Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All --

ONE WEEK until CRYPTOZOOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS is released! Since you all pre-ordered the book, you will be getting a signed bookplate along with your physical copies. I am told your books will be shipping this week. If your shipping address has changed since you purchased, please contact Inkshares at avalon@inkshares.com to let them know. 

Once you get your books, we would love to see pictures and reviews on social media! We’re an indie outfit so every little bit of publicity helps. Be sure to tag your posts with #cryptozoologyforbeginners and leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. We appreciate all your support, and hope you enjoy the book!

Matt & Juliane

 Happy October! I reread my latest draft and sent it back to my editor! She’s thinking she’ll be able to dive in in mid-November. I’ll keep you posted.
In other news, my short story, "Neighborhood Alert," was accepted for publication in the next issue of  Inlandia: A Literary Journey and I’m thrilled!
We’re preparing for a Halloween release of the new Writing Bloc Anthology, where you’ll be able to read "Rachel Rose, Semite."
I’ve posted a piece on my website about the punk scene in North Central West Virginia in the early 2000s. I was unhappy with the way the zine I submitted it to cut the last half, so you can read it in its entirety here. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences!
I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this November, drafting a TOTALLY NEW project that I’m reall excited about! Let me know if you’re participating too so we can cheer each other on!
Thank you, as always for your support.  

We did it! The campaign has ended, I’ve had a wonderful talk with Adam, the CEO of the publishing company, and the sequel to The Seclusion is officially in production. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who supported over the past few months!

I’m going to give everyone’s inbox(and myself) a break for a bit, but there is exciting news in the pipeline and I will keep all of you updated as I can with news and behind-the-scenes developments every month or two. While I don’t have a timeline yet, my best guess after having been through this process before is a early/mid 2021 release. Again, I’ll let you know more as I do. Try and stop me. 

For now, I’m going to turn my attention to something I haven’t been able to focus on as much as I would have liked to these past couple months - finishing the story! Right now, it is about 85% of the way finished, and my goal is to have the first draft turned in to the developmental editor by the end of October or early November.

From there we will talk through how to make the story stronger. Then, we go through the old song and dance of revising, editing, revising, editing... and rinsing and repeating until everything is shiny and perfect. 

For those of you who supported by ordering 3 copies or more, look out for occasional emails from me regarding polls and surveys for behind-the-scenes decisions. 

Tomorrow evening I will be at the Author Reception and Signing at the NC School Library Media Association Conference in Winston-Salem. If you will be be there, let me know so we can connect! 

Thank you again, and until next time! 

-Jacqui

P.S. - The winner of the $100 Air BnB Gift Card is Jason Stokes who referred over ten supporters!!! Congrats Jason!

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Thank you to these final backers! 

Catherine Evans, Anya Pavelle, Mike Donald, Anthony Bassignani, and Glen Cantrell  

Check out some of their work below: 

I recently went to one of those indoor rock-climbing joints. There are a lot of things that cross your mind as a high school Junior blazes through an insufficient safety briefing and then holds out a borrowed harness for you to step into. 

I’m going to sweat through this shirt. Why didn’t I trim my nails? Is this bra even up to the task? Who am I and what do I do in the world? (Thoughts whir out of control quickly in the insecurity spiral.)

One of the things I found myself thinking about as I stared up that wall studded with multicolored handholds was stamina- figurative and literal. I don’t have a ton of experience with the latter. I’m not a marathon runner or even a 5k walker. But I thought I might have just enough will to get up that wall.

Partway up and approaching the first protruding ledge I found myself stuck. With shaking forearms, gritted teeth, and (as promised) sweat there was a resounding internal “NOPE”. I couldn’t make myself move past this man-made wall jetty. I leaned back because someone said that I could simply “float back to earth” when I needed to. (That high-schooler was a damn liar). My stomach squealed and clawed like a lobster under the lid of a boiling pot. Expletives were uttered. 

Rattled, I sat drinking water and wondering where all this sweat was coming from. There was an 11-year-old girl grappling the wall in front of me, as sure footed as a baby mountain goat. I’ll admit, my first inclination was jealousy. It soon passed into curiosity and I noticed how she was working. 

She wasn’t muscled or tall and she didn’t have spider webs shooting out her wrists. She was careful and thoughtful as she assessed each handhold. She wasn’t self-conscious. I don’t think she even knew anyone else was in that crowded gymnasium. She strategically plotted the course, deliberately placed her hands, and pushed with her legs when needed. It was incredible to watch. And there was a lot I could learn from her.

I eventually got up and over that ledge. I pushed with my legs and didn’t stop until I made it to the top. 

Stamina has also been on my mind these days with regards to this editing and rewriting business. Writing and deleting, deleting and writing, writing and rewriting and then deleting, forever and ever. Amen. If the stamina holds out (I still have some shaking forearms and gritted teeth) I’m hoping to have this current draft wrapped up in October. If it doesn’t, then I’ll regroup and try again for November.

I’ll get up this wall, too. Just you watch :)

 Thanks for everything,

Meghan Godwin 

Hello all!

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Mine has been eventful, to say the least!

I have brief news regarding Curio Citizen--my previous editor is no longer with the company, so my manuscript is now in the hands of a new editor, Sarah Nivala. I am excited to receive their feedback and will keep you all informed as the editing process goes on.

In other news, my family and I made a big change this summer. We moved halfway across the country! I am now a resident of Kansas City and loving it. After three weeks, I’m finally feeling settled, and I’ve managed to make time to write in spite of the busy move.

I’m now in the process of preparing a fresh novel manuscript for a Twitter pitch event in September. These pitch events invite authors to write a short description of their novel within Twitter’s 280-character limit (quite the challenge!). If an agent or publisher likes the pitch, they’ll click that little heart button in the tweet to request more material. I’ve had moderate success with these sorts of events in the past, so I’m hoping this one will bear fruit. Wish me luck! As always, thank you for your interest and support of my writerly aspirations!

Best,

Katherine