The day has finally come where Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky is available for preorder! On October 11^th the book will start shipping and this long ongoing project will finally be out in the world for all to see.

It has been a long journey, but that is because I refused to take shortcuts and I also made plenty of mistakes leading this project. I was pressured to just publish the stories in English and then come out with a bilingual book later. I was tempted to not verify the stories with the storytellers because I knew it would be a difficult and long process. I did not plan the budget of the book very well in the beginning, believing that all would want to work for the cause of the book instead of being paid what they are worth. That was a failing on my part to recognize the importance of creatives and their value, and the project was slowed because of it. For that, I apologize.

I had many translators promise results and deadlines that were never kept, I had another who strung me along for a year and a half before I had to hound them for results and then when I got what I needed from them it was subpar work that I needed to fix. There are many excuses as to why this project took so long, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. What is past is past, and we are moving forward together.

Now, after many tears and frustrations, the book is finished and ready to be released. I am so thankful for all of the support for this project and for those who believed in the vision to humanize the country of Haiti and to give a platform for these Haitian storytellers in their beautiful in their native language of Haitian Creole.

You can find the book for preorder on Amazon at http://www.bit.ly/SiaDFS

The first printing of the book has arrived and we are going to be proofreading the English and the Creole over the next few weeks. The book will go on preorder in August and available for sale in October. 

We are so excited to be making progress and so close to the end of this publishing process.

Thank you for all your support and patience during this time.

❤

First of all, I must apologize for the lack of communication up to this point. A lot of things have happened in the last two years, not the least of which is 2020 and the dumpster fire that ensued. The translation edit was complete in April 2019 and our talented book designer (Ted) began the book design process while simultaneously working two full time jobs. He is continuing to work on it and will finish by May 2021.

On top of everything else happening in 2020, in August my house burned down in a California wildfire. There was no warning and we lost everything except our cats and three quilts. Months of processing and rebuilding has given me the space and perspective needed to move on from this trauma, but my heart still breaks because the original art and files for this book project were also lost in the fire. The original cover art, the charcoal illustrations, the notebooks with my initial interview notes, everything is gone.

The good news is the stories and charcoal art were saved online in the cloud. The bad news is we cannot find any high resolution files or scans of the cover art. Both Ted (he is also our cover designer) and I have looked everywhere we can think of online, but neither of us can find the files. We are continuing to look, but our back-up plan is to pay the original artist to recreate the art and start over.

The book design will be done in May. After proofreading and finessing, in June we will print proof copies and send them to book reviewers. After that the book launch date will be announced and we will start preparing the book for pre-order and launch.

On another note, we now have a publishing imprint! It’s called Lost Shoe Publishing and I hope we can print more books in the future. Check out our new publishing house here.

I’ve said this before, but this has indeed been a long journey. I want to thank you all for sticking with us and believing in this project. Thank you for your support. This project is approaching six years old and it isn’t even published yet, but we can see the finish line. Please reach out if you have any questions, and we look forward to announcing more updates in the near future.

Hi ya’ll,

I am excited to announce that the Creole (Kreyòl) translation copy edit is complete! Next is the interior design of the book, which I have already started and am working with the book designer on completing. We will strive to keep you updated as we go.

Thank you for sticking with us as we inch towards the finish line. This project is looking more and more like a finished book, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

Blessings,

R. Alexander and the Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky team

I am excited to announce that we have been working with The Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York to edit the Haitian Creole (Kreyòl Ayisyen) translation of the book. You can read more about them on the collaborator page or by visiting their website. They have been doing fantastic work reading both versions of the story, fixing errors, asking questions, and making the Creole more accurate and eloquent. We are in the final stages of editing, and in the next month will be able to sign off on the stories as completed. Next, we will begin the book design process with our intrepid and talented book designer, Ted McFarland. 

Thank you all for sticking with us as we push forward with this unprecedented and daunting bilingual book. This has been a much longer journey than any of us had imagined, but we are still making progress and in the near future we will have a physical copy of this book to read and share.

Benediksyon (Blessings),

Rosie and the SiaDFS team

It has been way too long since an update has been given about this project, and I apologize for that. There has been a lot of craziness going on in Haiti and the translation process has been a lot slower than we anticipated in the Kickstarter timeline. Below you will find an update from one of our translators, Krista:

“Hey there Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky supporters and friends.

Krista Germeil here. I am an American currently living with my Haitian husband and our sweet 15-month-old baby girl in Jeremie, Haiti. We work for a local mission, Haiti Bible Mission.

