on your knees, mortals, and worship the Great Fiend Caf....

I'm quite sure, damn it, that my various in-boxes were at 0 when I went to bed last night... ah well. Must be Monday.

And because my kittens love me and don't want me to miss a minute of the day, Boomer woke me with an attack of the Zoomz, and then Pandora added to the general alarms, and when I finally gave in and got up there it was, 6am. And people wonder why I don't have an alarm clock...

So. Monday. In the general interests of pretending to be efficient, here is the to-do list for the week (general large-event edition)

- make ginger shortbread cookies for Certain People
- final pass on DRAGON JUSTICE (and send back to Madame Editrix)
- dentist, to deal with chipped molar
- freelance work
- start next pass on PORTALS 1, w/ beta-reader notes Started, anyway...
- send out first part of Kickstarter bonuses (the 44 who responded should now have email)
- post awful
- go to the bank (hopefully although not assuredly with AWOL freelance check promised a week ago) It arrived! Huzzah!
- fiddle more with ebook production (and possibly throw in the towel and call for help)
- talk to tax guy
- send revised proposal on to Madame Micki
- work on "A Town Called Flood" and send it out already! (anyone want a weirdish west story?)
- try to get somewhere with the two Practical Meerkat essays I have in my head

It seems like an easy list, but then I realize that there's not one but two manuscript reads up there...

Boosting the Signal: Hay for Ponies Now, Kickstarter Soon

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Originally posted by dancinghorse at Hay for Ponies Now, Kickstarter Soon

The Feed the Fat White Ponies sale continues--now through Monday the 20th. Here's the deal:

Writing mentoring, editing, and general word-related services are on sale. 5 hours for $180. For that you get whatever you need. Some of the things I can do for you and your project or ms.:

Read and comment on your submission package for agent or publisher (cover letter, synopsis, opening chapters). Usually this includes a go at the revision of the package, as well.

Help you develop a submission package from your ms. This can range from a master class in writing the synopsis to an in-depth edit of your opening chapters.

Five hours of chapter edits, from line edits to overall plot and structure. This usually covers about 20,000 words of text, depending on how detailed the edits turn out to be.

But that's not all I can do. I can help you with your idea from the bottom on up, help you develop a plot and setting. Or I can help you with worldbuilding and research. Help you develop characters. Give you a short, individualized, customized course in plot, setting, characterization, dialogue.

Development of projects is one of my most favorite things to do. I love doing it, and I love seeing the results. If you're stuck, if you're not sure how to pull it together, if you've got a plot but the whole idea of the synopsis is presenting a big brick wall--that's one of the things I really enjoy doing. Almost as much as the ponies enjoy eating. ;>

Camp Lipizzan is also on sale. A long weekend (or several weekdays) on a horse farm in southern Arizona, with hot and cold running Lipizzans. Horse Camp for Writers is one way we play it--a writing retreat in the desert with Fat White Ponies, with or without workshopping. We also do Camp Among the Lipizzans for non-writer-type people. Yoga Camp (coordinating with Desert Horse Yoga). Riding Camp (working with Desert Horse Equestrian, which teaches everything from dressage to sports massage). Book and pay a minimum of 4 nights/5 days at $475 per person, get a night free. This includes food (menu developed to your specifications--it's farmhouse fare, like the lodgings, but it's comfortable and we do our best to make it taste excellent), lodging (we have two guest rooms with shared bath), unlimited pony-petting time, and one White Horse Herd Yoga session.

Either one sound alluring? Questions? Email me at capriole at that gmail thing. I can also do shorter mentoring stints, and a shorter Camp (no free night, yes free yoga session).

That's the short-term, watching the hay pile dwindle with alarming speed, wheezing at the cost of replacing it thing.

Here's what's happening real soon now, within the next week or two:

Kickstarter! I've had an offer I can't refuse, from a very good young artist, and if this funds, we've got cover art and interior art. The project is a rewrite of a novel that will be published in ebook form by Book View Cafe. I'm having a great time developing rewards and bonuses. Things like art in various forms, bags o' swag, additional stories, and if it goes far enough over goal--a printed edition.

The next step is a video to introduce the project. I believe it will have ponies. In fact I think it had better have ponies. The book is not a horse book per se, but there is a horse in it. (Of course.) Also a cat. And something else that you will have to wait to see. When I have the video, I'll be ready to go live. For now I'm still working out details. Should take me another week to two weeks to firm it all up and put in the application at Kickstarter, but from what I'm seeing, this is the kind of project they like to do.

The beauty of Kickstarter is that it rewards small donors as well as big ones. (Psst--put in $5 and you get the ebook when it's published.) I like that part of it very much.

Right now I'm thinking a 45-day Kickstarter--as mizkit pointed out, that gives people who get paid monthly a chance to get on board. I'd be interested in alternative suggestions or advice.

Please feel free to forward and share all this. I thank you. The ponies thank you. Pooka will even let you pull his tongue, if you make it here for Camp.