...we've achieved our funding goal of £6,000 in an incredible six days!

Last night, with just a couple of hundred pounds to go, I promised on Twitter and Facebook that if the project reached 100% by first thing this morning, I would go and jump naked into a freezing cold lake.

Well, it's 2°C outside, and I've packed my camera and my towel. But first, I wanted to issue a gigantic thank-you to all of you who have backed the project over the last week. It's been an enormously encouraging show of support, and a huge source of motivation to finish this book to the best standard possible.

Can we take this further?

Kickstarter campaigns continue taking pledges until their scheduled deadlines, regardless of whether the target has been met. This means we still have two weeks to increase our total. And there's a good reason why I'd like to do this.

When I originally designed this campaign, I decided to aim for a target that would fund the essentials of producing a book. I deliberately left out the 'optional extras' that we planned to finance later on through sales of the book — including enhanced electronic editions, Amazon listings, wider distribution plans, a publicity campaign, and launch events, amongst other things — simply because I wasn't confident that we'd raise a higher total. How wrong I was!

Having two whole weeks to go means that there's a real opportunity to finance these sub-projects much earlier than we'd expected. Once again, this will happen not by magic but because of the community behind the project.

I think one of the best ways we'll achieve this will be to shift the high-value rewards that have remained tantalisingly untouched until now. These are the one-off 'happenings' that I've pledged to pull off for the backer involved — cycling or otherwise travelling to homes or venues to host storytelling events. (I've just added 3x £1,000 rewards, opening this up to all of continental Europe as well as the UK.)

I really think this will suit clubs and societies who have a membership to collectively raise the required pledge — this might be cycling or other outdoor clubs, rotary clubs, film societies, community centres, or other such organisations who would be interested in the story and willing to host a screening and a talk.

Are you a member of one of these, or do you know someone who is? If so, could you this week mention the campaign and the events that are being offered as rewards? We'll help out with getting these events set up — do get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

That's all for now. Thank you once again! I'm off to do some more writing. Oh — and to jump in that lake...

Tom