eHey, all!

FIRST - THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BACKED THE CAMPAIGN! I see your names and you made me smile.

The past week has been exciting and exhausting, and I apologize for not posting on Monday with a check-in. The truth is, all I've been doing is working, so there's not much to report. I did watch the Super Bowl and was pretty let down by the commercials. The sloth one was fun, though.

Anyway, the frenzied part of this campaign has settled down a bit, now that the Kickstarter is live. And my body and mind are trying to catch up. I napped yesterday for the first time in.... a year? Even Dennis was shocked to hear it before we sat down to record another Grumpily Ever After episode.

Below is a little something I felt compelled to write late yesterday, in case you're interested in a glimpse into my brain about this whole Surviving Earth Chronicles project, long before we decided to do a Kickstarter campaign.

Also, be sure to explore the Kickstarter! The campaign ends February 27th and these books are a single-print run. This means, we're only ordering enough copies for our Backers (since their names are getting added in a fun way after the campaign). I won't be selling these in my bookshop unless I have extras due to cancelled pledges or other unforeseen happenings. 

Anyway, happy Hump Day and thank you for being you. ___________________

Dearest Rogueling,

I never realized how resilient we can be as authors until this past year. Authors I know, who have been writing for years, have thrown in the towel because it’s HARD to follow your passion, market your books, and not get discouraged. It’s HARD to have everyone judging your work and having an opinion. It’s HARD to be a business owner and a marketing professional. Nothing about this business is “easy.”

And one word that keeps resurfacing for me is “Dauntless.”

Yes, we work hard, hustling and juggling and trying to stay above water when the industry is inundated with technology, information, and saturated with competition while being led by algorithms.

But we’re doing this. We’re IN this. Still. We keep going and I’m a testament to that. I just did a Kickstarter, ya’ll. A year or two ago I would have said, “Nope. That’s not my thing.” But here I am. Taking risks. Expanding my horizons by embracing my fears. Making room for something that I didn’t think would fit.

But the risk-taking didn’t start there. Let me back up…

Once upon a time…

K Webster (a bestselling romance author of over 150 novels) was reading a post-apocalyptic adventure and reached out to the author to say hello. They discovered their mutual love for disaster prepping, catastrophe movies, and survival stories, became fast friends, and vowed to write in a shared, weather-ravaged world together.

Five years later, Surviving Earth Chronicles was created and Knox and Kellen were written - brothers in different parts of the United States who must survive against all odds to find each other. The rest is history.

In fact, together, we created one of my favorite worlds yet!

When Kristi and I decided to write the Surviving Earth Chronicles world, we were defying the norm. Write to market? Stay in your own lane? Pssshhh. I’ve been hearing those phrases for over a decade. And for all that time, I’ve struggled to do that. A lot of us do to a certain extent - it’s why so many of us have pen names for crying out loud.

So, needless to say, Kristi and me writing together is an “odd pairing” to most—a post-apocalyptic survival author teaming up with a wild (and sometimes taboo) romance author? Umm, okayyyy.

Yet, here we are. Who knew my male readers would consider this one of my best books to date? Or that so many dark romance girlies would love a survival thriller?

But we did it! Together, Kristi and I created a:

• Full crumbling world immersion

• A blend of action, adventure, and romance

• Hope amid chaos

• Battle-born relationships

• Hard-earned happy endings

• Found family through tragedy

• Epic love stories amid epic destruction

• An emotional journey alongside the angst of survival

• Spice and slow-burn …. ALL THE THINGS.

We went against the norm and took a risk to create this series, hoping our readers would follow us to the sexy yet gritty survival world of an crumbling Earth.

Then, we did it again. Together, we did our first Kickstarter. And, once again, our project isn’t your typical beautified Special Edition with schmexy artwork. We did something different. We made it immersive and gritty and super duper special because we want readers to experience our Surviving Earth world the way it was meant to be experienced. The way our characters experienced.

We made this 700+ page beauty set in the end of the world. It’s messy and chaotic. It’s imperfectly perfect and a scrapbook omnibus-reading experience unlike any other I’ve ever seen.

I’ve said it a hundred times to coaching clients and to my readers—authors are dauntless. Those who want to stay above water and follow their passion have to be. I don’t care if you’re independently published or if you’re signed with a traditional publishing house, we are the workhorses. The face. The doers. We are our brand. And while we have help along the way, we couldn’t do this without our willingness to be dauntless and brave and challenge ourselves, even if it’s just a little.

If you’ve published a single book or you’re only just writing your first draft, YOU ARE DAUNTLESS. You are brave. If you’re still in this industry after years of ups and downs and changes, like me—if you are still taking chances and challenging yourself in the name of growth and success—you are a word warrior. A boss. Be sure you bask in that for a while.

And if you’re interested in checking out my Special Edition Hardcover Omnibus and all its glory, you can check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lindseypogue/surviving-earth

Our Kickstarter campaign ends February 27th.

Until next week…

Happy reading and writing adventures,