Greetings hexers,

The finish line is in sight! As of right now, The Walls are Closing In has received 619 PREORDERS, leaving 131 TO GO!

I want to take a breath to express the appreciation that I am feeling for all of you, for rallying behind me and this book. Some of you are family members and close friends who sprang in without hesitation when I asked. Some of you are friends from my past with whom I had lost touch, but you still supported me when I reached out or when you happened to see the book circulating on social media. And, most of you, were complete strangers before this campaign began, but who nevertheless clicked the preorder button to support an unknown author.

I started writing this story over a year ago when our current political reality didn’t yet seem probable. The idea for The Walls are Closing In came to me during the primary election campaign. It began as a short story, and it snowballed from there. The first draft was complete by mid-summer 2016. At the time, I sincerely thought that the story would forever reside in the ‘alternative future’ category, but as events unfolded, the story evolved.

The themes explored in The Walls are Closing In cut a bit deeper with each passing day. In fact, I am currently making notes to rewrite certain backstory sections because, well, they have more or less happened over recent weeks and months.

Though it does walk the line between fact and fiction, more than anything The Walls are Closing In, like other fictional stories, is about the characters. There is a splash of romance and a healthy dose of perseverance as the main characters explore what makes life worth living by rooting out the joy in unlikely places. It is about digging deep, figuring out how to tap your own truth, regardless of what society throws at you.

On an unrelated-to-storyline note, I have noticed that as the campaign approaches the end, several people have gone back and placed additional orders. Thank you! Also, I received confirmation from Inkshares that if multiple e-books are purchased, that you will have the ability to share the additional files with friends and family. Each person can order a maximum of 10 total books (ebooks or paperback).

This is also the last chance to receive your name in the back of the book by ordering a ’super reader’ package of 3 paperbacks. Once 750 order mark is passed, the window will close on this opportunity. Again, for those just joining, this is that would look like (from another Inkshares book).

Again, thank you for the support. Hopefully, only one or two more campaign updates, before we move on to the fun of "in production" updates.

Until next time,

Jacqui

P.S. - Running a bit behind on the chapter 2 recording, but check the site at the beginning of next week and it should be up.

An update for all of you - I have an exclusive bonus chapter for you to enjoy from "Dracula versus Hitler".  Just as appreciation to all you backers. The book has sold very well in stores across the US and Canada, and I have you to thank for making it possible. The many kind reviews left on Amazon have helped reach even more readers. And I’m truly grateful for all of your support. I put my heart into the book and aimed to entertain. Having readers like you is a true gift.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the book and have many ideas for a follow up. In the meantime, please enjoy this bonus addition to the novel. You can download the new chapter here:

https://www.inkshares.com/books/dracula-v-hitler/downloads

It’s called "Download PDF "BONUS""

Patrick Duncan 

Hey everyone, I realize it’s been a ridiculously long while since I sent out an update, so my apologies for the radio silence. I will update the instant something interesting happens, but otherwise, I’ll try to send something at least once a month. A couple of significant things have happened: 

1. Editor Chosen!
   
2. Sequel to Kingdom of Dreams! Decisions, Decisions...
3. NEXT ISSUE: Illustrations

1. Editor Chosen!

One thing I’ve learned during this book building process is that the winds of change blow frequently and often! It took me longer than expected, but the narrative portion of my manuscript is complete. After a diligent search, I’ve chosen a professional editor I’m thrilled to have on board with this project. This person has helped produce some award winning books in the middle grade/young adult genres. She also seems to "get" my voice and the full intention of the book. The bad news: she won’t be able to begin until July with a likely finish by the end of September. So that’s one timeline for when the book might be ready.

2. Sequel to Kingdom of Dreams! Decisions, Decisions...

While I wait on the developmental editing to begin in July, I have a bit of good news: I started writing the sequel to Kingdom of Dreams! I wasn’t sure if such a book was possible, but after an initial leap of faith, the story came to me much easier than expected. Certainly much easier than KOD came to fruition. So, the decisions...

• First and foremost, I’ve started tracking down the best and most inexpensive way to get my author website out there. Once I build a simple but tactical author page, I’m going to shift my updates to come from there as the plan is to get quite a few more supporters. 

• Now that there’s a sequel to KOD in the works, I will also need to figure out how to market both books according to release dates, etc. I have some pretty progressive ideas, but much of that depends on if I can have a MANOWRIMO or JANOWRIMO May and June of intense writing. I’ll keep you posted. Incidentally, that’s why I also haven’t blogged yet or tried to promote KOD, I decided it’s too early in the process for that until there’s a finished manuscript on its way to a printer.

3. NEXT ISSUE: Illustrations

Along with the intense writing, I need to complete the illustrations for KOD. Unfortunately, my plan to use live models to play my cast of characters didn’t pan out for this project. So in lieu of time and the fact that this author REALLY wants to move on, I think I found an alternative way to accomplish this. I’ll begin working on these immediately, and will give a sneak peak of one or two of my experiments. 

Stay well everyone. Thanks for your continued support and encouragement! 

Best,

Kevin

Hi there Ripperists,

 It seems an age since the last update, but fear not, the book is having its final edit with my fabulous editor Sarah Caughie and then it’s off to INKSHARES.  I’ve been watching other books in the throes of publishing from the sidelines, and one thing is obvious. Publishing a book isn’t as swift as an arcing blade.  But nonetheless, it will be published swifter than  human gestation.  There is a cure for tardiness tho’… Simply send your email to me at touchwoodpicturesltd@hotmail.com with the heading Louisiana Blood Beta Reviewer and I will send you a directors cut of the novel via PDF, or if I get up to speed a Mobi or whatever file is trending.  You can then thank me dear readers by leaving a review on Amazon.com. or Amazon.co.uk, Barnes and Noble and Goodreads when my book is published. You will of course still get a paperback or download if you ordered them in the future. Thank you all for your support and your patience! Mike Donald

March is over, and it was incredibly busy but rewarding. Work on Human Resources has continued at pace, with an important milestone being achieved.

Developmental Edit
I’ve been working with my developmental editor to turn the draft manuscript into something that will truly shine. It’s been hard work, but during the last month we reached an important milestone — we finished work on the change plan (completed the new outline) and I have now started the rewrite. I wrote a blog about the developmental edit process and reaching this milestone on my website. I’m now flat out writing every night, preparing a new version of the manuscript. There are numerous new scenes, a lot of changes to existing scenes, and writing them will progress at an uneven rate (as a general rule, new scenes will take much longer to write than updating an existing scene). However, I’ll keep you informed (and myself on the hook) by reporting progress as I go! The chart below shows the current status of the rewrite.



Cover design
Work is commencing on the new cover design! Inkshares have an amazing cover designer working on this for me. Right now he’s gathering information before producing concepts to work through. 

Schedule
We don’t have a firm production schedule for the book — this stage of the editing process is just too fluid. What I can tell you is it should be sometime (early) in 2018. It is unlikely to be January at this stage, but I hope we’ll get everything in order to get the book out during the first quarter. I’ll keep everyone informed as we progress — the further along the process we get, the more reliable the predicted release date will become.

Say hello!
Don’t forget to jump on my Facebook page and hit like. I’m also on Twitter and Instagram.