News for the Week of 9.13.13: All the Things!

Hello, dear friends and readers!

I cannot believe two weeks have passed since the Kickstarter closed. It's been a crazy last month and a half for me, and I am late on informing the world of several things.

First: I will be at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference from September 20-22. On the 20th, I'll be one of many authors signing books. Come on down! You don't need a conference registration to come buy books (or you didn't last time I went). On the 21st, I'll be giving a workshop on cover copy for the indie author. You DO need to register for the conference to attend that. :-)

Second! One of my authors' first books with Carina launched in August (link here). It's called The Adorned, and it's a male/male fantasy romance. I won't apologize for that, because that's what the author writes and loves, but I will say that it is to me first and foremost a great fantasy, with incredible world building and beautiful prose. Yes, there's a love story (and it's a great one), and yes, that love story is between two men. But this story deserves to be read without preconceptions, because it's extraordinarily well written (if you don't believe me, read the reviews). If you're into fantasy, amazing prose, and great books in general, you should check it out.

Third! Wattpad BLEW UP for about the last 30 days before finally cooling off last night. There are now nearly 14,000 people following me there. That number boggles my imagination. I do not understand what it is to be able to click a button and send a message to 14,000 people, other than very, very cool. I have a lot of thoughts bubbling on Wattpad, but they deserve their own post. I'll share them soon.

Fourth! I have fun projects on the way for the fall. Last year I wrote Nadya Skylung and the Cloud Pirates during NaNoWriMo, and I think it's my best work to date. I owe The Unlikely Candidates a debt of gratitude for inspiring this year's crazy fall project, which I'm very excited about and which I have been doing a boatload of reading in preparation for (and which, I should note, will not impinge at all on the schedule for Soulwoven---this is a necessary precondition of its existence). I don't want to say too much for fear of jinxing it (and also because I may fail entirely in executing it---that's part of the magic of the crazy fall project). I'll also be writing a scary story in a marathon on Halloween, possibly alone and possibly at the same time as other writers.

So in short, I should have more good stuff for you soon.

Much love and thanks for your patience. I now have to go catch a plane to Wyoming.
-Jeff

P.S. The front range of Colorado is flooding. I grew up there and it means a lot to me. You can help it react and recover here.

Kickstarter Success!

So as you all can see from the widget over that way ------>

The Soulwoven Kickstarter successfully funded at midnight last night. It's going to take me a few days, I think, to fully process my thoughts on this, because there are a lot of them.

For now, I just want to share a couple of pictures.

This is what Kickstarter success looks like when you're facing a computer screen.

And this is what Kickstarter success looks like if you're a computer screen looking out.

I'll be back soon to tell you what it feels like to be an author who just successfully completed a Kickstarter, but we can start with the following:

It feels great.

-J

A Post About a Kitten

When I started this blog, it was under the assumption that the only people reading it would be probably be a.) people who knew me already, or b.) people who were much more interested in learning things about writing and editing than anything else.

But nowadays there are more people following me. I'm happy just to have them around. Like, really happy just to have them around.

But I know I like learning little things about the authors I follow. So I've been wondering how best to share little bits about myself over the Internet, and the other day I was texting things to my fiancee about our new kitten, and I realized that what I notice and deem worth taking the time to text about says an awful lot about who I am.

So I thought I'd share some of those texts.

Also this kitten has taken over my life, and that seems noteworthy to me.

Enjoy!

-Jeff

For the concerned: She's fine. They gave us medicine, which we gave to her, and now she's running around like a turbofurball causing havoc in the house whenever possible.

And this is what she looks like.

For New Readers

Note: I wrote this post originally to reach out to several thousand new followers of mine on Wattpad. But once it was written, I realized it might be worth sharing with a wider audience as well. So here goes!

TL;DR Thanks for taking a chance on me. I mostly write fantasy for young people. You can find a lot of my work on Wattpad. I appreciate your support and love talking to readers.

Hello friends and readers!

This post is mostly aimed at my new followers. Those of you who’ve been around for a while can feel free to carry on with your Wattpadding uninterrupted. :-)

But to the rest of you: a special hello! Many of you are completely new to Wattpad, and I want to thank you guys for choosing me as one of the first authors you’ve followed. I know a lot of you haven’t had the chance to read any of my work yet. That’s cool with me. I want to earn your support and readership, and I figure I’ll start by extending a welcoming hand and giving you a brief introduction to what I’ve posted here.

NADYA SKYLUNG AND THE CLOUD PIRATES is a fantasy steampunkish adventure written with middle-grade readers (11-14 or so) in mind. Judging by early reactions to it, it is by far the best thing I’ve ever written. There are only three chapters of it up on Wattpad, because I’m waiting to introduce it to the world with a bang, but it’s a good place to start and get an idea of what I write. 

SOULWOVEN is the reason most of you are here. Wattpad spotted it when I started posting it last year and asked to feature it. It’s an epic fantasy about brotherhood, friendship, young love, saving the world, losing your identity, and what we have left when everything is taken from us. It’s ambitious, and it’s a little dense, and it’s aimed at lovers of fantasy and literature ages 15 and up. 

Finally, THREE DANCES is a short story collection I published earlier this year. It’s five literary fiction stories done in a magical realist style that deal with tricks of language and myth, gender and sexuality, and growing up. It’s aimed pretty squarely at adults, but it’s a good read if you like its niche. 

I hope you find a book you love on my list. And if you do, I hope you take the time to let me know by voting and commenting (ed: or by buying Three Dances or backing the Soulwoven Kickstarter!). Those things are what make the world go round for us authors. And if you just want to say hi, drop me a line for that too. I’d love to talk to you. :-) 

Cheers, Jeff

Phone blog with pictures!

The Soulwoven Kickstarter is LIVE!

This will be the first of many Soulwoven Kickstarter posts. Because the Kickstarter is now LIVE! You can go here to donate!

A few protips about Kickstarter for the curious and uninitiated:

- You can pledge any amount you like and choose any reward tier that requires that amount or less. So if you want the Founder's Tier reward but were thinking of pledging more than $25, you can do so.

- You can change or cancel your pledge and reward choice any time up until the end of the project funding period.

- You can pay through an Amazon account.

If you're on the fence about pledging, just go and check out the site. I spent a lot of time (and got great help from my fans---thanks guys!) setting up the Kickstarter, and I'm proud of it. It's worth your time to check out, even if all you do is look. :-)

We've got 30 days to make this book a reality. Let's go do it!

And as always, thank you all for making this possible.
-Jeff

The Soulwoven Kickstarter is GO FOR LAUNCH 12:01 a.m. EST August 1!

Dearest readers, 

This is it! The Soulwoven Kickstarter has been green-lit by Kickstarter HQ, and it's going to go live tonight at midnight EST! Backer rewards to include: 

- DRM-free copies of the e-book 

- Signed copies of the paperback 

- Hand-annotated, one-of-a-kind signed copies of the paperback 

- Skype chats with me 

- Recognition by name (or Internet handle, or whatever) on a special thank-you page in the book 

- Access to early drafts of the later books in the Soulwoven story, while there's still time to plead with me to save and/or end lives, romances, & c. 

- And much, much more! 

The best rewards have limited quantities (I can really only make so many of those hand-annotated paperbacks), so make sure you get in early! Kickstarters have a history of leaving latecomers brokenhearted :-(. 

Check back here at midnight for a link to the Kickstarter page, where you'll be able to pledge. 

Thanks for coming on this ride with me, dear readers. You guys gave me the courage to do this, and that's a gift I'll spend the rest of my life paying you back for in story. 

Cheers, A Very Excited Jeff