My “Eena” book is coming along well. We’re at about 16,000 words so far. Going by the rough plot inside my head, it’s about half done, maybe a little less.

It’s interesting how each book I’ve written has impacted me differently. For this one, I’m actually enjoying the story and am eager to tell it. I enjoyed the others too, but they were more a labor of love. For “Eena”, there’s no deadline pressure or frustrations with the publisher (like the League of Scientists) and there are no existing expectations (like with Dev Manny). I can just tell the story, take my time and enjoy.

That’s the inside of the book. For the outside, I’m trying something different.

For those of you who don’t know about my amazing art skill, you should know I just now lied to you, right in this very sentence: There is nothing amazing about my artistic ability. Quite the opposite. I’m a bad, bad artist.

You’ve seen the Dev Manny book #1 cover art.

I developed that on my own. It’s not great, but I think it’s serviceable, particularly since I wanted to keep the focus on “Superliminal” and the computer virus names spilling down from each letter. In this case, me building the cover won’t damage sales too much.

Not so with “Eena”. The book topic is completely different, with action scenes and fun visuals meant for YA readers. I can’t have a simple cover. There’s got to be artwork there – real art.

I need a real artist to design this book.

The problem isn’t about picking artists, it’s being able to pay for one. The low end starts at $500 and goes up from there. I don’t have that kind of money, and since (1) I’m in debt from the League of Scientists and (2) Dev Manny sales haven’t yet paid off the publishing costs, (3) I can’t afford to spend any more.

I’ve just signed up for Kickstarter, a project funding service where you beg for money from others, and hopefully people will sponsor your efforts in exchange for perks like (in my case), signed books and similar prizes. My intent is to use Kickstarter to help pay for the “Eena” cover art.

Ironically, I realized that doing this just committed me to a publishing deadline as well as setting certain expectations, two things I was just bragging about not having to worry about. Such is the world we live in.

Here’s hoping. I’ll let you know the results.