Happy President’s Day Readers,

Four score and seven years ago, okay okay, actually more like 18 months ago, the funding period ended for When I’m 64. The path to publication has been an exhilarating journey, but today I received the most exciting news: When I’m 64 is en route to the printer!  The final edits have been made, the proofread is complete and the full cover has been accepted by the team at Inkshares.  The book that you helped create will be on it’s way to you in no time!  

This dream will become a reality in just a few short weeks. Thank you for all of the support and encouragement along the way!  

Lauren

Good Morning Readers and Happy Tuesday,

This update has been in the works for a long time now, but the wait is over!  Today is the day!  I am pleased to announce that When I’m 64 has been scheduled for production and will be released on March 27th, 2018.  There are many small deadlines that myself, along with the team at Inkshares will be targeting, so this date is subject to change but we will do everything in our power to have this book in your hands on or before that date. 

Over the past 11 months, I have been working in the wings to ready the book for print.  The developmental edit was hugely helpful and has resulted in a polished manuscript that is ready for the copyeditors to refine.  The cover is a gorgeous visual representation of this story that means so much to me, and is ready to be tweaked to fit the final pour from production. And lastly, the photos that bring the story to life have been lovingly selected and are ready for inclusion within the manuscript. 

There is a lot of work that will need to get done between today and the publication date, but I am eagerly looking forward to all of it.  I will send along important updates as we get closer to the release, but in the interim please feel free to share the link with anyone you think is looking for a good read, has a book club or happens to run a library ;).

 As always, thank you for your support!

Lauren

Good Evening Readers!

Contest Update!

As you are aware, in honor of my father’s birthday on September 20th, I held a contest to raffle off two tickets to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden on Friday, October 28th.  All books purchased between September 20th and September 30th counted as a single entry into the contest and today I am happy to announce the winner!

Carl Edwards is the lucky man!  

Congratulations Carl, I hope you have an awesome time and enjoy the show!  

There are 10 days left in the funding campaign, thank you all for your love and support :)

Lauren

Good Morning Readers,

Today would have been my Dad’s 70th birthday, and to say that I have a heavy heart this morning is an understatement. Over the course of the past week, I have been trying to think of ways to be able to celebrate his life today, rather than to mourn his loss. For starters, I’m going to play tennis, as he would have done on a gorgeous September afternoon. And for dinner, I will cook one his best recipes, penne vodka, from scratch, and yes, with real heavy cream and a whole stick of butter to boot :). When I’m 64, has been such an amazing, inspiring, and healing part of my journey over this past year that it seemed fitting to find a way to incorporate that into this day as well.  So, without further adieu, I would like to outline the rules of my Dad’s Birthday Giveaway:

In honor of my Dad’s birthday I am going to raffle off 2 tickets to see  Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden on October 28th, 2016. How do you win? Any book pre-order placed between now, September 20th, 10:00 am and the end of his birth month, September 30th at 11:59 pm , will get entry into the raffle. EACH COPY PURCHASED counts as a single entry, so that means if you purchase multiple copies (each person is capped at ten pre-orders of the book by Inkshares), you get additional entries into the raffle.

Don’t like Billy Joel? Live out of the area? NO problem! If you decline the ticket prize, you can opt to receive a $100 Visa Gift Card, instead!

Please share this information with your network and help make this day a significant one in the life of When I’m 64! There are just about 3 weeks left in our funding period so share, share, share.  You know what they say, you can’t win if you don’t play - and in this case, you can’t play if you don’t know about the game!

 Happy Birthday Dad :)

Love,

Lauren

Good Morning Ladies and Gents!

This morning I have another exciting update to share with you.  Last night, I received an email from the Inkshares Team letting me know that When I’m 64 has been selected as the September Pick of the Idiosyncraticate Syndicate!  For those of you that aren’t familiar with Inkshares Syndicates, what this means is that readers and writers have formed a group in which they pool their money, and select one book each month to support and offer a boost in sales.  This particular syndicate has a unique vision for their group and have chosen to support books that are in typically unsupported genres such as comedy, autobiographical, or in this case memoir.  

I am so proud and honored to have been selected by the syndicate lead, and I wanted to share what he wrote about why my project was selected:

"It takes bravery to put your story out there no matter the subject matter -- even if it’s pictures of people arguing about politics -- but this memoir-within-a-memoir is truly something else. I couldn’t do this and I love that others can. I want to see this go all the way. It’s exactly the kind of book I want this syndicate to get behind. "- Billy O’Keefe

With the backing of this syndicate, I have the support of my fellow authors, and have a total of 346 pre-orders to date.  While this is amazing in and of itself- it does give me hope that we can reach the fully supported publishing tier of 750 pre-orders.  With 31 days left in my funding campaign it would be amazing of you all to continue to help spread the word about this project with friends, family and co-workers.  

Thank you all for your continued love and support :)

Yours in gratitude,

Lauren

Happy Friday Friends!

 I am beyond excited to be able to share a beautiful update with you all - When I’m 64 has a brand new look! Over the course of the past few weeks my incredibly talented sister-in-law, has been listening to my ramblings and attempts to be visually creative - really not my strength- and has designed an incredible cover for the book, even more amazing than anything I could’ve imagined.

 Check it out and feel free to share the link to the book with your network. With this new look I think we may just have a shot at the full publishing service goal of 750 pre-orders. We’re at 295 copies today, and have just under two months to reach our goal. 

 Thanks for your continued help and support! 

 Lauren

Happy Saturday!