Each week it feels like a little bit more of the dissertation stress melts away. This is a good thing, although I'm still working through the transition.
While we always have fun creative projects on the list, I'm finally in a place to get some of them done! And look at potential employment opportunities, think about getting the house ready to sell, wondering where we will end up...AND forcing myself to not get overwhelmed and enjoy the next downshift from doctoral candidate stress.
So, here are some of the fun creative things that have been going on in our house....
First....
Forever Mountain Publishing has inventory!!!!!
This is a box of Patrick's novel Johnson Farm. It has been available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as an ebook, but the paperbacks are actually here!!!
Well, Lisa is getting de-stressed from the whole PhD program. It's quite a process as she has been working full time and going to school for several years...
This means she's doing a lot of knitting (as well as working, and teaching, and music for church, and...). But, you know Lisa... She finishes one project and starts another.
And that means..
That's right!!!
Miniature siege artillery!!! (Seriously we built these as part of family home evening last night...
Over on his side of the house Editor in Chief (or was that Lord High Executioner?) Patrick's second book - Johnson Farm is officially on the market as an E-book! The physical edition is at the printer as we speak, so those copies are likely to start cropping up soon...
The next novel is Going Home the Hard Way. It's probably coming out next year (there's a smaller book in the works for the fall and another big book project in the works too).
In the mean time we also both survived birthdays, and had a good time doing it...
The knife in the center has an obsidian blade and those are Idaho opals in the handle. We picked it up in Spencer, Idaho on an opal hunting trip (there are other opals but we want somebody who's a little more of an opal specialist to work on them...).
The little soldier dudes were part of the birthday fun.
And they definitely seem to be up to something...
What are they up to? What new adventures are we going to find ourselves in? Will Patrick actually loose his mind working on this next book?
For the answers to these and other questions tune in to the next post at The Adventures of Patrick and Lisa (And some of you (you know who you are...) should also tune in at the family reunion...).
Well, I guess there's really not much else to say,
Except...
Well, I missed posting last week (almost missed posting this week...).
On Patrick's side of the office the Johnson Farm Kickstarter closed Friday. It didn't fund the backup plan (you did realize there is a backup plan right?) kicked in and we are somehow still on course for a May release! (Just not the way I'd initially planned...)
On Lisa's side of the office... Lisa is doing her dissertation defense this Friday (which means you can start calling her Dr. Kidder on Saturday... ( Don't worry you won't have to call me doctor... yet...). So, she's pretty busy and I'm going to let her tell you all about it next week.
Tonight we just had a major meeting on getting books printed (you know since we both have books to print and such...) and will have more news to share soon. In the mean time...
I'd like to thank Drwhoforever96, the BBC, and Guns and Roses for summing up this month so far pretty well...
Yep, me again posting a little earlier than usual because things are brewing...
First, Lisa's dissertation defense is scheduled for April 14th at 9:00 AM! (That means that after about noon on the 14th people need to start calling her Doctor Kidder (Patrick will be maintaining his title as Lord High Executioner...)). So, um, yeah... She's a little busy right now...
On the other side of the house we are now taking pre-orders for my novel Johnson Farm...
And this time I did make the video...
When you go to the Kickstarter page (where you can preorder the book...) you will notice there are a lot of options to get some extra swag in addition to the book. Now, here for readers of this blog, I'm putting in an added bonus!
Added bonus!
There are two $500 pledge slots on the Kickstarter page. The two lucky people who choose them have the opportunity to name something (a school, hospital or teacher) in the second book. If someone who reads this blog, were to make one of those pledges (or get a family member to (hint hint...) in addition to the school, hospital or teacher there is an entire town in Northern Idaho which goes unnamed in the first book that will be named in the third book! That means a reader of this blog who makes one of those pledges (or successfully motivates someone to make that pledge) could be naming a town in Northern Idaho! (Note: if two people who are readers of this blog make $500 pledges the first one will have the choice of naming the town or a character in the third book! The other reader/pledger will then get to name which ever the first didn't choose). If these criteria apply to you - add a comment below stating the date you put in your pledge (and use a name/email so we can connect you with the pledge in kickstarter, or send me or Lisa a text - those in the know, know the digits to use.)
I am thinking about other goodies for blog readers who pledge or advertise the Kickstarter and I will entertain suggestions in the comments. (Note that if I come up with additional goodies priority goes to those who have already contributed...)
The actual book copies will go out in May.
Now the funny part...
According to the last plan the Kickstarter was supposed to open today, but the KS team actually pushed it through on Friday and we got our first backer Saturday morning! So, I was going to ask who was going to be first to back it, but somebody already did...
Well, that's it for this week...
I'll leave you with a little Smash Mouth (and a video that hopefully represents my adventure with Kickstarter!)
We'll assume the Mystery Men are potential Kickstarter backers...
See you next week (I hope!)...
After the armed forces were put away...
