So people have been asking me several things about my recent Kickstarter and my upcoming book of poetry, The Sharp Edges of Water. Here is a handy guide to some answers, in case you’re wondering these things too! (And please note that it’s being posted here on my blog and on my Kickstarter page.)

I backed your awesome project. Now when will my perks show up?
First of all, thank you! I appreciate the support. Second of all, when you’ll see your rewards kind of depends on which level you backed it at. For those whose names were not hidden from me during the campaign and who backed at a level that included acknowledgement on my social media (Facebook and Twitter), I started those announcements several weeks ago. Now that the rest of the names are available to me, I’ll continue those announcements this week. Everyone who backed at those levels will also be acknowledged, by name, on my blog here pretty soon. For those who backed at the handwritten thank-you note level, expect your cards to go in the mail in the next week or two. All other perks will be coming later, once The Sharp Edges of Water is actually out in print. (More on that in a moment.)

I backed your awesome project but forgot to choose a reward level. Will I still be able to get the perks commensurate with how much I pledged?
Yes! Unless, for some reason, you don’t want any of those rewards, in which case just let me know — but I am more than happy to give them to you!

I pledged at a level that includes personal acknowledgement in the book itself. What will that look like?
Thank you again! Everyone at those levels will see their name in the Acknowledgements of the book itself. Some of you will be listed as Kickstarter backers, and some of you are also being acknowledged for other personal reasons which don’t have anything to do with Kickstarter. I’ll call you out just once, though.

I forgot to pledge before the deadline — oops! — but still want to join the community around this book. Is there a way to do this?
How sweet of you! (This is actually the question which gets asked the most, believe it or not.) Yes, there is a way, but Kickstarter has already moved into the financial administration phase, and so they recommend you handle this directly through project creators after campaign deadlines have passed. This means that you certainly can still support the project, but you’ll just do it through me directly rather than through KS, and the bonus side effect is that KS won’t take any fees out of your pledge and also won’t charge you for shipping your perks out (if you choose a level that requires that). If this is something you want to do, let me know and we’ll work out the logistics based on your individual circumstances and preferences, but I can generally handle this through a variety of ways. Again, let me know by leaving a comment on this post or by emailing me directly at forest [dot] of [dot] diamonds [at] gmail [dot] com (with the subject line “Kickstarter Pledge”), and I’ll help you with it.

I noticed (or didn’t notice) that I was asked to answer a survey after the campaign ended. What’s that for, and do I really have to do it?
So glad you asked! That survey is just to give me your contact information so I can send you your perks once they’re ready. It takes probably under a minute or so to fill out and will really help me, so if you haven’t done it yet, please do!

I backed at a level that includes an invitation to the private launch party. Where is that going to be and when? And can I just get my rewards there?
Lovely! I hope you can join us for that. The party will be in the Houston area, but we won’t have a date until the books are actually on their way to me because sometimes publication timelines can be squishy. You will get an actual invitation to the party, though, so watch your mail for that. (And if you haven’t filled out the survey yet, be sure you do so I’ll have an address to send that invitation to!) And yes, I will have the rewards there, so if you want to get yours then rather than have me mail them, you’ll get them even sooner.

So what is the progress on the book now?
Well, last night I finished proofreading the final draft of the entire manuscript. At the moment I’m trying to obtain permission to use the epigraph in the book, which is a quote from someone else, and this coming Sunday is my new author photo shoot with the utterly amazing Lauren Volness of Lauren Volness Photography. This afternoon I’m working on the notes for the book designer, the excellent Jesse Gordon. Once all those pieces are together and sent off to Jesse, we’re in the final phases of production. That will hopefully not take terribly long, and then it’s just a matter of proofing the galleys and ordering the books. SO EXCITING!!

So, those are the questions I got asked the most often, but if you have any others, please just leave them in the comments below, and I’ll answer them as best I can. Thank you again to everyone who backed this project! You’re wonderful and have made my day over and over again.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating it this week, and Happy November to everyone else. Cheers!

I was advised by my friend Jenny, when I undertook this Kickstarter campaign, that it would be “a roller coaster with a desert in the middle.” She wasn’t wrong. After a splashy opening weekend, there were stretches of several days at a time when essentially nothing would be happening, and I would worry that the project wouldn’t fund or that I had done a poor job of the whole mess.

That’s not how it turned out, though. Like most things in most artistic careers, there are ups and downs and in-betweens, and while being a writer requires a thick hide and persistence, managing a Kickstarter does, too.

I tried not to bombard people with updates while still providing meaningful and interesting content. I tried not to blast about the campaign on social media too much while still keeping it on the radar. These are hard balances to strike, and I’m not sure I got it perfectly right, but then I’m not sure there even is a “perfectly right” for every audience. I can say that I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from people about the way it has been running, and the campaign has ultimately been funded, so there’s that. The whole process so far has been a positive experience.

At this point, we’re working on stretch goals, which will allow me to take the book “on tour.” I’ve already received a few invitations for events in 2019 in three different Texas cities, so that’s a great start. I’d like to reach a wider audience. So if you were on the fence about joining the community supporting this book, you still have a few hours left to do so. Click here for the link.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to everyone who has already done so. Seventy amazing people so far have contributed to the realization of this book, and I’m super excited to share it with you. With any luck — and with what I hope will be a smooth production schedule and process — it will be out in time for the holidays!