Good morning Kickers!

It's 9AM here on the East Coast (where most of you are, btw) and I've been up for a few hours working diligently to ensure that goals were met, deadlines were adhered to, Lulu Stores were completed, and Blog Posts were posted!

(drum roll please)
Ladies and Gentlemen: I'm pleased to announce that as of this morning Venture by Darlene McCullough is available for purchase at www.lulu.com/DarleneMcCullough

It feels good! Really good; and very surreal. To be honest, it's been up since 8 so I could be sure that all the links worked properly - and no one's bought it yet; but that's not really the point, it is?

The point is, I wrote a novel. I fulfilled a dream goal that I didn't even had the guts to tell people about before last October... and 4 months later I wrote a book. And you wonderful people helped.

You should all have (or nearly have) received your copies by now. If not, please e-mail me at DarleneEMcCullough@gmail.com and we can look into where they've gotten to.

If you have, I would love nothing more than for you to rate it and write a review! It helps promote the book and it's a great way to tell me that you like it (as much as I appreciate all those text messages and fbook notes I'm getting...) http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/venture/7846020

One last thing: if you have friends and family that are going to jump on the ole bandwagon, please let them know as a special deal I'm offering 10% off at my Lulu Store before Wednesday morning! Use the phrase WINTERBOOK during checkout where it asks for Coupons before Wednesday and get 10% off on the book.

Phew! Awesome...

The video says it all, but for those without time to read it, here's the short version:

The copies have been edited, the illustrations have been proofed. The dedication written, the acknowledgments typed, and typos corrected. Just a few moments ago I uploaded the book to Lulu.com and ordered your copies of Venture.

To clarify - the book will not be available for public order until your copies have been mailed out; I didn't think it was fair that anyone else have it before you. Once the hard copies are mailed I'll e-mail those of you who requested a PDF the files you asked for.

This week is made of WIN and it's all thanks to all of you!

I'm getting palm sweats wanting to jump the gun and order the books from Lulu - but no. I'm waiting patiently for the final proofs from Jenne. And let me tell you something: the artwork looks AWESOME!

I want to tell you about how beautiful it is. I want to tell you about the details, the little Easter eggs she's painstakingly put into the map and the beautiful curves of the ______ - but I can't. I don't want to ruin it. What I can do, however, is share this with you.

Jenne sent me this great picture of her workspace. She's done draft after draft, trying to get things just right; and judging by the size of the pile of tea bags and the toothbrush at the ready, she's not been sleeping as much as she should.

....it's almost time!!

This little snippet of conversations entertained me so much this morning that I had to share it. Right. Now.

As I mentioned in the last update, to overcome the obstacle of distance Jenne, Jennifer, and I and using Wave to edit the book. I thought this would give them an opportunity to 'argue' with one another on what edits they thought were important. I didn't expect it would give them a chance to team up, but here we are.

One good thing about collaborating with people you trust is they can give you permission to do the things you think you shouldn't. Enjoy:

A week out from the completion of the Kickstarter clock and the editing work is well underway.

In collaborating on this project we were presented with a challenge that none of us had previously given much thought: With Jenne in North Carolina, Jennifer in Hartford, and myself in New York how could we effectively develop the book together without spending a ridiculous amount on shipping or overlapping work? Or the potential that one would return an edited copy and thereby outdate the other? We wanted to be able to develop things together in real time and have an active conversation. We considered Google Docs, but that presented it's own set of problems.

And then I was graced with a Google Wave invite. (yes, I have more if anyone would like one)

We've been using Google Wave, which has a reasonable copywrite policy, so Jenne and Jennifer can see one anothers work. Though it has a bit of a learning curve, once everyone was comfortable enough to function we were off! As we move forward they'll be able to hold active conversations about edits and reply to each others comments. It's exciting for me that they have to potential to be able to argue (nicely, of course) in a way that paper and a red pen could never allow.

Spoiler Alert - Below is a screen shot of Wave in action with Jenne's first round of edits. It's both a blessing and a curse to have this kind of real-time feedback as I had to resist the urge to go and edit the master copy before they'd finished reading through the 2nd draft.

