Wow, what a week!
First of all, let me give a huge THANKS to everyone who has already placed a pre-order. You have no idea how much it means to me! I will never forget my early adopters. You are the ones who took a chance on me, and obviously something with me or my writing resonated with you enough to click the button. That is extremely flattering, and I am so thankful for you believing in me.
A lot of the supporters this week were family and friends, and so I count myself a lucky man to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who rally around me when I need them. Even though I already knew you were amazing people, it's still such a happy reminder.
I was astonished to see my book hover in the top 5 of the Sword & Laser Contest for most of this week. I am in the company of some truly great authors. There is a lot of talent on this site, so that is also a huge compliment to be among their ranks.
Congrats to Joseph Asphahani for absolutely crushing the contest so far! He is completely deserving of it, so I tip my hat to him. Also, I hope that if I ever meet him in person, I say his last name correctly.
This contest has me doing strange things. I've started using Twitter, which is a different sensation for me (brevity is foreign to me). I also jump at every e-mail when my phone buzzes, hoping it's something novel-related. But most importantly, it has forced me out of my shell, which is a pretty thick layer to crack. Putting myself out there is extremely scary for me, so this is a bigger deal than you could imagine.
I'm also going to be a first-time father in May, and so I feel like this is probably the best time to focus my time and effort on something that is near and dear to me before taking on the role of "Dad" in five months. What a hectic (but fun) time! If you see me in person and I'm in a bit of a daze, please forgive me. I've got quite a few important things bouncing around in my brain right now.
For those of you who are following the novel, but haven't opted to pre-order it yet, I truly hope at some point I can convince you that this is a project worth your investment. If there's something specific you'd like to see from me or this book, please reach out to me and let me know. I am more than happy to answer questions or share with you whatever it is you want to know. The only thing that is off limits is the ending of the book. ;)
I am a few chapters deep, and constantly in a state of figuring out how I can make something better. Jacob's journey will be a bit trippy, no doubt about it. But I want the reader to walk away from the book with a certain degree of paranoia that perhaps something is always lurking in the dark corners of our world. Those small oddities we ignore could be part of something much greater.
As you may have noticed, Chapter 2 takes a bit of a breather after Chapter 1. This is before shoving Jacob further down a twisted path in Chapter 3 (yet to be seen by you). He isn't exactly a willing participate in anything going on around him, but he doesn't mind humoring something that might improve his current condition.
I plan on posting Chapter 3 on Wednesday. If I hit 25 pre-orders before then, I will post it at that milestone. It would mean the world to me to see this book's numbers start to rise again.
Thanks again, and happy dreaming!
