Happy Friday Saturday folks

And happy Labor Day weekend! It's unfortunate that the people who need the day off the most are the ones working on the holiday. My heart goes out to you all!

Blight Eater update
Progress on the novel hasn't moved much since Sunday. I've been focusing a lot on behind-the-scenes work with Blight Eater, The Bright Spot, and the Backerkit Campaign. I was hoping the surprise would be ready by now, but you'll have to wait until next week. I will say that is quite cool.

The Bright Spot exclusive Preview Edition will be going to the printers today. If you want to get yourself a copy, you'll need to visit me at my upcoming events. I'll be at the Turtle Lake Public Library in Wisconsin to do a reading on September 22 at 5 p.m, and I'll also have some available at the Twin Cities Book Festival on November 7. If you can't make it to either, send a really nice email to [email protected], and I'll ship one to your address.
The preview will contain the prologue and the first 6 chapters of Blight Eater.

Hard to believe the campaign starts in less than two months. I still don't feel like I'm ready! I have most of the pricing locked down! The paperback books will cost $20, and the hardcover editions will be $35. If you get them in the bundles with bookmarks and stickers, you'll get about 15% off the total.
There are so many more add-ons I want to sell. I thought about doing a hat with Nivalis on it or a Hadrian mousepad. But I also don't want to overwhelm you guys with choices.

I'm gonna leave the update here. Short and sweet. Next week, hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to share

CRAAAP. I'm so late on this update

Luckily no one reads these so no one has been waiting. Its been a hell of a week and I'm so glad its over. Its been non-stop work from sunrise to sleepy-time. And the next week starts in less than 12 hours. whoop-dee-doo.

So this is going to be interesting. I've been working on this second draft every night for hours. I've been rewriting major story beats and putting characters in different places to make things more cohesive. Course when I do this, I also end up speeding along the plot. So the story is getting shorter and shorter, but that also means the pacing is quicker and quicker. 
If you go by story beats, I'm about 66% done. If you go by projected word count, I'm about 50% done. I have a feeling the target word count of 100k is going to drop to about 90k, which is the size of the Bright Spot.

I have Two upcoming events in the western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesotan regions. On September 22, I'll be doing a live reading and a questionnaire at Turtle Lake Public Library (Turtle Lake, Wisconsin) at 5PM. I doubt I'm large enough for any of you to be close enough to come visit. But I (should) make an appearance at the Twin Cities Book Festival on NOVEMBER 7 2026. Please come to that one if you can. Its gonna be really cool. I got a custom tablecloth, bright spot tapestry, and I'll be selling a physical copies of the first 6 chapters of BlightEater in a sort of Exclusive Preview Edition. These are freaking awesome and you should try and get one if you can.

I'll continue chugging along. Within a few weeks I'll have the first copy of The (new) Bright Spot Hardcover. The one that will be available in the backerkit. I'M VERY EXCITED to show you all that one.

Thank you for reading. These are my unfiltered thoughts and I'll see you next week (this Friday probably)

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