Full Steam Ahead!

Okay, so the funding is chugging forward on http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/melissaconroy/steampunk-trilogy-gears-airships-and-more    $287 dollars pledged and 47 days to go. Clearly, I have my work cut out for me. However, today Airship Ambassador posted this link on Twitter https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212089941502354349204.0004a9e370eac1ae33f77   It's a world map showing steampunk groups around the world. I plan to contact every single one that has English as their group language and ask them to post my link/get the word out to their group. What I could offer in return is publicity: Steam on the Horizon will have a section in the back that explains the Kickstarter project and thanks everyone who contributed. I can list all the steampunk groups that helped me out and post their links on my social networking in thanks.

I start work on Chapter 14 today - Roberts and crew are still in Gibraltar but I think the plan is that they will play a small role in the Crimean War which was raging at the time of the story's setting. Which means more research for me: a brief perusal of a few Wikipedia entries will not cut it.

On Friday, the Steampunk Society of Nebraska has their annual Military Ball. I pondered about what to wear and toyed with a few outfit ideas - my initial thought was to have some spectacular ball gown to wear. But I realized that would take time and money: two elements that I have a decided paucity of, so I next hit upon going as an officer on board the Horizon. This meant I could put together a costume for cheap since I had most of the parts and could indulge in a bit of project promotion. Although to be fair, that is somewhat false advertising since as of writing, I have no female officers on board. But, that could change - I do have three books to complete after all! Here is the officer's cap I finished yesterday:

The letters were embroidered via a tricky method of printing out the text I wanted, carefully cutting out the letters, gluing them on the blue fabric, and using the letters as a stencil for my needle. I am sure there were much better ways of going about this than the method I chose, but hey, it worked! For this week, my plans are to add some officer stripes to my jacket and make a bustle out of military-looking fabric. I have a wacky idea that wearing a bustle over a pair of pants would look good. If it doesn't, hey, I have a bustle for skirts! I also want to see if someone has a saber I could borrow - at one point there were two Marine sabers in my house, but my brother sold them. I am not about to bring my katana with me, although I do have a small tanto (Japanese knife) I could carry in my belt.

By Wednesday, I expect to have my business cards and posters printed - yippee! Bad news - I heard from my video editor yesterday and apparently her mother has a habit of erasing files off their shared computer and she erased my video the editor was putting together. We still have the original files, but she needs to redo my video. Dearier, that is what flash drives are for! Also, anyone know if there is a way to password protect files/folders so she could keep her mom from erasing her stuff?

Well, the Horizon is churning out steam and impatient for us to be underway, so I'd best run!