Pragmatism, bright orange cider and a mention in the paper...

I didn't expect this process to be such an emotional rollercoaster! It seemed a simple enough concept; do my sums, make a plan and tell the world - right?

I've had a crisis of confidence over the past few days, after an initial flurry of activity it all went quiet. Like any self (dis)respecting eccentric creative type, my first instinct was to look inwardly at what I was doing wrong.

However, after a pint of bright orange cider (Bristol Port) in one of the many great watering holes in Bristol (The Shakespeare) I’m far more pragmatic about it this evening.

I wanted to hedge my bets when I picked a target amount and safely cover the costs of the event. Yes, I could have done what I did when I published The Bronze Box and just sold e-Books online and bought the odd print on demand book to order so I could sign them for my friends and family, but where’s the challenge in that?

For me, this crowdfund is not so much about the money – when I cost it out, I’m unlikely to make a profit – it’s about raising awareness and about stepping outside my comfort zone.

The reason they call it a comfort zone is because it’s something safe and familiar. We wriggle our hips into a comfortable chair and sit back to bide our time, but once in a while we need someone, or in this case, a crowd, to tug us out of that comfortable chair and make us explore the big wide world!

I need your help to haul myself out of this chair and to get other people involved in raising the profile of independent creative talent in the city of Bristol.

It was really motivating to see my picture in the paper today. Check out the business pages of The Bristol Post: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Excitement-Bristol-crowdfunding-platform-launches/story-21064776-detail/story.html

And finally, a big thank you to Sarandy for pledging - two more awesome people who will be at the event in September.

Support a start-up crowdfund in Bristol (Fundsurfer), support an independent author, and show other creatives that their skills are worth paying for. It’s a virtuous circle, everyone’s a winner!