatic back then, as submitting the new version of the book to the publisher was a huge milestone!  But as I wrote in my last update, Inkshares is small publishing house and they only have the ability to work on 1-2 books per month.  I knew I had to wait my turn.   

I finally have great news to share …  Lost in the Fog is next in the queue to start the publication process!

While I still don’t have an exact timeline and I cannot yet give you a publication date, we’re another step closer.  I would say early 2019 is looking very good.  Once Inkshares begins to work on Lost in the Fog and I have more detailed information, you’ll be the first to know!

I’m also very happy to share with you that I have been writing the sequel to Lost in the Fog.  Here’s the pitch:

An investigative reporting team from San Francisco must discover why a religious cult in Honolulu wants to assassinate them.

I’ve lived in Hawaii for the last six years, and I am super excited to set the new Camden and Veronica Mystery in the place I’m honored to call home.  While we wait for Lost in the Fog to go through the publication process with Inkshares and get into your hands, finishing the sequel is now my top priority.  My ultimate goal is to create at least a trilogy with these characters, but hopefully a longer series featuring Camden and Veronica where each novel will take place in a different location.  I’m already thinking Paris for the third book …

 Mahalo again for your support!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

-Michael

https://www.inkshares.com/books/lost-in-the-fog

Hello all! 

I’m just sending a quick update this time. I just finished a big ol’ heap of revisions to my manuscript and sent them off to my editor for critiques. He is working on a couple of other manuscripts at the moment, so he will be getting back to me in a few weeks. I am really excited about the changes we’ve dreamed up, and I think this book is really shaping up into something that will be worth the wait! As always, I will keep you informed as the process continues.

If you or others you know haven’t pre-ordered a copy of Curio Citizen yet, it is available here: https://www.inkshares.com/books/curio-citizen

I think it would be amazing if we could get the number of pre-orders sold up to at least 500 before publication! The more orders and copies printed at launch, the better chance Curio Citizen has to succeed once it’s out and about in the world. 

Thanks again for everything!

--Katherine