From Step 1 to Step 2

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February 4th, 2016

The Kickstarter campaign is over, and I actually miss the stress and the thrill of it. Our final numbers were incredible, as the alert chime started to pull me back to the computer hour after hour over the weekend. In the end, we attracted 99 backers and 112% of the goal, and to me both of those numbers are beyond heartwarming. They’re stunning and mind-boggling. And as for coming up one short of 100 backers, I posted a tweet on that by saying “Final count 99 backers. If 99 was a good enough number for Wayne Gretzky, it’s good enough for me.”  It’s actually more than good enough for me.

There’s a lot of divisiveness and hate in the world, and people do things every day that make you question the sanity of the planet. But people can do just the opposite as well, being so supportive and generous it can make your brain spin with disbelief. This Kickstarter thing started off as something I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do, not because I was afraid it would fail (I was a little concerned, but it wasn’t fear) but more because I just didn’t want anyone’s help to make this dream a reality. It was the startling realization of just how much of our savings I would be risking to do this all on my own, and how that wasn’t fair to my incredible wife, that tipped me over the edge, thinking “Okay, well we’ll just give it a shot and see how it goes.”  It went well.

It seems awfully quiet here in my office this week. The campaign had crossed the finish line early, but it continued to run right through Sunday night and it kept me glued to the computer, keeping track of it. Kickstarter provides all the records and lists you need, but just to be sure I kept my own spreadsheet of rewards people had chosen, and every time I’d hear that chime I’d click over to my email program hoping to see the subject line “New Backer Alert!” and the routine of seeing that and then entering the data on my spreadsheet was one that had me continually smiling. As the weekend progressed, the pledges got smaller but the pace picked up, with so many generous people adding in whatever they could spare. I was humbled by it, but also so motivated.

Now, with the working capital raised (Step 1 of this process) there’s only one thing left for me to focus on, and that’s to continue writing “Bats, Balls, and Burnouts” to the very best of my ability. Step 2, underway! To be technical, the working capital may well be raised but it won’t be in my bank account for two weeks. That’s how long it takes Kickstarter to collect all the funds and wire them to a successful campaigner. I’m not sure why it takes that long, but that’s the caveat they go by and who am I to argue? I’ll be frugal until then.

When the campaign officially ended, oddly in the middle of the night last Sunday night, Kickstarter sent me another alert with explanations of how this will all happen and what I can expect in the next couple of weeks. One important thing they noted is that once you get up to a certain number of backers, you can almost certainly expect “a few” of the pledges to be declined when the credit card numbers are run. Remember, no one paid a penny until the program was over and we had reached our goal. Some of those pledges were six weeks old when the charges were finally sent early in the a.m. hours of Monday morning.

As it turned out, eight of our 99 pledges were declined, but not because of a lack of funds. As far as I can tell, they were all hung up in the bank or credit card company’s “Fraud Protection Department.”  Kickstarter uses a third-party payment company, called Stripe, to actually collect the funds and apparently the combination of having the charges run around 3:00 a.m. and having them all be online charges triggered a few warnings out there. I had two emails and one voice mail waiting for me when I got up Monday morning, from people I know who got the alert that their pledge had failed to go through.

One by one, we’ve been working through that and getting them resolved, but it unfortunately requires a two-step process for the backer. First they have to confirm with the credit card company that the charges are legit and real, and then they have to go back to the Kickstarter campaign page and resubmit the payment. I can’t apologize enough for that, although I had nothing to do with it and wasn’t expecting it. I just hate for people who have been so kind and generous to then have to deal with a hassle like this. It’s asking enough of people to simply back me, but it’s asking way too much for them to have to chase down problems that had nothing to do with them. I guess, though, that I’d rather have my credit card company be a little too vigilant on my behalf, rather than the opposite.

As for the writing, it’s really going well (I think and hope). I’m getting solidly into the routine I need to get the targeted number of words written each week, and Chapter 5 is now “in the can” at least in first-draft status. I also find I can’t help having new memories pop into my head and then think “Well, that’s got to be in the book.”  So far that’s happened about a dozen times where the memory or the moment is in the era of a chapter I’ve already written and edited, so I go back in there and find the right spot to add it in. It’s, therefore, a very fluid and ongoing thing. It doesn’t just flow directly forward in a linear way. There’s a lot of rewriting and editing going on in the earlier stuff, while I’m also writing a new chapter each week. It’s a bit like juggling, but instead of bowling pins or fine china plates, I’m juggling words. The good news is, they don’t seem to break if I drop them.

Right now, with about 80 pages written, I suspect I’m maybe one-fifth of the way done, and that’s a pretty good chunk of the writing, in my mind. It’s pretty clear that my biggest problem is going to be length, as in “too long” as opposed to “too short.” If I write everything I’d like to have in the book, it would be at least 600 pages and that’s, at the very least, about 150 pages too long. I don’t want to burden readers with something as hefty as “War And Peace” here.

