Greetings All,

We are quickly approaching 1500 copies of An Unattractive Vampire! Fifteen Hundred. One thousand plus five hundred. That’s about Fourteen hundred and fifty more than I ever thought I might sell. So...what’s a way that you...people who have mostly already bought and read/are reading An Unattractive Vampire do to help push us over that milestone...well, how about...

WRITE A REVIEW ON AMAZON

(because Hypnotoad wants you to.)

Seriously, I know I’ve harped on this a lot, but customer reviews are really important particularly for first time writers. So if you’ve read the book please, please, PLEASE go to Amazon and leave a review. And if its good, that’s a bonus.

Other news:

Did you know: I have a website. It’s true. I paid for it and everything. Anyway, I’ve started putting up a some blog posts about references and inspirations in/for An Unattractive Vampire. So if you’d like a little insight into how the sausage was made head on over there and look for the ugly mug of Kurt Barlow.

Next up...

The next book in the Sword and Laser Collection came out this week. Congrats to G. Derek Adams. If you’re in the mood for some high fantasy silliness, I recommend you check it out. 

Also this week marked the beginning of the latest Inkshares contest, this one hosted by Geek and Sundry (SQUUUUEEEEEE!). The theme: Hard Sci-Fi. (For the uninitiated, that’s science fiction where all the science is accurate, not science fiction that goes to the gym to get swole.) So head on over to the contest page and check out the next soon-to-be published novels. Or hey, better yet, throw your own hat into the ring. Come on...I know you want to.

Also also...I have some appearances coming up this month I’d like to promote.
On Saturday the 23rd I will be joining my Our Fair City cohorts at the Columbia Geek Culture Gala. We will be there from 2-3 talking about podcasting, audio drama, and very likely smashing some fruit. Also, I will be passing out postcards like a bleeper bleeper.

Then on Saturday the 30th I will be in ye olde Quad Cities (of hometown fame) at Barley and Rye doing a meet and greet/signing for backers. So if you are in or around the Quad City area...

(Not seen above...East Moline. That’s right, East Moline, you still don’t count.)

...on April 30th come by and get a book signed. I will sign any book you bring me, though I’d prefer if it was mine. We may even be giving out a few copies in exchange for donations for Children’s Therapy Center. So swing by, say hi, and do a third thing that kind of rhymes at Barley and Rye. (Ha...nailed it.)

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hopefully the next time I write a lengthy possibly annoying update it will be to announce WE DID IT! Until then, remember...
AMAZON!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages...

...it’s crunch time.

In little less than two weeks we will be seeing the end of the ’A God in the Shed’ campaign. It’s great news as this sort of self-promotional effort does no good for my anxiety and self-worth but not as good when one notices we are still a little over 200 pre-orders away from our goal.

I’ve already gotten in touch with those of you who follow the book but haven’t ordered. Thanks for indulging me and double-thanks to those who have decided to pre-order as a result. If everyone who’s still on the fence like this pre-orders we’ll be funded in no time as there are over 300 of you.

For those of you who’ve already ordered, don’t think you’re off the hook. I know it’s asking a lot from someone who’s already benefiting from your support and generosity but I need your help just as much. Here’s what I want you to do:

1. Look at your friend list or around you. Find that person you know who loves a good horror story or is really passionate about crowdfunding or being part of the early crowd for cool projects. I know this is likely yourself but see what you can do.
2. Send them an email or if possible show them the project page in person. Tell them why YOU pre-ordered a copy and show them the parts of the project that hooked you. Share your passion.
3. Get them to pre-order. Don’t allow them to tell you they’ll do it later.
4. Have them use your reference code for the book so that you get credit for it (important so you can get more books and so that you’re counted for more entries in my raffle to win a bit part in the book).
5. Enjoy the glow of knowing you’ve done something for an aspiring writer and pat yourself on the back for being a patron of the arts.
6. Message me that you’ve done it. I want to do something special for my last minute ambassadors.

Thank you everyone for paying attention to this project and for the support you’ve shown. I have other treats planned over the next few days that I hope I have time to put together. I feel very strongly about showing my gratitude.

Regards,

JF

Hello, Space Crew!

I know it’s been too long since I’ve kept you in the loop, but I’ve been working hard to put a lot of things in place. Couldn’t sit through the day without this reminder though.

Podcasting Tonight! 

Yep, time is going that fast. Tonight I’ll be making a guest appearance on the SciFi Geeks Club podcast with the guys from Galactic Netcasts. I’m extremely pumped to be doing this. It’ll kick off at 9:45pm EST, but I’ll send you the link for your listening pleasure after it’s been posted on the site. 