They've both been working hard, and in addition to Jennifer's bio I want to share some information about the artist and co-editor of Venture, Jenne Greaves:

Jenne, too, grew up in rural Vermont, though funneled her creativity into the visual arts. She attended R.I.T and earned a B.F.A with a concentration in painting. Naturally, after college she promptly became a baker and currently bakes cake in North Carolina. Jenne's expanded her repertoire to include book arts, bookbinding, and running a small Etsy shop called Bissy Bindery. She has a deep fondness for the color green, painting vegetables, chickens, and graph paper.

Enjoy the screen shot below, and if you're a Wave user let us know what you think of it. What kind of projects have you been working on. Also, if you look in the middle column you get a sneak peak of my next project, Seeker. It's a web series that's just in the planning stages. Exciting stuff.

WE DID IT! As of midnight last night the campaign has ended to a wonderful, resounding success. Please let me begin by throwing some numbers at you:

26 - the final number of backers
34 - the number of copies of the novel pre-ordered through this campaign
138 - current number of pages (will probably change with editing)
5 - number of times I picked up my cat, cuddled him close, and wished on a star this would go well
310% - final percentage funded (!!)
6 - number of books "improved" on to make the hollow book rewards

Please check out the video diary below, filmed just after I woke up this morning, and the two screen shots. The first is of Kickstarter's "Success" page ~ and we're 1st up! It was taken this morning, and thanks to John for noticing.

The second is a screen shot of the title page of the novel. I'm pleased to announce the title in the video, and wanted to include a visual for those unable to watch it.

Thank you again from cockles of my heart; I couldn't do any of this without all of you!

WooooSaaaa!

25 hours to go and I'm doing my best not to watch the clock!

I find that on every project I work on there are two types of work:
*The "Passion Work" - The things you want to do and are excited about and are the reason you do the work
*The "Other Stuff" - Everything else

The writing of this book was the Passion Work. The hours spent writing and thinking and crafting. The train rides where I didn't speak to my husband other than tell him not to look over my shoulder. These are the things I was so excited about that spring-boarded me to Kickstarter. But that part is done. Now on to the "other stuff"?

But there is good news from the front lines. With all of the excitement and response those other things don't seem so much like "other stuff" to me now. They're blending in with the talks about artwork and maps, about editing and writing, and about wanting to write a fantasy novel that is for people who don't read fantasy novels.

It's going to happen. Tomorrow. And it's thanks to you.

-D

With 15 days to go on our little experiment and deep in the insanity that is December there's a lot going on. Presents to purchase, projects to work on; oh, and a novel to edit!

I've made my first pass and my team is now hard at work fixing my typos and telling me what doesn't make any sense. In the mean time, I thought I could share a bit more of what we're working on and a bio for Jennifer Steinhurst, my editor.

First, a selection from the novel. Spoiler Alert! If you are avoiding spoilers, skip down to Jen's bio.

Our heroine has arrived safely in Mithe and made some new friends; but more adventures await:

The road wove on to the south and a small path split off, barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it. Orla was teased from her thoughts when Darragh veered from the road to the thin path. She looked doubtfully to him; but he ignored her and walked to the tree line.

They wound through tall, old trees for a few brief moments and then the woods gave way to a wide clearing. Darragh stepped to the side and paused to read Orla's face as she took in the open space. At the far end of the clearing the valley terminated into a rock wall. Here a facade had been cut the entire length of the clearing, directly into the cliff's face.

At either end stood great sentinels, statues of men as tall as the trees. They were armored, but instead of swords or spears they held staffs with ornately carved tops. Behind them was a recessed entryway, with pillars cut to look like trees and mimic the forest around them. After a moment Darragh continued and Orla followed, anxious for more details.

Beyond the tree line the foot path turned to a wide avenue spread with white gravel and bordered by sculptures of unfamiliar animals. Beyond the statues, the clearing gave way to gardens and a well kept lawn. In a garden many different herbs were growing, some familiar to her and some not. Orla could identify simple remedy herbs like ginger and rosemary, used for nausea and upset stomach. It seemed odd to her that the garden of wizards would have such simple cures.

The garden and entrance were buzzing with activity. The youngest, no more than twelve or thirteen years, were weeding the garden under the supervision of their elders. A few in their later teens were reading on low benches books without names on the covers and others wrote in journals.

At the end of the avenue, the grass and gardens terminated at a cavernous entry way. Cut directly into the stone of the cliff, every bit was decorated with beautiful carvings. The pillars were all detailed to represent the bark of the surrounding trees. Orla craned her head to follow the pillars up to the ceiling with her eyes. At the tops of each pillar, branches were carved into a stone canopy.