I wanted to update you all on our end of the project. As you may know, our beloved town was slammed about 4 months ago by a Category 5 Hurricane Matthew. We (us and our neighbors/community) lost a lot. Our town looked like a fire had ripped through it. Since then, we at Haiti Bible Mission, have been in go mode as the largest hub of relief teams and supplies in Jeremie. Things are starting to slow down now and my family has currently been sent on a one-month sabbatical in order to rest and reconnect after all of our past few months craziness.

I appreciate all of your patience and grace as I have worked- by myself- to verify all 50 stories. I have finished all but one story at this point, so things are moving forward. My husband and I plan to start the translation of the stories from English to Haitian Creole once we return to Haiti in February. Our goal is to complete at least 6 stories a month.

The project, Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky, is important to us, our staff, and our community because it allows our Haitian family to have a voice. To get their untold stories out there. To share life with you all. I hope that as we continue to work hard on our end to finish this project, it will enrich your life like it has done ours.

Krista, Marc Donald, and Lucianne Germeil”

PHASE ONE: English Manuscript (COMPLETE)

PHASE TWO: Verify then translate manuscript into Creole (IN PROGRESS)

PHASE THREE: Design the book (PLANNING STAGES)

PHASE FOUR: Launch Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky!

End PHASE ONE.

Hello beautiful Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky supporters! Rosie has finished the English manuscript! It was the biggest and longest phase of this book, but it’s finally done and we are excited to be moving forward. It’s been a long road, and we are so thankful you have decided to join us on this journey.

Begin PHASE TWO.

Right now the manuscript is being verified by our translators in Haiti with the original storytellers.

After all the stories are verified we will start translating them into Creole, which will take some time. We are so excited to be moving on to the next big phase of this project and will keep you updated on what is going on!

Meet our storytellers!

Be sure to meet our storytellers! Read their biographies and check out their photos. They are wonderful people you will be getting to know through their stories soon, so why not meet them now?

Thanks for your support! ❤

The Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky team

It has been a crazy but amazing time for Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky, and we are so excited to share it with you. Watch the video or read for the update!

Thank you for coming along with us on this journey as we continue to make Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky.

I (Rosie) was able to go to the Christian Writers Conference this last weekend. It was an inspiring conference. I had the chance to hear Carol Kent as the keynote speaker and meet editors, agents, and a lot of authors and aspiring writers. It was reassuring to see so many people interested in the book and its goals. Editors and agents liked the stories and the writing style, which blew me away. After working on a project for over a year one can start to gain some self-doubt, so I have to admit it is nice to hear a positive unbiased perspective on your work. 

We will continue to pursue self-publishing because this is not a mainstream book and publishing houses can’t take chances on such a niche project. If an amazing opportunity comes our way it’s not as if we would turn it down, but we have a plan to self-publish and will continue to keep you updated along the way.

I need to apologize to all of you. I feel like I’ve been teasing everyone with different potential release dates… one after another that are simply wrong. That is completely unprofessional. I was not and am not trying to lie to you… I blame my idealism and ignorance for misleading you. I should not have put out a release date on the Kickstarter, I made the release date with no experience or know how of what publishing a book entails or how long it would take. For that I apologize. I have a go-get-’em attitude, and that determination and goal setting does not always match up with reality and the . Even right now I am tempted to set a new tenuous release date, but I am… trying my best… not to.

All I can tell you is that we are almost done with the English manuscript (see, I’m also holding off on giving a date for that!). After that we will send the manuscript to our Creole translators in Haiti and they will work on verifying all the stories and then translating them. Their crazy busy schedule with the mission is making it hard to set any sort of timeline for release, but we are going to be working hard to make sure this book does not fall by the wayside and gets released in a more realistic, but still timely, manner. We will strive to keep you as updated as possible.

If you want to continue supporting Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky, please subscribe to our e-mail newsletter! It is the best and most consistent way we can talk to you and let you know what’s going on. AND when you sign up, you will get a FREE PREVIEW of one of the stories that has not been released yet (wink).

Check out our social media and sign up for our e-mail newsletter! Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your support!

❤
The Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky team

P.S. Personally I have been going through a lot of transition in the last few weeks, but I am finally in a place of peace and stability. Making a career change is always scary, but it has thankfully calmed down. I am so blessed to have found a job in such a beautiful place. Thank you for your patience as I get settled again.