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Update #16: The books are in! Drinks on Tuesday!
For everyone: I've got all these books! Boxes and boxes of books! So many books, in fact, that I have been storing them beneath and around my desk at work because they would take up too much space in my apartment! I am going to being the process of mailing this weekend.
For SF: If you would like to receive your books in person - that is an option you have. I'll be gathering folks together at The Gold Cane in Upper Haight on Tuesday night (4/27). I'll probably get there around say 7pm. Let me know if you can make it and I'll be sure to have your copies with me.
Update #15: The books are ordered! (And a surprise!)
I've got a screenshot to share with you guys: It's the thumbnail from my Lulu order form for the final printed copies of Andrew vs. The Collective. I finally finished off the formatting this weekend and, both eyes squeezed tightly shut, pressed the order button.
Now I've got a secret to share with you guys: It's the number of books I ordered. 100 copies of The Collective and 100 copies of Andrew vs. The Collective. Wait, what? The same number of both? Well, when I did my cost modeling for the project way back in January I had assumed I would just have enough money to give copies of the short stories book to the highest-contributing backers. But, much to my surprise, a little surplus appeared on my spreadsheet. Which means: everybody gets a physical copy of Andrew vs. The Collective!
So I'm awaiting the shipment and then your copies will go out after that. For Bay Area residents, I'll probably be arranging a drinks-and-distribution event if you want to obtain your books in person. Details to come.
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Dan Levine on April 13, 2010
Thanks for the update! I must admit, I'm having Andrew vs The Collective withdrawal. I find myself walking around the street as Friday noon approaches giving people sentences or settings and expecting them to entertain me with clever tales.
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Michele Bell on April 13, 2010
I think it is worth the drive to pick mine up....more details please!
Also, will you be running another batch? I was hoping to buy some as Christmas presents.
And, to echo Dan below, I too am having withdrawals, I am craving Pizza in Kathmandu. -
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Update #14: The book comes together
I took a weekend off. Collective, will you ever forgive me? It was glorious. It was San Francisco's first warm weekend of the year. I drove north with friends on Saturday. Sunday I went to brunch and took a long nap. If you can believe it, I didn't write a word. Not one single word. Every molecule of my being exhaled in relaxation.
That was two weekends ago. Not this weekend. This weekend I was back to the project: wrestling with MS Word formatting and Photoshop and uploading to Lulu. A regular modern day Gutenberg (Johannes, not Steve) putting words together into a consumable physical product. A book that will be titled "Andrew vs. The Collective".
All of this to say - I don't have much to report other than I'm still alive and the books are coming along. I ordered the proof copy from Lulu last night - so it should be here in a few days. Here are some pictures snapped from my computer's desktop to give you a taste of the process from this weekend. (I've made the decision to footnote all the bold submissions in print. I think it works well, but good lord is that a lot of footnotes!)
Update #13: "Possibility" - Story #6
Wow. That was an epic weekend of writing. Two full days of hammering away at my keyboard and then all of last night editing. And this story is, as promised, EPIC!
As promised/threatened this one turned out long. I would recommend that you not read it in HTML, that you print out the PDF to curl up on the couch with, but the environmental impact of all those printer pages gives me pause. Heck, I’m tempted to just tell you to not read it at all...and wait for the forthcoming young adult book that will take this story, flesh it out and clean it up.
Woah, what’s that? A book? Yes, Collective – of all our joint efforts, I think this one's got the most potential to become it's own novel! (Unfortunately I am exhausted of writing so it’s not going to happen soon. But this is definitely going on the Idea Shelf.)
The writing of this story had two phases. The first (the day of Saturday) was when things serendipitously fit together and my mind spiraled out with the possibilities into a whole new universe to explore. The second (the day of Sunday) was when I got over half way through it and I wanted to go back and re-edit the whole goddamned thing. It wasn't until the story got to Chicago, for example, that I realized it could have been better served by having Isla hail from say present-day suburban Kansas instead of the valley of Gwyndyr. Alas and alack. That's for the forthcoming young adult novel!
A few awards for this week:
The two hardest to highlight in the text: Jonathan Ryan wanted me to show a little sympathy for the devil - allow the audience to empathize with the villain. Travis Flournoy wanted a a fake situation in which "they aren't sure if the -wrong' is fake-fake, fake, or actually real."
Setting: Alternate universe Chicago from Gavin. There was so much detail in this submission I just barely squeezed 60% of it in.
Character: I know she was reluctant to give her up, but Steph Whiteside's assassin who makes knitting needles out of the bones of her enemies was awesome!
