A Rant (Also, Info on Haywood Micaye)

Hello there, friends! 

I AM WRITING A GOSH DARN BOOK.

I’M GOING TO PUBLISH THE SAME GOSH DARN BOOK.

HOLY CRAP.

Okay, so as you might have realized from the new and improved home screen, I wasn’t joking as much as I thought I was all those times I said I was going to get published before graduating high school. And you know what they say, go big or go home- so of course I choose to publish a book rather than a short story like any other rational writer my age. And then I chose to couple that task with a whole slew of upper level high school classes and extra-curricular activities to top it off, because why not?

I’m not scared, really- I’m a little worried, as any decent person probably would be, but I think more than anything I’m just excited. And then that excitement elicits rants like the one you are reading because that’s just the nature of the beast. My hands are literally shaking right now, just like what they did when I first announced it to my English Literature class and when I bought the snazzy book cover you saw on the home page.

As Macbeth  puts it:

I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more/ Returning were as tedious as go o’er.

 

Save for the fact that I am not a man, a murderer, or a Scottish thane from a Shakespearean play, that sounds about like what it feels like. It’s an odd mix of joy because I am getting closer and closer to one of my biggest dreams as a writer, but it’s also a little terrifying because I’ve told so many people I’m doing this I’ll feel like I’ve failed myself if I don’t power through and get this story out there.

As of today, we are a few days shy of a month until my fundraising campaign for the novel goes live on Kickstarter. I am so beyond excited it’s not even funny.

For those of you who don’t know, the novel itself originates from a short story project we had to do for Creative Writing my sophomore year of high school, and since then I have been making draft after draft of the story, trying to get it as close to the book I see in my mind as I can. It’s not even finished yet and this story has not ceased to amaze me: what I thought was going to be no longer than 15,000 words has grown to become an impressive 40,000 words. When it’s all said and done, it looks to be like it will be about the same size as Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Not the thickest book in the world, but for my first book, I don’t mind. I’m pretty content with it.

Presently, I’m in the process of going through my beta reading cycle, so when the project opens I will be in the midst of that, but if my plan works like I want it to, I will- hopefully- have copies of it out before I graduate in a year or so. I’m trying really hard to make sure that Haywood is in its best condition before I release it to the market, which is why there is such a time gap. The funds raised during the Kickstarter event, based on present calculations, break down like this, with some potential shifts in the budget if one thing is more expense than what was perceived and another thing was cheaper:

Developmental Edit: $2,000

Copy Edit: $1,000

Extra: $1,000

Marketing: $642

ISBN Number: $150

Website: $118

Cover Design: $90 (Technically, I already bought the cover, but this reimburses what I took out of my personal account for it.)

TOTAL: $5,000

As we draw closer to kick-off, I will be more than happy to provide information about the project as I finalize it, including a list of some of the things I will be offering on the reward tiers. I really have a lot of faith that  will be successful- perhaps not in a New York Times Bestseller kind of way, but successful nonetheless. In all reality I’m just excited to have the chance to finally be able to give this story to the world. My dream is that eventually you will be just as excited, but until then, fear not: I have plenty of good vibes I can give you to help inspire the feeling.

On the more practical side of fundraising, I just have one request for you: spread the word! I want to be sure anyone with even the vaguest of interests in the project is able to contribute, even if that person is you. Follow me on Twitter, keep an eye on the blog here, do whatever you do best to let people know this is a thing. If 200 people were to contribute $5 each, that alone would hit $1,000. Excitement is a good; embrace it! Spread the hype! And thank you so much in advance for helping however you can! I appreciate it more than you can imagine.

I’ll end my shameless rant here.

Until next time,

Ashlynne