Here’s a brief sketch of my internal monologue during the Kickstarter project for The Wand that Rocks the Cradle, now about five days before the deadline:

Day 1: Oh my God we just got over 25% in one day that’s amazing!!

Day 3: Oh my God we just crossed 50%! Holy cow holy cow holy cow! We’re going to get so many backers and then we can do an audiobook and interior illustrations and all the authors get paid more than pennies and it’s going to be amazing!!

Day 7: Okay, slowing down a bit, but we still hit 70%, not too bad, not too bad!

Day 13: Okay, we’re stalled at 75%… do we need more PR? Maybe offer a cool new backer reward? Something?

Day 16: Awright, back in business! Not exactly rolling in dough, but good solid progress. Up to 88%, going great. We’ll get there.

Day 22: Um, hello? Anyone there?

Day 23: Okay, this cannot be the end! Time for some shameless begging…

Day 24: Okay, shameless begging got us a few bucks, up to 92%. Maybe update the graphic? Maybe I was spamming people too often with updates? Maybe the updates weren’t interesting enough? We’ve got a bunch of followers who haven’t contributed yet, maybe some of them will chip in right at the end?

Day 25: Seriously? Less than $40 left? Aargh! That’s like a cup of coffee a day or something! How can it be this hard?? Come on, Kickstarter, do your thing!

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In the meanwhile, I’ve been scoping out a huge number of cover artists in different places online. We have options. The frustrating thing is that it’s hard to get a sense of what will attract our audience in particular; the emotional tone of this anthology is very different from my usual. I’d call it “wistful,” “poignant,” “tender” at times, with a few darker and lighter bits thrown in for spice. But the design aesthetic for a lot of cover artists these days seems to be “glowy action chick with a low-cut dress and werewolves,” which might not be where we want to go. Except, what if it sells anyway?

The marketplace is a fickle temptress, yea verily!