In the four years since I started this project, I'm a completely different person, and I'm thankful for that.

I'm just so ready to be done with this project. Whether that means it's funded and published, or it's not and I put it on the shelf for a few years.

I'd never touched a camera before this project. Now I've taken 254 film photographs of every county courthouse in Texas.

I'd never written anything much longer than a college research paper. Even my self published book only had like fifteen of writing. This about 38,000 words.

Of course, I've had dozens of interviews over the past four years. And most of those people I'll never find on social media.

But I was lucky to meet people like @carrlyn.bsky.social, @betoorourke.bsky.social, and @vincentneilemerson.bsky.social who opened their hearts to my line of questioning.

In a similar way, I want to thank @shutdownfullcast.bsky.social. One of the best places on the internet to talk about the good and the bad of Southern history, in a comical, irreverent way.

I tried to emulate that with this project, even though that's an impossible bar to reach.

Michael Sparkman with the Texas History Lessons podcast was also an inspiration.

There are so many people out there like him who truly love Texas and our people, but don't necessarily love what it is right now. I felt a responsibility to write a more honest history for people like him.

Thanks to @pappademas.bsky.social for following me on Instagram, and making the job of being a writer much more personal & tangible for me.

Without he and @sponglr.bsky.social taking a look at an early draft, I don't know if I'd had the confidence to keep going in the first year.

If this Kickstarter is success, the book will come out this year. But whether or not this campaign is successful, I'm satisfied with everything it has taken me to get here.

I want to thank @rembert.bsky.social for subconsciously inspiring me to start writing over ten year ago.

I met a dude who worked for a Coca Cola distribution plant a few years ago and he explained it to me. Because west of Abilene/San Angelo, you can only find the Pepsi bottles. Coke has the rights to East Texas, but you'll find a mix in Central Texas.