Happy Friday

Gosh this week sucked for me. However, more work as been done this week than the previous few, so thats good.
As you may already know, I've revised the first half of book two already, meaning its about 50% done. Meanwhile, I spent the last few weeks brainstorming, jotting down thoughts, and discussing it with family on how the HECK I can fix the second half. 
The good news is that I've mainly fixed 40% of the second half in outlines I think. Now I must write up until the climax and figure out what I'm gonna do there. This is good, but I'm still stuck. I've shaved SO many words from editing and theres a possibility it will be shorter than the first book. We will see. I want to add a few extra necessary scenes to pad it out a little bit.

I really like how Blight Eater goes. As an author I'm really proud of this specific book because now that I've established a world and characters, I can spread my wings and write the book I wanted to write when I started.

I do want to give a special shoutout to another author! Courtney Sherlock will be publishing her first book, The Aftermath in November. Pre-Orders are open right now for the E-book edition.
Seriously, check it out. I've seen the dedication and work she's poured into this and she deserves every bit of attention!

There’s nowhere to hide when the enemy is older than the earth itself.

Pursued by dark beings. Haunted by a world long-gone. She must face impenetrable night and brandish the light that saved her.

Devin Fletcher was used to beating the odds, even when her biggest concern was leaving home and putting herself through college. Then an unnamed organization overthrew the U.S. government and imprisoned Colorado residents in internment camps.

After a year of hopelessness, darkness veiled the sun, and the unseen spiritual realm became visible.

When Devin’s internment camp falls, she escapes and bands together with a group of like-minded Christians. They dodge from place to place near the Rocky Mountains, picking through the remains of their hometowns with only seven hours of sunlight per day before the Black Hours loom and the Shaedim appear, subduing survivors with fear and hopelessness.

Isolation is Devin’s default setting, but nothing that matters—survival, restoring society, beating the darkness—can be done alone. A chance encounter with someone from Devin’s past will change everything. And according to her experience, the worst danger comes from where it’s least expected: a familiar face.

The Aftermath is an atmospheric work of speculative fiction set in a fallen world. Centralized around themes of spiritual warfare, faith over fear, found family, and survival, this character-driven work of fiction is perfect for fans of Ted and Rachelle Dekker, Frank Peretti, and Raena Rood.

If you are reading this, i'm sure you are already signed up for the Pre-Launch. But if you aren't I suggest you do so! Right now we are at 47 followers. Which is VERY close to 50. 
If we hit 50 followers I will do a giveaway for The Bright Spot + Blight Eater hardcovers, as well as other addons. So stay tuned!

Happy Friday everyone,

Not much news to report but I got to get these weekly updates done for... some reason.

I did make a good-looking poster for the front page of my campaign. This poster contains most of what will be available for the campaign.

I'm excited to announce two new people to the team. Jared Burch and William Parker. Their roles are still being discussed, but they will primarily help me keep track of items, addons, and consistency among my products. (as well as keeping me accountable)

Working with an artist currently to produce some new stickers for the Blight Eater Sticker Pack. One is the new Nivalis planet, One will be an HD revision of SpringStep, and the other two are a secret.
In case anyone is wondering, the artist is my mom and she does fantastic. She does tattoos, too. So if you want a tattoo from the person who helped design SpringStep, let me know! 

The campaign is currently set for a $1000 goal. I think this is EASILY achievable with 45 people signed up. Though I have stretch goals that go to $2000. Should I make more? I'm probably not gonna hit $2000 right? Here's the list of expected goals:

$1000 (Fully funded) - Blight Eater Wallpaper + Early Chapter reveals

$1200 - Blight Eater Bookmark upgrade, Rounded Corners, Cardstock High Gloss UV with tassel

$1400 - The Bright Spot Bookmark upgrade, Rounded Corners, Cardstock High Gloss UV with tassel

$1600 - +1 Sticker to the Blight Eater Sticker Pack (from 3 to 4 stickers)

$1633 - Beat The Bright Spot's campaign. Special edition cover underneath dustjacket!

$1800 - 3D printed BlightStone addon

$2000 - Professional Blight Eater art by the talented TheMilkfishArts

So here's the plan. Bookmarks are awesome and everyone loves bookmarks. Regular paper bookmarks are fine, but they lack that feeling. You know what I'm talking about.
There are three bookmarks available for purchase*. The generic cover bookmarks with the color and planet, and the Hadrian Bookmark. The Hadrian bookmark will have rounded corners and have high gloss UV cardstock and tassel. Very fancy!
The way to get this bookmark is by BACKING 4 (maybe 5?) other projects in the Book Bazaar group. You don't even have to buy the expensive tiers, (which i recommend you do because these people are freaking awesome!). Even if you back the E-books for other projects, or if they have a $1 tier, you'll get this special bookmark.
Stretch goals for the generic bookmarks are listed above. I'll be doing a reprinting of the Bright Spot bookmark, and if (when) we reach $1400, I'll upgrade the bookmarks to the rounded corners, high gloss uv and tassel.

So I know this is long overdue, and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for making you wait longer, but I promise, these are gonna be cool. If we smash the previous campaign's total of $1633, I'll be doing something really special with the Bright Spot hardcover. The dust jacket will remain the same as the reveal, but the case-laminated book underneath will have the Hadrian art on the cover. 

And thats it for this week. I guess I thought there was less news to talk about than there was so thats cool. Congrats to Jared and William joining the team!

Hello!

