Howdy!

As per my last update back in January, we did indeed enter the Dead Zone of project updates, but I am now here to pop that bubble of silence.

First and foremost, I have received Monitored Activity's final edits this past Friday. You know, the whole point of the campaign? The part of this book you all so graciously helped fund? It is — officially  —  done. Shout-out to subvertebra over on BlueSky who has been an absolute thrill to work with. I genuinely could not have asked for a better editor.

I cannot believe we're here, and way ahead of schedule, too. That late summer release date might just become early summer, but let's hold off on any major announcements for a bit longer.

The sticker sheets and bookmarks have long since arrived and are currently hanging out on my desk, eagerly waiting to be sent out to their new homes!

Keep an eye on your inbox! Emails will go out a few days beforehand so you're not caught by surprise.

Also — please make sure you've completed your survey! I'm still waiting on a few. If you've somehow lost it in your sea of emails (I don't blame you; my main inbox has 6,400 unread emails...), do not hesitate reaching out to me. I can very easily resend it.

And that's about it, for now. I hope you are all as excited as I am! Monitored Activity is close enough to taste.

Until next time. Happy (almost) April, and stay hydrated.

—  Mitch

Hello fairy friends! It's time for a very another update!

We have the final poll for this week's make-a-fairy ready for everyone to vote on. Go vote!

We have less than four days left before the campaign ends! Ah! 

As a special weekend treat, I'm revealing the sketches for last week's fairy animal companion.

The first of these sketches is the animal companion. He has lizard traits, a unicorn horn, fuzzy mammal fur, a mermaid tail, and the appendages of a insect. I chose praying mantis. The sword wasn't a winning thing, but it did tie with all the secondary traits. The winning accessory, a cute friend, is what the second drawing is of. The cute friend is wearing earrings and carrying an umbrella. I didn't quite know how to fit the sweater in without it being too much, sadly.

While these creatures look aquatic, and can swim if need be, they are more apt to levitating above the ground. They swim through the air.

I'm excited to ink these very soon! I hope you like them!

And be sure to vote on the polls for the latest fairy!

Fairy friends, we did it! We configured our first fairy. I'm going to put it in the kiln to cure. It takes about a week for the pieces to set. For review, here's what we used to craft out fairy (AKA, the poll winners):

What an interesting and beautiful fairy!

One of the high-fey, Blutterbarts, Princess of the Stink Swamp, is looking for an animal companion that's as beautiful as they are. As long as we make the companion with some fairy magic, we'll be still fulfilling our mission to make more fairies. We'll need to decide on body features and the kind of hat Blutterbarts' new companion should wear, as well as an accessory.

Check out the first of these new polls below. Then, go check out the other ones!

Ah! A wild moth! Where did that come from? Well, I guess there's no harm in letting the little fella hang out.

Now, onto Book Bazaar news!

We've completed our first week. Yippee! Fairy Seasons is almost 50% funded! I think that's pretty awesome. We have two weeks left and I think we can reach the initial funding goal for this project. 

Please continue to share Fairy Seasons with others. It helps more than you think! And share often! There's quite a few times that someone shared something several times, and at the right time, I saw it and got it. Perhaps, with a little luck, we'll all share this project at the right time.

On November 23rd, The Book Bazaar will be streaming a reading of my Fairy Seasons Sampler. It's read by the author (me!). Be sure to stop in and listen. It'll start at 6pm (CST).

I hope to see you there!

Hey, hey Bloodlings!

I just realized I never told you who will be voicing Dmitri!

As you all know, this project was delayed because I had a hard time finding Dmitri’s voice narrator. In update 5, I told you the problem was solved and to expect rewards (except Blood Lies) soon. But I didn’t tell you who the narrator would be.

I’ll give you a super easy hint: He’s the voice of Antinous on Epic the Musical (one of my faves and a high-key obsession!).

You don’t know? Come on, I think you have to know after all my Epic the Musical references on my Instagram…

Okay, well, if you can’t guess, let’s have a drum roll!

Ready?

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It’s Ayron Alexander!  

When I reached out to him on Instagram, I did not expect a response, like, at all. But Ayron, who’s such a kind person, said yes. So, yeah! We got us a very talented narrator people!

I can’t wait for y’all to hear his full recording on this audiobook.

Speaking of which, it’s coming along nicely. Waiting on one more set of edits, and then the producer will finish doing her thing, and I’ll, hopefully, have the audiobook ready to distribute in a few weeks. 

As always, I’ll keep you updated. And, for the millionth time, thank y’all so much for your patience! 

XOXO 

J.S. Living

P.S. Is anyone else fangirling over this moment the way I was when he said yes? If so, you MUST tell me in the comments! I don’t want to be alone. 

Happy Pride Month, everyone!

I'm very pleased with the state Honeycomb Heart is in. At this point I'm just doing line edits—going through each chapter to correct any grammatical issues, improve flow, etc. I'd like this to be a book you enjoy as an entire story, but also page by page. My other current areas of focus are getting artwork and surveys done so I can get everyone's name for the acknowledgements and info for sending you your rewards! Expect another update within the next couple weeks with more progress on all these fronts.

Madeleine

Hello Stitchbinders!

I have received the clothbound proof. And it looks amazing! I'll post pictures on social media and try to upload some here. I did find a few flaws (mostly my own mistakes like the ISBN on the back covers the back of the book blurb so I need to get the designer to fix it.

But the book looks amazing!! I'm so pleased with how it looks!

I'll be fixing those small flaws and sending them back to the printer and then once they arrive, I'll be sending out the remaining books.

If you pledged for the ebook and haven't received it, let me know. I sent out the codes through the Backerkit interface. (I noticed a few were never used.) They do expire after two weeks, so if you missed it, l'll re-create the codes for you. Just reply to this email.

Thank you!

AZ