What’s Next?

I sent backer surveys to all Kickstarter backers this morning (if you didn’t get one and you should have, check your spam and then message me!).

Backer surveys are REALLY important because that’s how I get your rewards to you! If you don’t fill out a backer survey by March 15, you won’t receive your rewards.

So, you filled out your backer survey. What’s next?

A Tentative Fulfillment Timeline

• Kickstarter money gets dumped on my doorstep in giant sacks of gold coins (not really, but it kinda feels like that would be appropriate after the magical adventure of running this campaign)

• I trade the coins for books with updated art, formatting, and QR codes leading to the book playlists

• The books get shipped to my house on horseback (seriously. Shipping takes FOREVER, especially with hardcovers!)

• I personally package, sign, annotate, and hug every book as necessitated by the tier pledged (not in that order)

• Rewards are sent out and received sometime in April

We’re still on track for everyone to get their books at least a month before It Would Have Been A Great Story’s retail release in May! So now, it’s just a waiting game until the books get here.

I will send updates when I order copies and when they arrive!

One cool thing that’s happening this Thursday: a group of readers are starting a buddy read of And Maybe They Fall In Love! If you’re interested, here’s the Discord link for the chat. We’ll be discussing chapter by chapter!

To help curb my impatience on all things Kickstarter, I’ve been reading in my free time.

Here are the books I’ve been loving lately:

Marrow and Soul by Addison Horner (reread): This book breaks my heart and puts it back together every time I pick it up. I hardly ever cry over a book, and I cried TWICE over this one. While rereading, I caught myself daydreaming about sharing Safran’s story with a high school class one day to talk about fantasy tropes, subversions, and Chekhov’s gun, not to mention disability representation in fiction. Y’all. I don’t even teach high schoolers, but if I ever end up with the big kids, I’m taking Marrow and Soul and we’re having a pastry party. It comes out next week, so don’t miss it!

Frost Light by Danielle Bullen: I bought this one for the cover, and then I stayed for the Suzanne-Collins-level stress Bullen’s sentence structure provided. I feel just as trapped in their winter cabin as our three siblings, and the quick prose and themes of finding the light in hopelessness are very much filling a need right now. It almost reads like Witch of Blackbird Pond, which is a childhood favorite!

Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School: We the Children by Andrew Clements: Reading with a few kiddos, and it’s been a blast! I loooove Andrew Clements (fun fact: I read Frindle to prepare my homeschooler self for public school friendships. It did not help at all, but it’s a good book!), and I’m glad my kids are responding to his enthusiastic storytelling. Plus, the illustrations in this one are top-tier.