I just wanted to send a big THANK YOU out to our project donors so far!  You guys are awesome and are helping us get from concept -> publish!!!

Next Saturday we will be shooting the marketing video for The 20 Project in a few locations around Vancouver....  when I get a shoot schedule I will send it over.   If anyone is in Vancouver please let me know and I would love some help or to get you on camera!

Contributors -> I am also waiting on a few more BIOs from people before I send out the first draft - please get those into me ASAP!

Also - keep those donations coming..

Donors:

• Shazia Shaikh
• Hilary Curry
• Juan Rodriguez
• Margaret Ebrecht
• Sébastien Lacour
• Robert Jaques
• Helen-Ann de Freitas
• Franklin Teemull
• Shannon Teemull

Hey Everyone,  just a short update post this morning....  This week I got the complete manuscript from our editor Theresa.  I will be adding bios and pictures in this week and then sending it out to the contributors for another edit.... 

In other news - I have connected with a small film school in Vancouver who will be helping us with a marketing short so we can kick off our kickstarter campaign! 

Lots happening ....  stay tuned!

Sometimes on this project I really, really, really wish I had a money tree in my backyard so I didn't have to ask other people for funding!!!  However, since I don't have a money tree in my backyard I am asking  :)

We need money to get us from concept -> published.

What will we be spending money on?
- website stuff
- professional editor
- marketing materials including a trailer

So, please click on the button below and donate to our awesome project!
Thanks  :)
Hilary

I have recently read Jock of the Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. The book is all about  Jock, a golden-coloured dog, and his adventures in the South African bush – mostly hunting game. His owner works on the wagons, transporting goods across 19th century South Africa. One night everyone is sitting around the campfire, discussing a quote from

Hamlet:
“The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right.”

One opinion of this statement discussed in the book was that putting things down to luck is the waster’s motto. Rocky, the character in the book, explained it this way:

“I don’t say that’s no such thing as luck – good and bad; but it ain’t the explanation o’ success an’ failure – not by a long way. No, sirree, luck’s just the thing any man’d like ter believe is the reason for his failure and another feller’s success. But it ain’t so. When another man pulls off what you don’t, the first thing you got ter believe is it’s your own fault; and the last, it’s his luck. And you jus’ got ter wade in an’ find out whar you went wrong, an’ put it right, ‘thought any excuses an’ explanations.”

There is an element of this way of thinking that I absolutely agree with. Sheer determination and persistence does have a large part to play in what you achieve in life. But I think that this view assumes that we all start from a level playing field, and that’s where luck comes into the equation.

Yes I have my own business today as a result of hard work and the choices I have made.   But I was also lucky enough to be born into a family that could afford to give me the very best education which then enabled me to take the steps that have led me here.

I look around the world and there are so many people less privileged than myself who simply cannot afford these opportunities. Are we to believe that, for those millions, the reason for their lack of success is their own fault? Or, do those of us that have had the fortune of luck have a duty of care to lend a helping hand where we can?

One of the things that was missing from our project till now was a charity that we were going to donate our profits to....  Our contributor Nicky provided us with the perfect one!  She sits on the board of Makomborero.

" Makomborero is a UK registered charity that helps to relieve poverty in Zimbabwe, Africa through the education of children. The late Nelson Mandela said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.  In a country where life expectancy has fallen to the mid-30s and recent economic and political developments mean that 90% of the population is now unemployed, only 34% of children in Zimbabwe are able to complete their schooling.  Makomborero means "blessings" in the local Zimbabwean language, Shona, and what greater blessing for Zimbabwe’s children than to give them hope for their futures."

This charity is not just one where the money goes into a pot for administration, but they have had a number of success stories over the years and one of the students (who is now in university) has consented to let us publish his words in The20Project.

Giving kids hope is a powerful gift.  I am please and privileged to be a part of something that will make a difference!!!

Check out our new page.

OK - I am editing this post because I had time today to finish off the first edit.  Our book is just under 50,000 words and is 89 pages long (in one WORD document).  Going over your stories again has been inspirational and I can't tell you how much they mean to me and I know they will mean to others when we publish.

I will let you know the next step when I send it off to the illustrator and then I will send the contributors a final copy for edits! 

We are almost there!   Great job everyone  :)