Where the branches came together fire bowls hung down on chains for extra light. The bottom of the bowls were painted with birds, moths, and dragonflies. Benches, carved from the same stone, broke the entrance into sections. In one group of benches some students were showing off, conjuring fire, water, ice or smoke in their hands.

One young man noticed Orla watching and spun water from his hands. He made the water dance in a great spout. He twirled his fingers and it snaked above his head and twisted back in on itself in a fluid braid. He was watching her instead of paying attention to his great conjure and didn't notice when one of his mates came behind with a blast of wind. The water spout froze instantly and then shattered down in a hail storm of ice chips.

The presence of so many young wizards eased Orla's greatest fears, though she still had reservations. The pillared arches gave way to a massive entrance with large carved wooden doors. They stood open and seemed too large to be moved by human force alone. Carved into the left door a male wizard held fire in his hand, the right a female with water. Around them every kind of creature to be imagined was carved with the wizards standing over them all.

Phew! Exciting. Now, for a bit more about our team. Here's a bio and a snapshot of our editor Jennifer Steinhurst

This is some text!Jennifer Steinhurst grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere Vermont, which was the driving force behind her creativeness even from her early days. That, and a healthy love of the written word, which landed her a job with the bookseller giant Borders Group, Inc, where she worked for close to a decade. Jennifer is now working full time for a fund raising non-profit and moonlights as a copy editor and budding novelist, participating in her first NaNoWriMo contest in 2009. Working on the project that has become this book has helped her use her powers of grammar for good and she is looking forward to working on future books with the author.

Thanks again for all your help and support. With 15 days to go please share this project so we can finish strong. Happy Holidays.

To those in America, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend (to those outside America, I hope your weekend was good too). There was no snow up in the mountains of Vermont; however, I'm glad to say there was a steady rain of key strokes on my laptop.

I'm pleased to announce the draft of the novel is finished! AND: Thanks to the 8 hour train ride home, about half of the first round of editing is done. While there's still a lot of work to do, I'm really proud of it so far. My goal had been to finish the draft by Dec 1st and I wish there was a way for me share how excited I am...

But there is! To celebrate the completion of the draft, any Kicker (that's you!) who leaves comments gets a bonus with their book: Exclusive stickers and buttons! (Those who have already jumped on the comment band wagon, you're already set)
But wait, there's more! My birthday is this weekend; in honor of that I'm doing a promotion for new backers. If you back my campaign this weekend, from 12:01am on Friday to 11:59 Sunday night, you'll receive exclusive buttons and stickers AND an addition surprise with your book. Here's the thing about me: while I have a hard time keeping secrets, I LOVE surprises. I'm not telling anyone what this one is.
Please share the campaign with your friends, share about the promotion, and remember to leave your comments. THANK YOU! With every fiber of my being: Thank You.

It seems cannibalistic and symbolic that I'm choosing to sacrifice some books in the creation of my own. Perhaps that's why I love it. I'm nearly as excited about the hollow books I'm making as I am about the novel itself (nearly, people... nearly).

I'm using this method from Wiki How. At Strand (a GIANT bookstore) on the $1 cart I struck GOLD on Sunday. Dozens of thick, sturdy, fabulous hardcover books for only $1 each. I was so excited I didn't think my day through and bought 7; which I then carried around New York for 4 hours. I needed the books and the workout so it's for the best.

When I got home the gluing began and last night it was time to cut! I resisted the urge to take the papery insides I had cut free and cast them into a volcano (partially because the logistics of that would be excessive). I didn't think my super would appreciate a fire on the roof either. John and I toyed with the idea that the "surprise" should be some of the cut out pages... but I just took a picture instead.

The one I finished last night is resting comfortably on my bookshelf...waiting. Waiting for me to open it and take in the completed glory!

You might be asking "What does this have to do with writing a book?" Well... nothing.

The better question: "What does this have to do with Kickstarter and making cool stuff?" EV3RyTH1NG!

Now to plan for the surprises for the inside. MUAHAHAHAH!

I am on there. You're welcome to follow me. Yes, it is really fun and no, it's not a dumb as you think it might be.

http://twitter.com/leneyloo

Whether tweeting while writing is helpful is still up for debate.