Area author Erin Casey is in flux. She’s currently in the process of stepping back from her longtime leadership role for the Writers’ Rooms, a local organization that supports writers by creating communities of authors working in similar genres. And she’s celebrating the quick success of her first Kickstarter campaign, launched earlier this month to support the publication of the third book in her Purple Door District urban fantasy series.
“I still very, very much believe in [the Writers’ Rooms],” Casey said in a phone interview. “But I feel it’s a time when I need to step down for my mental and physical health. … And it’s time to bring in new people with new ideas who are passionate about the organization, passionate about inclusion, and can take the Writers’ Rooms to the next step.”
Despite top-level changes, she has no intention of leaving the organization where she has served as director for four years, though. And she will continue to serve as the concierge of the Violet Realm, a community of science fiction and fantasy writers that she has led for the past six years.
Meanwhile, it’s not Brandon Sanderson-level success, but what Casey accomplished in the first 11 days of her Kickstarter campaign is still mighty impressive. Well before the end, Casey raised $2,500 to support A Game of Fae, the third book in a series that initially started as a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) project.
“I was hoping that I would hit the $2,500 … goal by the end of the month, but I really thought I’d be fighting for it,” Casey said. “When I saw the backing come in, I was shocked and humbled, too, that people were so willing to give my series a chance and that they believed in me.”
While Casey’s original goals have been reached, folks can still contribute to her campaign, which runs through the end of March.
“All the tiers [of donor rewards] are still available, so you can still get everything. Any additional funds are going to go toward helping with publishing the book or dealing with accumulating debt from having published the other books in the series,” she said.
She’s also added a stretch goal to the campaign, if it can reach $10,000 before it closes.
“If I hit a certain amount, I want to do an audiobook for The Purple Door District [the first novel in the series], so it’s more accessible to people. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but it’s definitely a dream of mine to have all my books be audio at some point.”
As for the Writers’ Rooms, the organization needs a new board of directors in order to maintain its status as a nonprofit. The new leadership will have oversight of the seven writers’ rooms, manage an annual author signing event and facilitate the publication of an annual anthology. They will have the opportunity to take the organization in new directions.
But who will those new leaders be? A first call for board members garnered no applications, so the deadline to apply was extended to March 18. As of this writing, there is one applicant and there are two individuals who are strongly considering submitting an application. That’s cutting it pretty close given how near the deadline is.
“We’re getting down to the last minute. My hope is that there are some who have been trying to decide whether they want to do it or not or maybe who have just waited to apply. I know that I can be bad with deadlines sometimes, too. I’m hoping that in the next couple days, we’ll see some more applicants.”
If a board does not materialize, the organization’s funding, logo, website, meeting spaces, Zoom account, publications, representation at various events and more would all be gone or significantly curtailed as individual writers’ rooms decided whether or not to try to make a go of it independently.
Casey is sincerely hoping it doesn’t come to that.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what the concierges have done, what the community has done, and I just want to see the Writers’ Rooms continue so badly,” she said. “I just can’t be at the helm anymore.”
To learn more about Casey’s books and her Kickstarter campaign, visit erincasey.org. To learn more about The Writers’ Rooms and/or apply for the board before the March 18 deadline, visit thewritersrooms.org.