It occurred to me this morning that it might also be fun to share a snippet from the book here, just to give you all a preview taste of what’s to come. First though, here’s the setting:

Junior year in college at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. The final game of the NCAA Regional baseball tournament, on our home field against Northern Kentucky. It was a winner-take-all single game to see which team would advance to the NCAA Div. II World Series. We’d been there the year before, so we were trying to make it two seasons in a row. My mom had not been well for a while, but she insisted on being at the game. It goes like this…

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My first time up, I singled with a solid line drive to left and then scored the lead run from third, on a sacrifice fly. Later in the game I came up with the bases empty but with the game hanging in the balance. I’d seen the pitcher once already, and when he threw me a fastball right down the middle he made the critical mistake of throwing it exactly where my bat happened to be. Home run. 

As I rounded second, heading toward third and the small grandstand behind the home dugout, I saw my mother standing, clapping, and crying. I came close to matching that last piece of the equation, but I held it together, we won the game, and we advanced to the World Series again.

Taffy was exhausted and she was driven home after the game. My teammates and I were somewhere beyond elated, and we gathered at one of our rental houses (affectionately known as “The Pink Palace” because it was pink and it was not a palace) for an impromptu party. Much like the dinner in Millington, this was one of joy, not craziness.

As I stood on the lawn drinking a beer pulled from a kiddie pool filled with ice, I had the conscious thought that I had never in my life, to that point, felt such sheer, unfiltered happiness.  It was flowing out of me through every pore. There was no nagging doubt, no questioning the feeling, no wondering if I deserved it. It felt both calming and exhilarating. It was electric, and I went through a sort of out-of-body experience as I watched my teammates celebrating while I focused on the feeling. I recall thinking that I wished everyone on the planet could feel that at least once. Everyone deserves to.

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So that’s just one rich moment that will be in the book. And as much as I fiddle with this thing on my non-writing days, the final version may not look like that at all, but in whatever form it ends up being, it will be in the book. Because, in case you hadn’t heard, I’m writing one! Isn’t that amazing?

So, you ask, what’s new in Liberty Lake or Woodbury? You did ask that, right? Well someone did, I just know it.

Barbara and I both refuse to give up on this upper respiratory crud we’ve had since we were in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. We just love it so much we won’t let it go. We both only felt sick (as in fever, chills, that sort of stuff) for a few days, but the coughing and the hacking goes on forever. I’ve heard some people here in Liberty Lake say they had the congestion and cough for six weeks!  Wow. I’m getting better, though, and Barb is a few days ahead of me with this thing, so pretty soon we’ll be back to just our normal coughing and hacking, induced by the crappy winter air we have here thanks to temperature inversions that stagnate the atmosphere around Liberty Lake. It’s hard to breath smog.

Barb’s not able to get enough rest, either, because she’s neck-deep in preparation for the next quarterly earnings call for her company and she’s been at work until late at night for days on end now, then up before dawn to get back to her office. I don’t know how she does it.

I’m heading to Minnesota next week, for the full week. Almost all of the rewards for my Kickstarter are in storage there, and I need to start shipping them out to the people who so kindly signed up for them. By my records, that means I’ll be shipping out the following:

8 die-cast cars

11 Wally Trophies

4 Winner’s Jackets

25 race-worn crew shirts

It’s a good thing shipping costs are covered by the pledge.  The shirts will be easy to ship, the jackets pretty easy, and the die-casts won’t be hard. The Wally trophies are heavy though, and they’re a tougher deal. I think I’ll take all of them to my local UPS Store and have them professionally packed and shipped.

Back in Minny, they just got a bunch of snow in the Twin Cities (close to a foot according to our neighbors in the old neighborhood) so hopefully everything will be cleared off the roads by the time I get there, on Monday night. I don’t mind the snow, except when it’s snowing and you need to get somewhere. From inside, with a fire going, it’s quite nice!

And in case you’re wondering, yes we are still determined to get back there permanently at some point in the near future. It’s home.

And speaking of that, do you remember how three of my college teammates and I went to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and then down to Washington, D.C. last summer, for a guys weekend away? Well, when we did that we had so much fun we made a pact to try to do it every summer, in a different location each time. I offered up the Twin Cities, with the trip being based around good fun, good drink, good hotels, and a Twins game, and the guys unanimously approved that suggestion/

Lance McCord, my partner in crime to make these things happen, began the process last night by offering up a few potential dates. I got online to check the Twins schedule, and I think we have it narrowed down to two particular weekends. Once Radar and Oscar (our other musketeers) add in their thoughts, we’ll figure out which weekend and will be. And the better news is that the St. Paul Saints minor league team, who play in a marvelous new ballpark right in downtown St. Paul, are also home both weekends. We’ll have fun in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, we’ll get together with our former neighbors, we’ll most likely spend a few hours at Mall of America, and we’ll overdose on baseball, both the Major League variety and the minor league type. Can’t wait… And no, we will not be in uniform or asking for any tryouts.

So I guess that’s it for this Thursday Blog Day. I’ll be back here next week, from Minnesota, and hopefully my writing muse gets on the plane with me and Chapter 6 will be rounding into shape.

Oh, and apparently there is some sort of football game on Sunday. Hmmm. All the best to both teams and the half-time performers! And if you’re like me and don’t have a horse in this race, here’s hoping for an entertaining and well-played football game. On the football field. Played by football players running football plays. With a football.

Bob Wilber, at your service!

 

 

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