Some exciting things happened this last week!
First thing, today is my birthday! whoohoo! How old am I? Well... is any one really keeping count these days. On Nivalis I'd be 26.8 passings.

In other news, I commissioned some art by the extremely talented theMilkfishArts and its actually peak. Its Kinda spoilery, but I'll be sure to push it closer to the end of this update.
I'll be likely promoting this with the release of the Blight Eater Backerkit. I'll see if I can sell prints and posters, but I am planning on having it in the newest hardcover edition of The Bright Spot. Maybe I'll make it an exclusive for early backers... so if you aren't following the project, now's the time to do so... Because you really don't want to miss this.

 On a spoiler scale, id give it a 6 of 10. Without context, you won't really know what's happening. If you haven't read the Bright Spot to completion, I'd scroll with caution.
EPIC SPOILERS BELOW
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Yeah its pretty cool. Let me know what you think

Almost forgot I had to do one of these. I'll keep this one short and brief. Probably.

Now if you are a bright spot super fan, you might be asking silly questions like "I thought you already did a hardcover" and "How come its taken this long"
And the answer I have for you is "don' worry abbadit"
The first hardcover edition had many issues. The biggest one was ISBN conflicts. When publishing the bright spot I tried using an ISBN for the amazon edition of the paperback version. I decided to not use amazon kdp and stuck with IngramSpark.
The ISBN I used at amazon, never really went away. So when I published the hardcover with the same isbn that I tried using, Amazon found that very confusing so I had to take it down. Otherbook sellers like B&N and even Walmart had no issue with the hardcover version. I could get more technical but I don't really want to because I don't understand it fully myself. I also didn't like the cover I made for it. It had the iconic red space cover for a dust jacket and the inside binding was fully black with a sliver of red as a sillhouette of the planet. It looked fantastic on the computer, but in print, you could hardly even see it. So back to the drawing board.
I really wanted to create an experience that incentivises readers to pick up both editions. I think the paperback space versions look amazing, so I needed a cover for the hardback to look equally great with a minimalist approach. So I present to you......
The Bright Spot Hardcover and Blight Eater Hardcover!!

Keep your ooing and aahing to a minimum please.
These are still work in progress, so if theres something you notice that I should change or update, let me know!

Now these designs are for the dust jackets. I have the potential to make the inside covers different or special. So I could either keep this design, on the inside, or put the paperback design, or something entirely different. Maybe I'll make that a stretch goal... Thoughts?

I kinda took a break for the last week so I could brainstorm a bit on how I'm going to edit the second half of Blight Eater. There are a lot of rules I need to create and keep consistent. There are also a lot of rules I've previously established that I'll need to break using newer rules. Its gonna be fun. I know I need to hurry it up, but I also have to do my best to make sure you don't hate it. Outlining has sort-of begun with the second half. Once I decide how badly I want to hurt my characters, I'll have a pretty good idea on what to do.

New poll btw. Not that anyone cares. No one even participates

I can't imagine too many people are reading these BUT if you are, thank you. I put quite a bit of work into these updates so you all can stay informed.

First thing's first. I have 42 followers for Blight Eater. Which is AWESOME! But I think we can get it to 50. If you know someone who might be interested, give them a little nudge and send them the link to my pre-launch. They don't need to have read the first book to sign up, especially since the first book will be included in the launch.

I'm thinking about including some additional rewards that are less physical. I may have an addon that you can purchase to put YOUR name in the book. You may be someone who has a page of screen time. You may help the main characters in some way. Or you might die in a spectacular fashion.

Further down the line, I'd like to have a few addon options for the community to vote on, or unlock, as we surpass the funding goal. I'm also thinking of some possible incentives for returning backers and early backers. But I'm not quite sure what.
I've played around with the thought of 3D printing a BlightStone for early/returning backers. But that would disqualify shipping from media mail. I'd let it be a choice for those who unlock the incentive, but let me know!
I've also thought about doing a pin of some sort, likely SpringStep, but I'm an author, not Mr.Moneybags.  

I realize I haven't really talked much about my progress with this book. Honestly, I've been kinda embarrased to admit I took an extremely long hiatus. I finished draft 1 in February and then just dropped it. I always intended to get back, but it would feel like sliding down particle board with no pants on. The entirety of June flew by. I don't think I even read a page in a leisure book during that time. But July came running.
I've cut about 10k words from the first quarter of the book. For better or worse, this speeds up the flow. However I added a new chapter in part 2.

Yesterday, I edited probably 20k words. Which is CRAZY. I wish I could lock in like that on a normal day. Unfortunately, thats the easy part I think. Parts 3 and 4, the second half of the book, need complete rewrites. So that's fun and not at all frustrating.
When going into my original draft, I couldn't decide or establish the antagonist's motivations or desires. I just knew certain things needed to happen. So I made those things happen, without any reason from the antagonist. As much as it sucks, and as much as I wish I could just say, "nope, its all fine," I want to deliver a product that's full assed. Not half.

I will say that the first half of the book has the best scenes in the entire series. Spoiler alert: this is Oberon's book. and yes, Beefy gets a lot of screen time. 
One thing you might notice jumping into this sequel is that the POV is entirely third person present. Compared to the first book which is first person present. The world has expanded significantly and I think it would be an insult if I kept it contained to one person.

I've been doing a trivia in the Polls section to try and increase engagement. I have some easy questions and I have some pretty difficult questions. You can go vote right now.

Don't forget to check out The Bright Spot on Audible if you missed that! Cover reveals next Tuesday!!