In which I celebrate briefly and then disappear for a little while...

Wow, I can't believe I failed to do this yesterday. It's a solid example of how crazy Kickstarter has made everything.

Yesterday, at 10:53am local time (that's Winnipeg for anyone wondering) funding closed on my Kickstarter. With 92 backers we raised $4811 in 30 days! I'm still in shock, and apparently was too out of it yesterday to realize that I hadn't put any kind of celebratory announcement here on the blog.

So first of all, if you haven't had a chance to watch the Shameless Dance of Joy yet, you should do that. My dancing is awful, and silly, and totally made up on the spot, but it is full of joy and does a pretty good job of demonstrating how I feel about having the Kickstarter succeed.

So here's that:



And here's the video update from my Kickstarter updates page yesterday thanking everyone and including some other business:




And here's a picture of Artemis and I celebrating today by enjoying a nice walk in the woods:

I also celebrated last night by going to a reading at a bookstore and meeting some other Manitoba authors. That was fun. 

Even better, only a few hours after the Kickstarter closing out I went to a local bookstore called McNally Robinson (it's huge like Barnes and Noble, but is only a three branch chain - Winnipeg, Saskatoon and... New York City) to talk to their Events Coordinator. They're super supportive of local authors, independent and traditionally published alike, and I will be having a book launch event there in January. So keep your eye out for more details about that. 

And now, I am going to run away from internet for a week or two, because I need to get serious about this revision timeline I've set myself. Just to give you an idea of why this requires giving up the interwebs (and all other distractions) here's the schedule for publication:

Oct. 24th final revision done send to beta-readers

Oct. 29th receive beta-reader feedback

Nov. 1st - 3rd send final draft with beta-reader feedback incorporated to copy editor

Nov. 27th get final draft back from copy editor

Dec. 3rd finish formatting manuscript

Dec. 5th order proof copy of Blade's Edge

Dec. 10th approve proof copy

Dec. 15th order copies of the book to send to Kickstarter backers

Dec. 16th start working like mad to fulfill all the Kickstarter backer rewards 

Yeah, so that's the bare bones of the timeline, and only includes my end of things, not the cover art and design etc. But that's going to have to be all the details I give you for now, because I desperately need to get to work on this revision thing. And also on Kickstarter backer surveys....

So much to do! One step at a time. Deep breaths. 

See you all on the flip side!