Remember when we were little kids and didn't care what anybody thought of us? We played and pretended and we were what we loved without worrying about what loved us. We weren't competing. We were simply being. (Kyle Cease looks at that past here.)

Speaking for myself because my writing partner has grown silent, this competition has made me, as I'm sure it has all the other introverts, face two things:

1. Stepping waaaaay outside my comfort zone to do what needs to be done, and

2.How the hell I can promote myself and my work without losing my soul?

I already knew how to do what needs to be done: I've been a single mom since the moment I gave birth. But a self-promoting introvert? Man, the word "pre-order" has become a euphemism for something nasty, and every time I spoke, wrote, or thought the title of the book-that-must-not-be-named, a tiny piece of my soul crumbled off and rolled away looking for some meaningful little object to hide in till this was over.

Well,it's over. The competition is over. Like everyone here (except maybe Romero Russo), I gave it everything I had. More than I knew I had. And then some.

Thanks, Inkshares, for giving us this opportunity to grow our base of support and gain confidence that we've written something people want to read. I especially want to thank Avalon for being a constant source of kindness, help, and encouragement. I'm most grateful for this unexpected bonus: in the last six weeks, I've made contact with some genuine, generous, like-minded people all over the world who are now part of my life.

November 15th is somewhere down the road, where I can offer support to those new friends and hopefully find at least 462 pre-orders for my project scattered along the way. If not, there's always Plan B.

For now, I'm ready to play again. To create and have a great time being what I love, and not worrying about what loves me. To simply be. So ready. But first, there's that little matter of those missing soul crumbs. It's time to hunt them down like horcruxes so I can become a whole person again.

See you on the other side.

Sue

As the contest winds down (there’s about 24 hours left!) I’d like to take this moment to say Thank You to each and every one of you. Whether you pre-ordered, shared, gave feedback, or followed, every moment of support has meant so much to me. There are a few people who went above and beyond that I’d like to acknowledge by name.

• Jack, Karen, and Joe Brennecke - They made the incredible video that most of you have probably seen by now. If you haven’t, go check it out now! (https://youtu.be/dhLMbM58STo) I’m still in awe and may have to re-watch it another 50 times ;)

• They were also a phenomenal force in rallying the troops. As were Dave Burns, Caitlin Brennecke, Kathleen Brennecke, Charlotte Robinson, Lynda Lichti, Diane Denesowicz, Michele Williams, Andy Hollstein, Heather Tankle, Katey McNamara, and Erica Beam. Asking others for time and money is an uncomfortable task at best, and having someone else help out made a world of difference.

• John Robin, author of Blood Dawn (https://www.inkshares.com/projects/blood-dawn?recommended=true) - He created a wonderful community for the writers of Inkshares; Somewhere we could go to share insights, do some cross-promotion, and cheer each other on. He also featured me on his blog: https://epicfantasywriter.wordpress.com/2015/08/26/world-builders-c-brennecke

At this point, I think it’s safe to say that Seven Shards: The Colors of Wine will not be one of the five winners, but all is not lost! I will continue to leave the project live on Inkshares to see if it can make it to its long term goal. In the meantime, I will re-focus on the most important part: finishing the book!

This contest has truly been a wonderful experience, and was quite the crash-course in self-promotion as well! I’ve learned a lot and I’m so thankful for every moment. Here are a few highlights I’d like to share:

• I’ve done some major networking and will most likely have a group project or two in the works by this time next year. I can’t wait to get started on that and to tell you more!

• Someone I very much look up to, but have never met in real life, ordered a copy! She has been a huge source of inspiration to me, and is partly responsible for activating my writing bug, so you can imagine how exciting that moment was!

• I received three pre-orders from overseas! How cool is that? I’m not sure who they are, so you’re one of them - Hi! and thank you!

• I shared my writing publically for the very first time, and I survived! It was a scary step, but I’m so glad I did it.

That’s about all I have to say for now, other than THANK YOU all again!!!

So it comes to a close.

It's been a crazy month and a half. I want to thank everyone of you for paying attention to this project so far. I especially want to thank those who have pre-ordered. You guys are amazing.

The day isn't over yet though and, purely as an exercise for my ego, I'd love it if we could finish this in the top ten still, maybe even climb to 9th place. There's a few of you who receive this that haven't pre-ordered yet but would have my eternal gratitude if you did (it's free if you follow these instructions). If you've pre-ordered already, then ask you spouse or a friend to toss in a pre-order.

