Aloha kakou,

It has been a busy week since I launched my website. Everything from prepping for my Kickstarter campaign to the new books I’m working on. And don’t even get me started on all the things outside of my writing life…

But, in spite of all the stress, it’s been a productive week! Here are some of the things I was able to accomplish:

  • Kickstarter course complete
  • Cover artist found
  • I did a reading

Kickstarter Course Complete

I took a free four-week course on Coursera in order to learn more about crowdfunding. I learned more about all the mechanics that go into launching a successful Kickstarter campaign, and would recommend it to anyone interested in using the platform in the future.

It was a little overwhelming to realize just how much I don’t know about crowdfunding. And I gotta say I have a new level of respect for anyone that’s ever attempted anything like this. I’ll cover more of this on my Kickstarter Campaign Page, but for now let’s just say it is a lot harder than it looks. 

Shadowed By Moonlight Has a Cover Artist!

This has been in the works for a while. While I do like the current design I got from a Fiverr artist, I’ve always intended for it to be a temporary thing. From the start I knew that I wanted to have a Polynesian artist design the print cover of Shadowed By Moonlight. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve been holding off so long on taking this book to print. I can’t say too much about who’s working on this right now, but just know this person is an established Pasifika artist and I couldn’t be more excited to be collaborating with them on the cover design.

I Did A Reading

I’ve seen other authors do this–where you make a video of yourself reading a story you’ve written. And while it was fun sharing one of my stories with the internet, I gotta say doing a reading is AWKWARD. At least for me it was. I mean, think about it; usually if you’re about to do a reading it’s at an open mic night or on a Zoom conference with people watching. That’s its own kind of awkward, but at least you can see people’s faces and hear their reactions as you read.

When you do a reading on your own, it doesn’t quite hit the same. Rather than having that immediate feedback, you’re basically just screaming into the abyss with no idea what people will think about it when and if they decide to view it. Thankfully, everyone that replied to the reading was positive about it. Buuuuut unless they’re highly in demand I think I’ll stick to reading in front of a live audience.

Anyway, if for whatever reason you would like to see me yelling at my computer, I have provided the video down below.