Dear Reader,
Itās been quite a month for me. But one mustnāt dwell on what has been. One must look forward to whatās in store! One also must figure out a better way to lay out these damn monthly update emails so they seem less like a cumbersome chore. I used to enjoy writing these. Now I dread them. They serve as a sort of anchor point for me to tell you all the things I wanted to do, and didnāt, and then all the things Iād like to do, but know I probably wonāt get to.
Then I āgloatā about the 100 word stories I continue to accomplish. Iāve stopped seeing them as accomplishments long time ago. I both hate them and love them at the same time. I appreciate what theyāve done for me but curse what theyāve done to me!
WHEN IāM NOT WRITING
Turns out I do a lot of things when Iām not writing, or working my 9 to 5, or spending time with my family. One of those things is gaming. My wife recently purchased the Nintendo Switch 2 for me (after I offered to help her with some very important contest behind-the-scenes stuffs) along with MKW. I play MKW with her often, not on my own. But the game I recently picked back up for relaxation purposes: Animal Crossing New Horizons!
I recently restarted an island when I moved it over to my NS2 and Iām actually enjoying this play through. My island is cleverly named: Readview (how do you pronounce it?) and my name is Cozy E. Spending 15min in the mornings and a few minutes at night just cleaning up, fishing, collectingā¦I may turn into a cozy gamer and Iām not mad about it! Sure, I still love Zelda, and Pokemon, and Mario, and Donkey Kong but they all require āfinishingā the game and I honestly never finish them. Iām not great with combat and big boss battles. They bring me anxiety! Bring on the cozy where there are no timers and I can just play at my leisureā¦
Another thing I do a lot is watch Youtube! So much so that I recently shared what my Youtube watchlist looks like across my many accounts. You can read about it here:
What My Youtube Watch List Says About Me
You may not know this about me, but I easily watch 5+ hours of Youtube content daily! Iāll admit itās a habit of mine. And about 99.9% of the content I watch is from channels I subscribe to. The otheā¦
A MY BRADBURY STORY IDEA
Iāll be sharing ideas I have for future short stories over the next four months before I start writing them in January. One such idea, just to wet your whistle:
15 Minutes ā my wife hates this title by the wayā¦
A woman in her car is in a high speed chase during a short, but deadly, torrential rainstorm, with a sleeping child in the back.
So far I have about a dozen ideas like the one above, just waiting to be written by yours truly.
THE ELITE 100 - CLOSED
When I came up with the idea for The Elite 100, where I write a 100 word story that I dedicate to each of you, my āfans,ā I thought it was a brilliant idea. And I naively thought I would have so many of you clamoring the join The Elite that I needed to cap it at 100 (seemed obvious) or suffer the consequence of having to turn people away at the door! So, I thought charging $20 per seat would mitigate that and then throwing in that the $20 gets the dedicated story, mention in the upcoming behemoth of a book, PLUS a copy of the ebook that will include all of my 1,000 stories would just be the icing on that cakeā¦
Well, turns out I grossly overestimated my fandomā¦
And therefore Iām no longer going to include the button or the offer. As I get closer to story number 901 with no one else taking me up on my offer to join The Elite itās only making me regret it more and I want to enjoy the last 100 days, especially with the people who did join The Elite. Making them even more valuable to me in so many ways!
Lastly, a few others things on the horizon as I look to tell stories that are longer than 100 words:
The below are all for Paid Subscribers and will be put immediately behind a paywall.
My Bradbury Year - My idea to start this in July didnāt exactly pan out as Iād hoped. However, I am amassing a long list of very cool story ideas that are simply too juicy to leave to 100 words but not so juicy that it wouldnāt fit perfectly as a complete, however deranged and horror-filled, short story! So, Iām tabling My Bradbury Year till January and in the meantime, Iāll share one or two of my synopsis in these monthly updates like I did above.
Publishing My Work - Iāve started work, at long last, on The Fifth 100. Iāve also started a template for what will be The 1,000 Stories (in 1,000 Days). Title pending!
Behind the Paywall - Decisions have been made and things will look a bit different around here as follows:
100 Word Stories #501 - 750 will be placed behind the paywall on 12/1/2025.
100 Word Stories #751 - 1,000 will be placed behind the paywall on 2/1/2026.
Short Stories - All short stories from the past have been placed behind a paywall, with a few exceptions.
Serials - All serials have been placed behind the paywall except for the first 5 episodes/chapters.
If Iām paywalling so much, what exactly wonāt be behind a paywall?
Notes from a Writer/Gamer - I enjoy writing my thoughts and opinions on writing and video games. This will never be paywalled.
First Edition / Murder Pen Society / Stardate / etc. - These and any other Sections I create that are predominantly non-fiction or review based will never be put behind a paywall as these are hobby focused and not intended to adapt its form to monetize later on the way my fiction is.
Iāve updated the language of my About Page, Start Here Page, and Welcome Email to hopefully keep in line with these changes and make navigating my newsletter easier. My hope is to focus less on changes and strictly on content as I head into the second half of 2025.
Do you ever go over your own passions / work with such a fine-toothed comb? Share in the comments so I donāt feel alone in my madness!