I’m pleased to announce that Eeny Meeny Miney Mo: Stories for Tired Tykes has reached its crowdfunding goal and will be sent to the printers! The illustrated bedtime story book (for children aged three to nine-years-old) contains twenty-nine stories from all over the world, including my Leif the Story Hunter.

Leif is a small boy who lives in the forest, hunting wild stories with his dad. It’s a fine life, until one day they trap the wrong story and … well. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens next.

Each story comes with an illustration by artist Jon Stubbington. The book is being published by New Zealand’s Patchwork Raven. The ebooks and print books will be for sale on their website as soon as they are available, or you might still be able to sneak in a pre-order before the crowdfunding is finished later tonight. Here’s a link!

It’s been a wild ride since Leif was accepted over a year ago, and I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hands and read it to my girls.

I’ve never taken part of a crowdfunding venture before. Stressful, exhilarating, and frustrating are how I would describe it. I learned a lot about marketing and I finally learned how to market in a way that I’m comfortable with. That’s saying a lot for someone as introverted as I am! These are good skills I am walking away with. If you’re considering submitting to a crowdfunded anthology, learning those skills is a good reason to go for it.

The truth is, we almost didn’t make it. PledgeMe, the New Zealand-based crowdfunding site used, crashed on the last night of the campaign, with a breathtaking thirteen hundred dollars to go. Pixies may have played a role. I suspect there’s a few pixies in this book. PledgeMe granted us a few extra days to make up for the crucial lost time. Enough time for a superhero/fairy godmother to rush in and pledge over a thousand dollars to make our book happen! Twenty-nine writers, one illustrator, one designer, one editor, and countless children owe our fairy godmother, who goes by the mysterious name of “Ruth Craft,” a big thank you and a huge hug.

Because this is happening, folks. The time has come to get excited.

I’m off this weekend to the Writer’s Federation of New Brunswick’s Wordspring Literary Soiree to accept my award for taking first place in the Fog Lit Books For Young People Prize with my short story Dragon Crossing. I’ll be reading a four minute chunk of my story to the writers present (gulp!). Can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Happy writing!