Sentence: From Sarah Dennis: "I know from personal experience that you can lose a lot of things in bed--marbles, teeth, your virginity--but no one in the history of this world or any other has ever lost that before!!"
Word: From the setting of Robin Sloan: "were-lizard". Now that's an image that sticks!
This week's soundtrack:
Wolf Parade - Dear Sons and Daughters of Holy Ghosts
It pains me to write these concluding lines to the sixth story update. Yes, I'm exhausted and cannot wait to spend a weekend not writing. But I have also enjoyed this process so much - and I have all of you to thank for that. You, The Collective, your creativity week to week was so inspiring. You are an intimidating bunch of ideasmiths! I expect this won't be the last project like this I undertake - and I hope you'll join me in whatever the next one is. (Or invite me along if you decide to do something similar yourself!)
Sometime this week you'll get a request from me for some information about how to get you your copy of the book. I certainly hope you enjoy it.
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Michele Bell on March 16, 2010
Bravo my young imaginative friend! You have made Tuesdays so "PIZZA" and I will miss the anticipation of another story. I can't wait to read the book.
I am printing these out with a typewriter font and binding them, they will be placed on Nick's library bookshelf along with the autographed copy of your novel (after I read it!). Thanks again and I cannot wait for your next project. -
Terry Fitzgerald on March 20, 2010
Congratulations, never doubted that you would surpass your goal. Look forward to reading The Collective.
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Update #12: Story #6 will be epic
You're going to have to supply the details, but this is what I can promise you:
A young unassuming rural resident will be visited by a mysterious older gray-bearded man possessed of strange and unexplainable powers. Said resident will be told that the world as he/she knows it is in grave, grave danger and only he/she can save it. This will begin an epic journey that will culminate in the ultimate battle of good vs. evil.
Let's make this one a-maz-ing. Send in your submissions!
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Zach Seward on March 12, 2010
I'd love to see you drop a hashtag into this story. Any hashtag will suffice, but if you need one: #nowplaying.
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Simon Oh on March 12, 2010
CHARACTER: Elena is a woman who appears to be in her late 20s. A laid-back, lanky brunette. Actually, she's been alive for centuries. When she dies, she revives a few days later, fully intact, in a random spot and she can't die the same way ever again. While Elena is no longer afraid of death, she does find it pretty inconvenient. Her last revival landed her in Bratislava. She loves to travel and she's kind to children. Her favorite candy is Starburst, which she indulges with impunity ever since her once-rotting gums triggered a heart attack. Elena doesn't know it yet, but she's about to die again, thanks to a brain parasite she picked up from eating bad pork during a trip through Oaxaca, Mexico about a week ago.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on March 12, 2010.
Pledge $1 or more Pledge $1 or more
CHALLENGER: You get to submit one adjective per story. // You'll receive: You get to follow along with the project with all of the emails and digital PDFs backers receive. (But that's it. No novel.)
Pledge $7 or more Pledge $7 or more
ADVERSARY: You get to submit one noun per story. // You'll receive: All the emails and digital PDFs AND a copy of my very first novel The Collective.
Pledge $15 or more Pledge $15 or more
FOE: You get to submit one sentence per story. (Think about the power you'll wield!) // You'll receive: Emails and PDFs, obviously. And I will mail you a SIGNED copy of my book.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
ENEMY: You get to submit a character. Give me a name and as much or as little of a description as you want. (You can have some fun with this one: Your friends or family, historical figures, even yourself!) // You'll receive: Emails and PDFs and the signed copy of The Collective.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
NEMESIS: You get to submit a setting in which some of the action has to take place. As with the character you can give me as much or as little as you want. // You'll receive: Everything above AND (here's the big one) a signed printed book of the six stories making up Andrew vs. The Collective! I'm not planning on making this one available for sale - so this will be a very rare commodity (that you helped to write!).
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
EVIL DOPPLEGANGER: Send me an email. No, seriously. You can give me any direction you want. Anything you can come up with. Just send me an email. // You'll receive: Everything above and I will include your name in the acknowledgments of The Collective as you are truly a giving benefactor for my writing career.
Project By
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I'm a media-creator and journalist. I've been trying to write novels since I was five years old (Hardy Boys: Case of the Pirate Treasure) but I just finished my very first one (The Collective). When I'm not excitedly hammering out first drafts or slogging through re-writes, I do online news for San Francisco-based Current TV.
I'll plan on coming to the Golden Cane.
Weeee!
A few shots from the Cane: http://www.flickr.com/search/…