You see a trail of what appears to be hair running down the alley between two buildings. Against your better judgement, you follow it down a small staircase and through an unlocked door. Inside the door is a dark basement. You fumble for the light switch, then yelp when the harsh fluorescent light flickers on.

On the wall is a message, written in elegant cursive. It is written with hair.

"Hey, it’s Ben. Benjamin Gray. The Wolf in the Woods is in fourth place in the Horror Contest! Because of this, I have released a story called "All the Walls are Rotten." 

There’s only about a day left in the contest, and it would take a miracle to get into third place or higher. To be fair, it was a miracle that I got into fourth place, but I’m out of Miracle Juice. 

I’ll let you know what happens, but for now, just enjoy your Halloween. And, if you’re a holdout, please pre-order The Wolf in the Woods! It’s Halloween, for dread’s sake-- do something impulsive."

You switch off the lights and close the door. "This has got to stop," you mutter to yourself.

Hello all,

I didn’t provide an update on Human Resources last month, so some of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to. Never fear — I’m still working on the book!

September and October were intense. In addition to the book, I had some critical deadlines in my “day job” and an overseas holiday with my family, which is just ending now. The good news is my laptop travelled with me and I continued work on the manuscript whenever time would allow. My dreams of ten hours typing like a maniac on international flights were thwarted by our toddler (who has decided planes require constant Daddy Cuddles), but I did manage to sit down in hotel lobbies and make some solid progress on the rewrite. 

Now I’m back in Australia, I’m aiming to buckle down and finish the rewrite ASAP. Act One is looking solid as I implement some polish using my editor’s notes. Act Two is done, but needs a lot more work before it is “ready” and Act Three is sitting in my cross-hairs. 

You’ve all been amazingly supportive and patient and I thank you for that. Stick with me a little longer :). 

Robert. 

While window-shopping some shoes in a clothing store, a sad-looking and not-at-all-fit mannequin descends from its plinth and comes to stand next to you. It is wearing an unfashionable and worn red flannel shirt, dirty jeans, and water-stained loafers. Nobody else seems to notice what is happening, nor that the mannequin looks so out-of-place.

The mannequin sighs, then begins to speak. It sounds like it needs someone to talk to, so you let it.

"I didn’t write any of it.

Well, I did. I typed all the words. I just mean none of it was my idea. No, I’m still not being clear. I’m not saying I’m plagiarizing, I’m saying the stories were given to me.

Actually, it’s more like they were leaked to me.

Sometimes I’d dream them. Sometimes they would fall into my empty fireplace as files in manila folders. Sometimes they would beam onto my television. One time I found one as a VHS in a VCR that hadn’t been powered on in years.

I think somebody wants to sabotage The Wolf in the Woods. At first I just told myself that writing horror was making me paranoid, but the roadblocks keep escalating. So, I’m offering a reward for information on this "DOF." I have reason to believe that there is a secret messages hidden in my Inkshares About page. If you purchase the book between now and Halloween, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. When you purchase, try to guess the secret message; if you guess right, you’ll get a second entry! And if you guess what "DOF" stands for, you get a third entry, regardless of whether you’re right or not. You can send your guesses to me on Twitter, or you can just post your guess as a comment on TWITW’s Inkshares page.

Sorry it’s just a $25 card. I’m a poor writer. Also, I don’t have a lot of money."

With this, the mannequin returns to its plinth. A store associate practically yells "who put this horrid thing here?" and takes it to a dumpster outside.

 Hello there Readers,

First, thank you for the support for Maxine Starr! Really. Things have been progressing well, and I really appreciate everyone pre-ordering the book. Maxine Starr has always been a dream of mine for a long time, and you’re making it come true. THANK YOU!

There is still some way to go til January 14 when the crowdfunding stops. If the book reaches 250 orders, it will be published in all formats! Even better, if it reaches 750 it will have a much wider launch internationally. So please do me a small favour and SHARE, LIKE, EMAIL, TEXT, or WHATSAPP MESSAGE this link to other friends and family that you feel might be interested. (If you need me to write a brief intro, let me know).

Oh and do leave me a review or comment on Inkshares, if you can. 

Did you like the book? 

The sample chapters? 

What do you think of the writing, characters, and story so far? 

Feel free to tell me. I take them seriously :)

One last thing: for those that ordered the Paperback, thank you for spending cash on the shipping as well. I’ve been told it is substantial, and I really appreciate it. Thank you. This I hope will change in the future, as I will try to secure local distribution as well. Let’s see. For now, thank you again for shelling out the extra cash.

Lastly, do let anyone you know -- bookworms, Young-Adult book lovers, Harry Potter, Star Wars fans -- that this book exists.  And that this idea could, one day, be the big-budget movie blockbuster Singapore has been waiting for (well that’s the dream). But let’s start with small steps :)

If you have any questions (Q and A), feedback, or would like to find out more, do let me know. This is a community effort and I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you once again! Talk to you soon.

Kane W.Holder

Dear Readers,

Sorry it’s been awhile since my last update! To be honest, I haven’t been able to write for the past week.  Up until that point, however, I was able to rework about 22,000 words, I interviewed eleven kind volunteers about their reading habits and engagement with social media, and I got my web designer (Mary Ann Aschenbrenner of WaterlinkWeb.com) started on my author page. So, progress is being made!

I expect my website, Instagram, Twitter, blog, and Facebook pages will all launch in a couple to three weeks. I also intend to compile my research on how to build an effective social media presence into an interesting and informative article so that other authors can use it to increase exposure for their creative work. Many, many thanks to my volunteers! I gathered so many valuable insights into effective marketing from you, both what works and what doesn’t. I’m now motivated to implement my ideas and see how it goes.

This week, I’m traveling for work, but my evenings are free, so I hope to get back into writing and prepare some content for my social media presence, write my research article, and finish up APEX. Next month is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those unfamiliar), and I’d like to use it for launching a new piece of writing, but if I need to use it to finish up APEX, so be it. It’s all good.

Cheers and stay tuned! Big things are underway!

Debbie

Hello all,

I didn’t provide an update on Human Resources last month, so some of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to. Never fear — I’m still working on the book!

September and October were intense. In addition to the book, I had some critical deadlines in my “day job” and an overseas holiday with my family, which is just ending now. The good news is my laptop travelled with me and I continued work on the manuscript whenever time would allow. My dreams of ten hours typing like a maniac on international flights were thwarted by our toddler (who has decided planes require constant Daddy Cuddles), but I did manage to sit down in hotel lobbies and make some solid progress on the rewrite. 

Now I’m back in Australia, I’m aiming to buckle down and finish the rewrite ASAP. Act One is looking solid as I implement some polish using my editor’s notes. Act Two is done, but needs a lot more work before it is “ready” and Act Three is sitting in my cross-hairs. 

You’ve all been amazingly supportive and patient and I thank you for that. Stick with me a little longer :). 

Robert.