Major big huge thanks to the wonderful Wilands for creating the Fierce Compassion website, and to all of you kickstarter donors for backing this project nearly two years ago. Bit by bit, it's come together.

The book is on the presses and should ship the second week of June. Many of you will be receiving a book as part of your thank you incentive for donating. If you'd like to add more copies, please order through the website and send us an email (fiercecompassionbook@gmail.com) telling us that you are a kickstarter supporter so that we know to ship your books together.

www.fiercecompassionbook.com/purchase/

Kristin: What should I write on the Kickstarter update?

Kathryn: Nerf guns are awesome.

(Last night, Barb & Abby came by with a surprise basket of essentials for a late night of editing and typesetting. This included tea, chocolate, and two cute little nerf guns for stress release.)

We also this week received help in the form of food from the Tangs, multiple consultations about Chinese characters from the extended Chen/Wang family, tech support from the Scotts, some great encouragement from our friends in San Francisco, and all kinds of patience from our family. It sure does take a village to write a book.

At 12:30 this afternoon, Kathryn typed in the last changes while eating a lunch of frozen peas. Then we dropped the file of Fierce Compassion off at McNaughton & Gunn Printers. Next week we'll see proofs, then our two years of work is off to Grand Rapids to be transformed into a beautiful (we hope!) 224-page hardcover book! 

Heard in my home this week...

Clara (in a frenzy of trying to clean her room, which she shares with her author sister): Everywhere I go all I can see is DONALDINA CAMERON PAPERS!

Ben: My friend was talking about how moms like to have their kids around home, but I said, '"No my mom wants me away so she can work on her book."

Tired, somewhat stressed, and often preoccupied Kristin to super-husband Phil: This is my last book. I do not want to write any more books. No, really. No more books after this.

Experienced writers will probably recognize these quotations as signs of a book-writing marathon drawing to a close.

Experienced readers will recognize that all the "thanks to my husband/wife/ children, couldn't have done it without you" lines in the acknowledgements of books are not just token niceties. We really couldn't do it without you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear family, for all the inconveniences you are cheerfully bearing for the sake of this book!

We are almost there. I hope that our next post will be on April 13, the date we are aiming to send the complete book to the printer.

P.S. Ben – I love having all of my children at home with me. Really I do.

When reading a new book, I often start with the acknowledgements. I enjoy the glimpses into the author's personality, community, and experience of book-writing. 

I love the feeling of being alone in the house with nothing to do but write and revise for hours and hours (this happens to me very rarely). But I also love the team-building that can develop as a book comes together, the energy and relationships that grow as help is sought and given and ideas are shared. That community aspect of writing is one reason we like Kickstarter.

We live on a dirt road, which now, at the end of winter, is an obstacle course of mud and potholes. Two weeks ago, Kathryn and I hit big potholes in the book-writing road from which I wasn't sure we could climb out. I was revving my engine and getting nowhere trying to figure out copyright law on historical photos, while Kathryn was stuck in a hole with the technicalities of InDesign. 

This week, three kind drivers came along and towed us out of the holes. 

Thanks to Bobby G. of the University of Michigan copyright office for deftly cutting through the tangled web of historical copyright law. (No more poring over legal language on multiple confusing websites!)

Thanks to Sarah E. for competently showing Kathryn how to manage InDesign.

And thanks to Clem B. for a timely mid-week facebook post: The difference between a dream imagined and a dream realized is perseverance. 

Would we really want to throw up our hands and give up on this dream now just because of a few muddy potholes? Of course not!

Safely released from muddy holes of permissions, software, and discouragement, we are happily chugging along the road again. There's a big piece of paper up on the kitchen wall with chapters and due dates, tasks to finish and check off. I figure all I need this week to stay on schedule is about 20 hours of time to work on revisions. Any magician out there who can make 20 extra hours appear from thin air in my busy week? If you could share a bit of that magic, we would so gladly include you in our "road warriors" acknowledgements!