And your backer prizes will be announced tomorrow! Had some last-minute details to work out, but I am looking forward to hitting your inbox with awesome.

Your Exuberantly Excited Space Emperor,
-AC

He and I game a lot together, but in the past we have only been able to watch previous Internationals on Twitch so we are stoked to be able to go in person this year! I’m already hard at work on my cosplay, too! I dropped a huge hint in my last update (OK, not a hint, I totally gave it away) but over on my blog I’m going to be doing a complete costume construction run down as the date approaches, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, feel free to hit me up for a game of DOTA! Friend me on Steam, my Friend ID is 65253934 and here is a direct link to my Steam profile. For those wondering my MMR is 3.5k and I have 3,050 hrs on record. Yeah, I’m addicted...

For those of you who do not know how amazingly awesome DOTA, the International, or Major League Gaming is, last year there was a CROWDFUNDED Prize Pool of $18,429,613. Just let that sink in for a second... Yeah, pretty wild. I will end this update with the below picture to put professional DOTA into perspective for non-gamer folks! 

Happy reading, gaming, and doing all the other awesome stuff that inspires you! Also, for those new followers who have not checked out my book (gasp!) take a look at the Prologue (it’s pretty amazing) and then snag a pre-order. For only $8.99 You will not be disappointed! Enjoy!

I haven’t forgotten about my writing updates, four more to go! Also we’ve finalized a cover design for the book, one that I am VERY fond of. Excited to show you all down the line. Here’s my favorite writing tip to celebrate, hopefully the tough love will inspire you to go start a project yourself.

SCREENWRITING TIP #4: WRITING HABITS

A note about writing habits – don’t have any.  Well, one – write every day.  Now writing can be research, outlining, thinking about what you have to write, re-writing, but immersing yourself in the process is what really counts.  Still, I try to crank out at least a page a day.

Now I’ve heard it a few thousand times – “I don’t have the time to write.”  Bull.  There were times I was working 50, 60 hours a day.  But I still wrote.  Every damn day.  Too tired at the end of the day?  I can empathize.  I was beat.  So, I wrote on my lunch hour.  Or, at one company, lunch half-hour.

A page a day.  If I was able to put down one page each day I was working toward my ultimate goal – to be a full time writer.  If you write a page a day at the end of three months you have a feature script.  If you re-write it at the same pace at the end of six months you have a better script.

If you can’t write a page a day then you just don’t want it bad enough.  I used to pick the worst restaurant near my work place, where e-coli and hepatitis were selections on the menu.  I picked it because I knew nobody from work would show up and lure me into a conversation.  Don’t bother me, was my motto, I’m trying to work my way out of this soul sucking job.

I wrote every day at lunch, occasional evenings, weekends and holidays.  For six years.  Then one year I made more money writing than as an accountant and I quit.

Here is a little trick I used to make that lunch hour as fruitful as possible – I would check my outline every morning before going to work.  Then I thought about the scene I was going to write all morning.  On the drive to work, during boring meetings, adding columns on a calculator, paging through computer print outs.  By lunch I had written and re-written the scene a half dozen times.  After lunch I would study the next section and let my brain work in preparation for the evening pages -  if I had the energy. 

I still do this.  Every night, right after turning off the lights, as I lay in bed before I go to sleep I run through what I intend to write the next day, concentrating on any particular problem I anticipate.  And surprisingly upon awakening the problem is often solved.  It may be my subconscious helping me out.  Or I’m delusional.  I don’t care.

As for habits.  Besides writing every day, I repeat – have none.  I know some writers make a ritual of their work. “ I must have quiet.”  “A window facing the rising sun (or a wall).”  “A cup of Honduran coffee, Mozart on the stereo, twelve sharpened number two Ticonderoga pencils and a thin lined tablet (white with green lines) and the smell of rotting apples.”

These are all just setting up excuses for you not to write.  It is hard enough to do this, you don’t need any more reasons not to do it.  I write anywhere, anytime.  I have produced pages in a hurry, under duress from directors, executives, actors, in a tent, in the rain, in the cold, at four in the morning with a full crew standing by.  You don’t here a cobbler saying he’s not in the mood to heel your shoes.  A car mechanic never stops because it is too noisy.  Teachers don’t take a day off because they are not inspired.

No excuses.  You write.  Say the writing isn’t going very well and all you can think of is crap.  Write a bad scene.  You can’t re-write a blank page.  But a bad scene often can tell you what’s wrong with it and where you’ve gone awry.

Write.