Kickstarter

Ahoy.

More than two years ago, you generously backed my efforts to write a book.

Said book has yet to be completed.

This is an update.

Just days after the funding ended, my girlfriend's mother was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. Britt (now my fiance) and I quit our jobs and moved to suburban Florida to be with her family. We spent a year there and I hustled freelance work to make ends meet. While I was there, literally living in a retirement community, I spent most of my time researching the book. I have collected hundreds of pages of notes, academic papers, and interviews on the topic. As her mother's health reached a long plateau and our sanity began to crumble, we moved to LA where I took a new job. In the year that I've been in LA, I've had little sustained time to focus on the book.

Consider this an explanation, not an excuse.

Lately, all of you have been weighing pretty heavily on me. I take my responsibility to you and your hopes for my work with extreme seriousness. I will complete this project.

Let me say that again, I will complete this project.

However, Britt's mother has run out of treatment options and she is entering hospice care.

Why am I telling you this? Because lately, when I find myself idle or when I wake up on the weekends, I am racked with guilt over this project. But worse, I feel torn between the very real debt I owe you and the need to be present for someone I love. I can neither accurately describe or truly fathom the hell Britt is going through. And when I try to choose between time to write versus time to spend with Britt, this project is a perennial loser.

This is all to say that I have to hit pause on my work, yet again. At least until I see Britt through this incredibly difficult time. I can't say for certain how long this will be, but it will be at least a few months before I can truly focus on this project.

I'm sorry. I wish I had better news. I wish I could manage both on my plate at once.

I did not specify a timetable for this project, but I am aware that at least a few of you are frustrated by a seeming lack of progress. 

If anyone would like, I am happy to refund your money. No questions asked. No hard feelings whatsoever.

Again, I will complete this project. But I cannot specify an end-date at this time. If you do receive a refund, you will lose the corresponding reward/benefit.

For anyone not seeking a refund, I am going to give you access to the private project site, which has loads of research, thinking, and conversation around the book. Consider it a small token of my appreciation.

So, that's it. Thank you for your support, patience, and understanding.

/b

In one month, 212 backers contributed $18,591 for the development of a book.

(about $16,200 after kickstarter & amazon service fees, if you're curious)

It's not lost on me that for most Americans that's a majority of their yearly income and for most humans across the globe, that's more than they'll make in 3-5 years.

Your collective faith in the project and this money together amount to a considerable obligation to make this awesome.

After the funds clear in 14 days, they're going into a new bank account that will only be used for direct expenses related to the research and development of the book. That's a promise.

When I set up the Kickstarter page 30 days ago, crossed my fingers, and hit submit I had a healthy sense this might work, that there is far more value in our networks of friends and colleagues than we can possibly fathom right now, but I had no idea we'd raise this much together.

And frankly, I had no idea that this many people were this willing to put their faith in us (it's not just me, people were clearly inspired by the type of people supporting the project).

So it's a shared obligation - between you and I - to make this thing awesome.

Research is ramping up fast. Next week I visit Boston and Microsoft's New England R&D office. I'll be inviting the Editorial Board members into their private basecamp group soon, too (but it might take a little longer than I planned, I had no idea there would be over 110 of you).

Personally, I just want to take a second to be candid and tell you all how much this means to me. This is emotional for me. This outpouring of support has been more than enough to I think cure me of any remaining cynicism about people or life I might have been carrying around with me. I've been taking stock lately of my nomadic existence over the last 4-5 years, of the cities I've moved from, of the people whose names I have trouble remembering now, of the random tragedies I've seen befall people I love ... and in contrast, this thing the internet that I've poured so much of myself into with a deep feeling that somehow I was building something with all of those sleepless nights hunched over my laptop, obsessed with something new, obsessed with building relationships with the brilliant people the web brought me access to. After every move, I tend to pair down what I own. I'm down to just a few suitcases now, I even left my guitars behind in Brooklyn. But as I was pairing down physical things, I was amassing more and more connections to people, connections that flutter between transient awareness and then gushing support like this. It's a remarkable feeling to know that I carry all of you around with me in addition to my few articles of clothing, and I hope you start to feel just a little bit of what I feel after this experiment.

14 hours left!

Funding closes at 12:35am EDT Friday morning.

Spread the word in the time we have left – if you haven't already written a post or tweet about why you supported the project, please consider doing so now.

And then get to know your fellow backers – you've all proven yourselves to be amazingly curious, helpful, passionate, and kind. Who doesn't need more friends like that?

Click the image below to see my latest post @whatconsumesme on our funding progress:

I just wanted to drop a quick note to everyone and say thank you. It's an amazing feeling, knowing that so many people are interested in what I can do, and have faith that I can execute it.

But even more than that, the people that have supported the project have proven themselves to be incredibly engaged and curious people - and you should meet every one of them right now. Thanks to @malbonster for putting this Twitter list together of all the backers.
http://twitter.com/malbonster/backingthebucket

The Editorial Board ranks are swelling. More people are joining up, and lots of people are upgrading their first backing so that they can join the community. I've got the Basecamp install setup and ready to start inviting people in as soon as funding closes. It's going to be awesome.

Thanks again, everybody.