Dear Reader,
Funny how throwing your back out can throw your whole planned day out of whack. And it couldn’t have happened at a more inopportune time. I had plans for working on my third Friday Fiction short story this past Wednesday because the Lunar Awards had begun on that day, but alas I am stuck on a couch in pain writing this update to all of you.
If you write short stories, specifically speculative fiction, and share your stories on Substack take a look at how you can enter here:
Which helps me segue to my Friday Fiction. In March I managed to write two short stories. Each over 2k words and each of them taking on the newly created sub-genre of spec-fic, curio fiction (created by Diane Callahan).
I intend on writing ten curio fiction short stories to put together as a collection that will be put up for pre-order on Amazon the end of this year for a Winter/Spring 2024 release. Along the way I will have my own journey updates on how I’m defining curio fiction and putting this collection my own way. In the meantime, the unedited versions will be made available here in perpetuity and near the end of this year the ebook will be available to Patrons and paid subscribers on here. I am also working on taking time to read each story for the podcast, audio and video versions. I will have more on the recording and releasing of the podcast as I want these to be done after edits on each story, therefore they may not come till the end of this year, early next.
If you missed them, here are links to the two Friday Fiction stories I wrote in March:
ABOUT THE LUNAR AWARDS
I only just heard about this a week ago when I decided to discover over a dozen new Substacks to subscribe to. I came across Scoot and his idea for these awards. It seems to be still fleshing out but I suspect (and hope) that over time it grows to be something beneficial to the writers who enter and the readers who discover new writers to read. It seems like a win-win for everyone so why not do my part to help where I can.
Here is my plan for sharing publicly my process:
Step 1: Choose a story to write
I have narrowed down my choices for which story I want to write to two options. If you feel so inclined, I’d love to hear your thoughts on which you think I should choose (keep in mind that both will get written in April, it’s just a matter of which one will be written first):
A woman walks into a pub and turns into the most wanted man in the world. With everyone after her, can she convince them of her true identity or will the law catch up to her and execute her for the heinous crimes of someone else?
A man must enter a bowling tournament to win the money that will allow him to keep his ancestral home. Only, he must do so without the use of his secret powers or the punishment will be far worse than eviction.
To make telling me which one you like easier, I’ve put this POLL here. Just select the one you like the most. The poll is open for 3 days and will close on Tuesday, April 4th (before 9am EST):
The rules for entering the Lunar Awards are fairly simple. The story must be written between Wednesday, March 29th and Tuesday, April 18th. It must be speculative fiction and under 2500 words. Again, this is already what I do so I am fairly confident in my ability to get it done well within the time limits given.
Step 2: Stream and Share
For those of you who may not know, I have been streaming on Twitch for nearly 10 years now. These days my availability to stream happens to be Wednesdays from 9am - 12pm EST. Click HERE to find my Twitch stream and maybe give me a follow. I welcome visitors to ask any writing-related questions while I work. It’s a blast!
Step 3: The Editing Process
I put this all on its own because my editing process is pretty in-depth. I start with using PWA (ProWritingAid). Afterwards I print my story (seeing it in a different form is always helpful to catch errors) and get to work on my “red pen edits” where I pull out my red pen and get to work. Lastly, I do my “read aloud” edits where I read my story out loud AFTER I’ve implemented my red pen edits. I would typically give myself several days/weeks to do this part but as there is a 21 day time limit I’ll need to pivot and adjust my schedule.
Step 4: The Proposed Timeline
Okay, so taking a quick look at the calendar as well as my own personal calendar of scheduled emails, here’s what you can expect from me in terms of updates and the final product:
4/1 - FIRST EDITION (subscribers only email) - Introduction to my enter to the Lunar Awards
4/5 - ON WRITING FICTION - Update on my progress (1st Twitch stream) where I should have some of the story already written.
4/12 - ON WRITING FICTION - Final update on my progress (2nd Twitch stream). Edits will have already begun.
4/14 - FRIDAY FICTION - Release of the story on my Substack that will be submitted for consideration.
Are you participating in the Lunar Awards? I’d love to hear about it so I can subscribe and we can cheer each other on!
BEYOND THE WIZARD UPDATE
If you weren’t aware, I’m working on my own twist on the classic fairytale of The Wizard of Oz books. But L. Frank Baum wrote the first 15 of the books. Currently, there are 28 (+ a collection of short stories) of the Oz books that are in the public domain. As part of my extensive research into writing my own series I’ve decided to read all of them. Every week, two chapters at a time, a group of us (400+) are reading and having some really great discussions in the comments of each chapter. If you’re at all interested (the books are all FREE to put on your phone/tablet if you don’t already own the physicals) you can join us here:
And don’t worry if we’re almost done with the first book because it’s a story that can be read in under 3hrs from start to finish and, it’s a great community to become a part of no matter when you happen to join us.
WORTH THE WATCH
AI is here and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. If I should ever decide to use it (I have only used it twice so far) on a regular basis there is only one person I would trust to show/tell me how I could do it:
Thank you for linking to the Lunar Awards, Erica! I hope you feel better soon, and you're still able to participate. There's lots of time left. 😁