Howdy!

As per my last update back in January, we did indeed enter the Dead Zone of project updates, but I am now here to pop that bubble of silence.

First and foremost, I have received Monitored Activity's final edits this past Friday. You know, the whole point of the campaign? The part of this book you all so graciously helped fund? It is — officially  —  done. Shout-out to subvertebra over on BlueSky who has been an absolute thrill to work with. I genuinely could not have asked for a better editor.

I cannot believe we're here, and way ahead of schedule, too. That late summer release date might just become early summer, but let's hold off on any major announcements for a bit longer.

The sticker sheets and bookmarks have long since arrived and are currently hanging out on my desk, eagerly waiting to be sent out to their new homes!

Keep an eye on your inbox! Emails will go out a few days beforehand so you're not caught by surprise.

Also — please make sure you've completed your survey! I'm still waiting on a few. If you've somehow lost it in your sea of emails (I don't blame you; my main inbox has 6,400 unread emails...), do not hesitate reaching out to me. I can very easily resend it.

And that's about it, for now. I hope you are all as excited as I am! Monitored Activity is close enough to taste.

Until next time. Happy (almost) April, and stay hydrated.

—  Mitch

Hello fairy friends! It's time for a very another update!

We have the final poll for this week's make-a-fairy ready for everyone to vote on. Go vote!

We have less than four days left before the campaign ends! Ah! 

As a special weekend treat, I'm revealing the sketches for last week's fairy animal companion.

The first of these sketches is the animal companion. He has lizard traits, a unicorn horn, fuzzy mammal fur, a mermaid tail, and the appendages of a insect. I chose praying mantis. The sword wasn't a winning thing, but it did tie with all the secondary traits. The winning accessory, a cute friend, is what the second drawing is of. The cute friend is wearing earrings and carrying an umbrella. I didn't quite know how to fit the sweater in without it being too much, sadly.

While these creatures look aquatic, and can swim if need be, they are more apt to levitating above the ground. They swim through the air.

I'm excited to ink these very soon! I hope you like them!

And be sure to vote on the polls for the latest fairy!

Fairy friends, we did it! We configured our first fairy. I'm going to put it in the kiln to cure. It takes about a week for the pieces to set. For review, here's what we used to craft out fairy (AKA, the poll winners):

What an interesting and beautiful fairy!

One of the high-fey, Blutterbarts, Princess of the Stink Swamp, is looking for an animal companion that's as beautiful as they are. As long as we make the companion with some fairy magic, we'll be still fulfilling our mission to make more fairies. We'll need to decide on body features and the kind of hat Blutterbarts' new companion should wear, as well as an accessory.

Check out the first of these new polls below. Then, go check out the other ones!

Ah! A wild moth! Where did that come from? Well, I guess there's no harm in letting the little fella hang out.

Now, onto Book Bazaar news!

We've completed our first week. Yippee! Fairy Seasons is almost 50% funded! I think that's pretty awesome. We have two weeks left and I think we can reach the initial funding goal for this project. 

Please continue to share Fairy Seasons with others. It helps more than you think! And share often! There's quite a few times that someone shared something several times, and at the right time, I saw it and got it. Perhaps, with a little luck, we'll all share this project at the right time.

On November 23rd, The Book Bazaar will be streaming a reading of my Fairy Seasons Sampler. It's read by the author (me!). Be sure to stop in and listen. It'll start at 6pm (CST).

I hope to see you there!

Hello all,
Please check that your payments succeeded for shipping! There are two that failed.

Bear with me a few days while I sort out a couple snags! I'll get rewards shipped as soon as I can! I should receive most of the shipping funds tomorrow.

Just a quick update to let you all know that I've locked down everyone's addresses to start shipping off prints. Those going outside of the UK (where I'm based) may take a little longer to arrive, but I'll be in touch over the next few days with tracking info where available.

Note that I'm NOT shipping The Chosen One Con paperbacks yet... though you may have been charged shipping for these already! The plan was to split the shipping so I could charge shipping for these later, but I totally did that wrong. If you've been charged shipping (and are rightly confused) then don't worry! I calculated the shipping fees based on a similar-sized paperback for today's shipping rates to your country. If in a few months time, those shipping rates happen to go up, then I'll swallow the cost. If by some miracle the shipping rates go down, then I'll issue partial refunds for the difference.

The book won't be ready for a few months yet, but I'll be back in touch then to verify everyone has the right address before going ahead with shipping. In other words, don't worry!

if you have any questions though, don't hesitate to get in touch.

Hey, hey Bloodlings!

Just sending a quick update to let you know that the smoke tests have been sent!

If you receive one, please answer immediately. Smoke tests help me work out any glitches there might be in the survey, and it allows me to prepare for sending surveys to everyone else.

More importantly: The smoke test allows me to collect your name for the acknowledgment page so I can uphold my promise to read your name in the audiobook.

I want to aim for Smoke Test completion no later than 4 April. Ideally, I would have sent this out last month, but life occurred and I tried to eliminate all issues from the pledge manager so it would be smooth sailing.

I know a week isn’t a lot of time; but we can do it!

And, for a bit of an incentive: If everyone completes their smoke test on time, I’ll send out a coupon for 15% off on my website to everyone who pledged to this campaign once I’m ready to distribute rewards.

Additionally: If everyone completes their surveys by 15 April, I’ll bump it up to a 25% off coupon! 

So, what are you waiting for? Get to filling out those surveys! 

XOXO 

J.S. Living