This is something that I have struggled with since the creation of Patreon, how to share some of my work publicly, because I do want to share the creation of this book with everyone in bits and pieces so my long-time followers know what is going on, but now, with Patreon, in which Patrons are making financial pledges each month to help support me as I write this book and bring it forth into the world, most of the process of writing this book will be on Patreon. I thought that I should share how I have decided to share the creation of this book, which is my heart book, coming out of nearly 67 years of struggling and surviving and living and loving and wanting, always, to help others on their path, and more..

Tier 2 on Patreon is meant to be the place that I share indepth the process of doing Maisie’s art and now the creation of the pages of the book and more, and this I shall do, but because everyone who has come to Patreon from Tier 1 onwards came to support me with Maisie’s work I feel that everyone should get to see the book being created so, to that end, when a new page is finished I will share it with everyone at all 4 tiers. In Tier 2 I will do exactly what I said above, for example today they will receive a post with a number of pictures that shows the whole process of doing the painting above that will be the first page of the book (The earlier image in Sunday’s blog post if you saw it will go with the introduction.) from blank page to the drawing/painting/and finishing in a graphics program to add the border and text, with my thoughts about doing it all along the way. Every tier above tier 2, since each higher tier receives the benefits of their tier + the benefits of all tiers below them, will see the art process as well. Tier 3 is about our live gathering on Zoom every Monday night, and Tier 4, the download tier, will be able to download not only pieces of Maisie’s art — the bigger paintings in the first 40 that are at Society6 — but also some pages of the book. That will change slightly from my original plan because while it had been suggested to me to do the book Charles Dickens style, finishing and releasing a chapter at a time as I work on the book, I can see that that just won’t work for me, so I will give them a page here and there to download. Each page could actually be a stand-alone, something to meditate on, something to feel, a gift to receive. That is how I am viewing what the experience of this book should be for a reader as I have started it. 

Also, I will be sharing some of these finished, signed pages on my blog and Instagram to both build an audience for the book as well as to bring people to Patreon. I was inspired to do this (I could never figure out how much to share publicly either) by watching some videos of the man I am just in love with (Charlie Mackesy) about how he went about creating his now famous book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, and he said each of those pages started just as an image and a thought that he shared individually on Instagram. Ohhhh…. so that’s how you can do it, I thought. By the time his book came out he had already established an audience who were in love with the story he was creating and who were eager to buy the book. As someone who will have to self-publish, this could be a real boon. And I really need to build Patreon for sorely needed financial support. These are scary times financially and I have to grow that aspect of it.

As an author who is self-publishing I have to grow my audience every way I can, not just do a book and hope people find it. You can help me by sharing my blog posts, and joining Patreon if you feel moved to do so.

So at long last Maisie’s book is underway, and it is feeling so right, and it is time, and I will be creating a new page roughly every day or two and I am so excited I am about to pop. This book has been a long time coming and I am over the moon with the whole process.

Maisie’s book is my love-letter to the world, and without your support it wouldn’t be possible. I love you all so much…