Hey everybody,

So I just wanted to let you all know about the new blog I've started where I talk about the children's book that I'm beginning to work on. I hope you'll check it out at http://www.suzmuses.blogspot.com

Enjoy the cold weather, it won't be with us too long.

Suzanne

Hey Everybody,

The books are in! To those of you who pledged $50 or more I'll be mailing your awards out this week so keep your eye on the mailbox. Dune Shack Summer is now in Cape Cod bookstores and I'll hopefully be shipping out more in the coming months. Thanks for being so patient and I'm forever grateful for your enthusiasm and support. I couldn't have done it without you.

I spent some more time out at the dune shack a few weeks ago. Had to dodge a couple of tropical storms that brought rain bands, 40 mph winds and crazy wild surf, but as one shack veteran said, "that was nothing." I was very lucky in regards to the weather. I am also happy to report that there were NO MICE. Not one, zip, nada, gone. It just wasn't the same though.

Seems a couple of weasels moved in and had a feast. A previous shack occupant actually discovered two living in the shack wall behind the bookcase. She said they were fearless-- skittering over tops of books and not minding her at all. She actually chased them around with a frying pan. No one was injured, but I'm so glad they had high-tailed it by the time I moved in. The neighboring shack (about 20 minutes away) reported a pregnant weasel had taken up residency in their bedroom, in a chest of drawers where she actually had her babies. She had even hoarded several mice around the shack for later feedings! The shackies ended up leaving Rush Limbaugh blaring on the radio for three days and she finally got the message and MOVED. Ahhhhh, Mother Nature. I've included a sketch I did of a field mouse and a weasel for the curious. I sketched more than I painted this time and took tons of photographs. Also, found these itty bitty baby starfish. They were about the size of my little fingernail. It was definitely beginning to feel like fall out there, as you can see from the changing oak leaves in the dunes. Will be thinking about how to incorporate all of this into my next project. A children's book is a possibility. Stay tuned!

Thank all of you for making this project such a success. I am thrilled to have made my goal and of course I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you. I will be sending out an email to let you know more about how and when you will receive your reward. I am told it will take several weeks for the funding to actually go through into my account and then I will be able to order the books and get them shipped out to you. Please be patient. I promise to get them to you as soon as possible!

I am forever grateful,

Suzanne

Hey Everybody,

So I am now 83% funded with FOUR days left to make my goal. If your ship has come in or you know others who might be interested in the project please pass the link along (it's below the video). I've included a photo here of Your Ship, big or small, as well as some of my favorite dune shacks. Really appreciate all your support. xxoo Suzanne

Soooooooo, we're 80% funded. Thank you all for backing and/or rooting for this project. Please keep rooting for it. Pass the link along to family and friends, post it on your Facebook page again and again. Just nine more days to go! I really appreciate your enthusiasm and support.

xxoo
Suzanne

Just wanted everyone to know that we are now 68% funded!!!! We have 25 more days to go. I'm posting the link on Facebook and have reeled in some folks who didn't know me but who were lured by the photography and idea of living in a dune shack. I thank those of you who have passed it on to friends and family and ask the rest of you to do the same. Really do appreciate everyone's support and enthusiasm. Stay tuned for more...

Here's yet another way you can help promote Dune Shack Summer beyond the Internet:

Download and print these posters and hang them up in your favorite store, restaurant, gym, coffee house, park, break room, the bathroom down the hall from your office, anywhere to get the word out. You can take a pair of scissors and cut between each little "Dune Shack Summer Kickstarter.com" so it makes it easy for people to just tear off. I know this is asking a lot, but it's a good way to get in touch with that junior high spirit!

Thanks to kickstarter Adventures in Plymptoons for this idea.

Okay, so we are doing really well here, with the project now 52% funded. That is very exciting and I am thrilled to say the least. Thank you to everyone. However, in order to hit our target, we need to further spread the word. Which is where you, my 36 loyal backers, come in. If each one of you would share this with just one or two others, that would help tremendously.

If you look underneath the video on the project's main Kickstarter page, you will see some buttons for sharing the link on social tools. The first button is for Facebook and when you click it, it will take you to Facebook where it will pre-populate link information for a status update which you can then fill in.

There is also a Twitter button which works roughly the same way, opening Twitter and pre-populating the text field with this:

Kickstarter - Dune Shack Summer Art Book: http://kck.st/b4pQwJ

You can, of course, edit your Tweet before you post it. I'd suggest something along the lines of:

I'm supporting @suzlews Kickstarter project: http://kck.st/b4pQwJ You should too!

The email button opens a field for you to add your friend's email address before sending a pre-written message to them. If you want to send a more personal email, which I would recommend, then you can write whatever you like and use either the full link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788474852/dune-shack-summer-art-book...
or the shortened link:
http://kck.st/b4pQwJ

which is also available from the Kickstarter page.

If you have a bit of space in your blog sidebar, you can go a step further and add the Dune Shack Summer widget, which you can snitch from my kickstarter page--you can get the code by clicking "Grab the widget".

Just talking to people you know who you think might be interested, and pointing them in the direction of Kickstarter, is probably one of the most powerful ways to spread the word.

If you do find a moment to help promote Dune Shack Summer, I would really appreciate it.

Here's a picture of Dune Shack Summer in the National Park Service Visitor Center on the Cape Cod National Seashore. Doesn't it look handsome? And it gets to share the table with such classics as Henry Beston's The Outermost House and Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower. So that's what we're aiming for, to get it back on the shelves at the National Seashore bookstore.

Hugs to you all,

Suzanne

Hey everybody,

Okay, we're 36% funded with 35 days to go! If you've donated, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Now, tell all your friends and family. Please help spread the word. If all the wonderful people I knew had wonderful people they knew who could spare just $5, this project would succeed. There are easy links below the video that help you get the word out.

With lots of gratitude,

xoxo
Suzanne

So here we are - day three and we're 22% of the way there.

Thank you, thank you, thank(!!!) you to all of you who've pledged thus far. PLEASE remember to tell your friends and neighbors and collegues to pledge - even $5 will go a long, long way! For those of you on Facebook there's a little FB button right there under my kickstarter video http://kck.st/b4pQwJ that you can use to spread the word.

As I said in my video I'm starting to think about my NEXT project out in the dunes. I'm considering doing a multi media book which will include an audio CD. For the first week I'll be staying in a friend's shack (they refer to it as their "guest shack"). I've posted a picture of it below. It's perched right out there on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic. Yeah, right there on the edge. Let's pray Cape Cod doesn't get any hurricanes this season. However, that shack has weathered many a storm. And this time I will take my little Flip video to make some movies. I'm thinking about recording all the sounds-- the fog horn, the surf, the wind, the storms, coyotes, seagulls, warblers and mice! The mice make more noise than you can imagine. So besides photographing I will be videotaping, too.

The following week I will move about 15 minutes (by foot) down the dune to my old shack, C-Scape. Not to worry, one of the organizers will transport me and my stuff via truck. Unlike the guest shack, C-Scape is 100 yards from the ocean, tucked down in the dunes and surrounded by fragrant salt spray roses, beach plums and stunted pitch pine and oak. It will be interesting to try and convey the difference between the two shacks as well as experiencing a different season. C-Scape has a wood-burning stove which I'm sure I'll be firing up by then. Okay, don't want to get too carried away, just wanted to let y'all know what was coming down the pike. I'll also be looking for a more reasonable printer this time. Gotta get Dune Shack Summer funded first though!

Will keep you posted. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Suzanne