The Positive Power of the Internet! Congratulations to the creators and team of "Project Wild Thing" and "Night Running" on Kickstarter!

Especially during this time of year, I am very excited to announce that the spirit of Santa Claus is alive and well on Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) and "Project Wild Thing" exceeded their $30, 000 goal !! I enjoyed learning about this great endeavor and getting to know some of their team through our communications.  This is a really professional, experienced group of caring, concerned filmmakers and I am excited to see them finish this important film.  It is a great feeling to know that you have truly helped to make a difference by supporting the efforts of some brilliant, talented, dedicated visionaries who want us to have the best world possible now and in future generations.  Sadly, "Project Wild Thing's" work is even more relevant today than it was a couple of weeks ago, as we have had to witness the tragic effects on a formerly tranquil Connecticut community of a young man who spent too much time with violent video games and technology rather than being supported in experiencing what is best about our world and nature.  Granted, he had mental illness issues, but I think we can all see how spending so much time with violent video games and assault weapons rather than spending time learning about about and taking care of animals or exploring the wonders of being out of doors in nature could help send him down the horrible road he took to end his life and that of so many innocents.

Green Lion Productions were very professional in response to my request for their stated blog materials and sent them to me in a timely manner.  Their timely response and materials enabled me to create the two blogposts I put together recently to share their concept with you and to help them reach their goal.   Part of the fun of "supporting" a project, which can be done with as little as $2 or as much as $5,000 (the largest donation tier I've seen so far on a Kickstarter project) is that when you make a contribution, you then get to see the creator's updates and all the other backers (there can be over a thousand backers for one project!).  "Project Wild Thing" had about 680 or so backers and when they were at about 520, I took some time to peruse them.  You get to see their names, "avatars" (photo/icons if they have them) and how many other projects they have backed, if any. 


When I have time, I like to look at the other projects people have backed to see what people of similar tastes to mine might like.  One of "Project Wild Things" backers also backed a project about a new book called Night Running.  I was curious about what the title meant, so I checked out the video clip on the project.  This clip really spoke to me and I think the book will speak to lots of people.    Even though I do love to exercise, I am not a runner, but have friends who are runners.  (True confession - I so wish I liked to run, as I do love to eat!  I completely envy my running friends for their lack of fat and their ability to eat anything they want whenever they want.)

I was very taken by Night Running, as the concept of "running in the dark" has never even occurred to me, not being a runner (unfortunately!)   I couldn't even imagine why someone would want to run in the dark, but in watching the clip, I learned that running is so important to some people and their lives are so busy that night is the only time they can carve out to run.  There seems to be another unique slant to this book which is that the act of running is compared to the act of writing.  I am thinking this will be very helpful to people like me who must fight to overcome procrastination more often than not.   To quote Steve Kettman, Night Running's creator:

 "Writing and running have a lot in common, especially that feeling in the pit of your gut that tells you to be afraid, very afraid, just before you start. But in writing as well as running, sometimes the fear and dread turn out to have been misplaced. Sometimes you are powered as if from without by a feeling that you can do what you have never done before.   NIGHT RUNNING is a project all about breaking through that feeling of fear and dread and discovering exciting new possibilities. It's a book of essays by five different writers, each alone in the night, each exploring the raw hope and agony of life that we so often keep hidden, bottled up inside or at best, meted out with half-ironic camouflage." 

I am very happy to see both "Project Wild Thing" and Night Running exceed their goals and get funded and I look foward to seeing the finished products in 2013!   Kudos to Kickstarter for helping these and many other amazing projects get funded!  It is exciting to see different projects that people in your state, across the country or in a different part of the world are coming up with and it is a great way to support talented, enterprising people who are working hard to add their great ideas to our world.  If you have a great idea that you want to put into play, Kickstarter is a great way to introduce it to the world, while getting support to help make it happen.  My advice is to do a really good job in packaging and describing your idea and to study those who have been successful on Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) .