11/18/2013
Well, it is official ... my new Kickstarter campaign has officially launched.
Link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1176629437/muckville-a-memoir-of-the-public-policy-life-of-a-0
Muckville: a memoir of the public policy life of a farmer!
An inside look at a farmer's fight to influence ag policy in Washington DC and the oddities of life that happen along the way.
I've written a memoir about life with my family on our 4th generation onion farm and the active volunteer role my wife and I have taken in public policy, as well as our advocacy experiences over the years. I'm an outstanding researcher and a fantastic first draft writer, but I need to hire an editor to help me bring my writing to professional standards. Because I am a farmer who, like many other farmers, has suffered several setbacks due to extreme weather over the last several years, hiring an editor is impossible without help.
In addition to my anecdotes about my life as an onion farmer, my book tells the story about the legislative problems shared by farmers all over the country and the way Eve and I worked to help change the laws. I include the stories about how Eve and I secured a special $10 million dollar earmark as part of the 2002 Farm Bill and how I testified before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Eve and I have met and worked with dozens of elected officials and their staffs, including former Senator Hillary Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and current Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, amongst many others.
In bringing the issues that affect farmers to the forefront, Eve and I have appeared in the media hundreds of times over the years, from the national press like CNN, the CBS Evening News, and the NY Times to various trade publications and local press. My story has been told internationally in The Hindu, an English-language newspaper in India, and the BBC. I've even been quoted in Vogue. Now, come on, how many farmers have been quoted in Vogue?
Since my failed previous campaign I have hooked up with a professional editor eager and willing to intensively edit my manuscript. She edited my Kickstarter project and it was an intensive, line by line edit. Like the other handful of people that have seen all or part of my first draft she is very excited about it and its potential. She thinks I'm a very good story teller and is very excited to work on it.
That's where you all come in ... her proposal to do the project is very reasonable (I've gotten other offers the past few months from other editors across the country) and she is excited about the work. But I simply do not have $5,500 to pay her.
I wish a time traveler would give me winning Powerball numbers but that simply has not happened yet. Until it does I need your help. If you can contribute ... fantastic ... if you could spread the word among your social networks ... even better.
Help a 4th generation small family onion farmer who has lobbied on Capitol Hill get his memoir published via Kickstarter!
In the meantime check out the new text and video ... AND THANK YOU!
