http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/candlemarkandgleam/print-release-of-matchbox-girls

It’s apparently a pretty good book. Check out the blurb and trailer on the Kickstarter, if nothing else!

There will also be a digital-only version available from my publisher and various retailers after Feb 21st; the one from my publisher will be DRM free; the one from Amazon/B&N will probably be more convenient to install on an ebook reader.

Following: the latest update from my writing blog on the publication process.

Hey guys! It’s MONDAY! That means you get an update on how the Matchbox Girls launch is going!

First, (Moderately) Famous Authors are reading it and seem to be liking it. There will be blurbs! This is really nifty, in a subdued I’m-cool way and totally dazzling in a stars-in-my-eyes way.

Second, my lovely Publisher and I have put our heads together and come up with another stretch goal for the Kickstarter. It involves handwritten postcards from characters! With three weeks to go for the Kickstarter I have high hopes we’ll reach it, and I’ll have an opportunity to get a really cramped hand. Although if we reach it TOO soon, I’ll probably have to come up with yet ANOTHER stretch goal reward and that… that could get challenging. Although this current stretch goal was also a challenge and now it’s my favorite idea. So, you know.

Third: Other people are saying nice things, too. This is probably not that interesting but it makes me very happy and I appreciate it.

Fourth: I’m still slogging away on Gravity’s Angels and the prequel story (which I really ought to name but probably won’t until it’s done). I’m also slogging away on things like ‘bargaining for a bassinet’ and ‘wondering where the baby clothes are’ and ‘when will I sleep again’ so it’s definitely a slog. However, progress is being made.

Fifth: There have been rumors of bookmarks. Oh yes.

Considering: cluttering (a trait I have) comes from a tendency to consider all ideas for relevance. Good at cross-referencing. Not so good at creating spontaneous narratives, because so much on-the-fly brainpower is spent evaluating for relevance rather than weighing and linking in a story.

Good on-the-fly narrative construction comes from an intuitive ability to discard the irrelevant. It’s useful in lots of ways. On the other hand, lots can get lumped into that instinctive discard including some stuff that maybe shouldn’t be, considered from a more long-term perspective. Both models are useful to society, maybe even required for society as we know it.

I retain stories best when I don’t consume them in one go, when there are forced breaks between installments where I can think it over and internalize and order what I’ve consumed. I like to write because I can apply additional weighting to what I’m thinking, and order it better.

I’ve /learned/ what needs to be done in order to make good stories, and not poorly, I think. As long as I’m not discussing my own life, where I cannot yet separate the bits others will find most important from what I find most important. So I don’t post blog entries very much, because I have very little personal story to tell, just a boring list of events.