Why push so close to the end? Because this isn't over. While the Nerdist Collection contest nears the end we still have work to get this book funded and every little bit helps. So let's finish this in style and with dignity.

Look, I even sketched out little Audrey from 'A God in the Shed' for you. How could you say 'no' to a dead child?

Morbid humour aside, thank you again you continuous help. The Inkshares platform is part of the democratization of art and literature on the internet and you're now part of it. You're helping culture flourish in new ways that favour the artists. That is no little feat.

Pat yourself on the back. You earned it.

JF

Greetings All,

News! Excitement! Third Things!

An Unattractive Vampire has sold 1,000 copies! (Noisemakers!) (Balloon drop!) (Confetti!) (Confetti clean up.)

Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy. This wouldn't have been possible without each and every one of you. You are all excellent specimens, worthy of preservation in a zoo and/or natural history museum. (I'm not an alien.)

So, why so long between updates? Well, honestly, there hasn't been much to report. The development edit is complete and the manuscript is now in the hands of the copy editor. There have been cover variations, layout designs, and promotional copy to critique and approve, but nothing finalized. (I promise I will share that with you when I can.) That combined with various recordings Season 7 of Our Fair City (www.ourfaircity.com) and the beginning of grad school and I things have been quite busy. But hey, I'm here now (on lunch, at work) so let's talk.

It's the last 24 hours of the Nerdist Inkshares contest. Tomorrow at noon, the books with the top five reader totals will be published. Top 5 out of 330. It's insane. There are so many good books and remember, just because I book doesn't win, doesn't mean it can't be published. Several of the top books are well on their way to reaching the 1000 pre-order publishing goal. So if you'd like to help some other worthy novelists reach their dreams as you've helped me reach mine, here are some recommendations:

These Old Bones by Andrew J. Ainsworth
Hardy veteran of the Sword and Laser campaign, Andy Ainsworth is currently in the top five with his fantasy tale of a young summoner's first steps toward magical mastery. Let's keep him there. https://www.inkshares.com/projects/these-old-bones

In the mood for something space-faring and action-packing? Well look no further than these books.
She Is The End by A.C. Weston        (https://www.inkshares.com/projects/she-is-the-end)
Ghosts of War by Paul Robinson      (https://www.inkshares.com/projects/ghosts-of-war)

It's almost October and so tis the time for something spooky. Why not try these?
Single Version by Scott T. Barsotti        (https://www.inkshares.com/projects/single-version)
Hellrazor by Ken McCoy                           (https://www.inkshares.com/projects/hellrazor)

Anyway, lunch is almost done and I must be off. Thank you again for all of your support and I swear...a website is coming soon.

This is an update of updates!

Nerdist Comp Update

So we're just about at the end of the Nerdist competition, and it's looking like
Ghosts of War is going to be able to hold onto 18th place. Now that may not be a winning position, but to be 18th out of 335 other entries is pretty dang great, and that is thanks to the 140 of you awesome people who picked up one or more copies during the comp.

You guys have also helped make Ghosts of War the 13th most popular currently funding book on Inkshares, how cool's that? (and it's only just out of 12th) After the competition ends and the winners shift into 'In Production' mode, it'll move up to the 8th most popular funding book. Very cool.

Cover Update

In the last few days you may have noticed a slight change to the cover of Ghosts. Well your eyes aren't deceiving you. I'd noticed that when it was shrunk down (like on the Nerdist leaderboard) that the title wasn't very clear in red, and that Cole didn't seem big enough.

So I remedied the problem.

Book Update

I am happy to report that there were some words written this week that will actually be in the book and weren't just an Inkshares update. Some of them have come through doing a few edits and additions to existing chapters, quite a few were in expanding some outlines for forthcoming chapters and there were even a couple of hundred words that were completely brand new and gloriously shiny.

Now that the competition is over I'll be able to focus much more on the writing side of things. All that promotion can get very draining on the creative flow.

Did someone say competition?

You might have seen it on the project page but in case you haven't...

So if you're on of the 140 followers yet to hop on the Ghosts Train, hopefully this might tempt you to come aboard. We've got a 50% conversion rate going so far on followers to readers, and I'd love nothing more than to make that 100%.

In closing, I'd like to defer to Mr Jesse Pinkman to sum up my feelings about the success we've brought to Ghosts of War thus far.