May Sneak Peeks 👀
and May blooms
Dear Reader,
NOTE: This email may get cut off due to its length. If so, just click HERE to read it online.
Before I dive into what is happening in May I want bid a fond farewell to something that ended last week and that you won’t receive an email for going forward (if you OPTED-IN to receive it, that is): #pentober52.
I realized that it wasn’t really connecting with the fiction writing community like I had hoped, so before I devote any more of my time to it I’m stopping it here and moving back to Free Writing Fridays. However, it will not be weekly. I’m going to provide Free Writing Fridays on the FIRST and THIRD Friday of every month. I hope you will consider participating in these prompts.
Now, onto the rest of May!
Oh, and if you are wondering what happened in April, you can check out my “Look Back” posts: Here I go over the first two weeks of April and on May 4th I’ll Look Back at the last two weeks of April.
MAY 2024 CALENDAR
Dates of emails are subject to change.
THE FIRST 100 OUT NOW!
By now I’ve mailed a few copies of The First 100 to my paid subscribers. I wanted to send them out sooner but Mother Nature had other plans for me that involved snow storms and power outages!
You can get your hands on a copy by clicking the button below to order on Amazon US (or you can find it on other online booksellers as well):
100 WORD STORIES IN MAY
My journey through the Mystic Madness Oz and Wonderland Tarot deck continues. I’m going to get through TWO suits this month. This will leave me with 6 stories I am unsure of what I will write. I try not to have a theme overlap into the next set of 100 stories and we’ll reach 400 on June 3rd! So May 29th - June 3rd are up in the air. If you have any ideas for what I can use as a theme for 6 days, leave them in the comments.
REMINDER: All previous 100 Word Stories are now in ARCHIVE for Paid Subscribers.
SLEIGHT OF HAND
March and April did not go as I planned. I know, I’m not allowed to look back, only at this month. I’m just a bit bummed. But, I need to dust myself off and know I’ve made the right decision on the change in direction the story is taking whereby each episode is seen from the POV of a different character in the story.
May 6 we delve into Part II of this long 3 part story I’m looking to wrap-up by December. I had a bit of a hiccup but I’m not completely derailed from where I expected to be by now.
With luck on my side and a bit of real direction I will return to Monday releases this month as we kick off part 2.
ANATOMY OF TYPEWRITERS
I come up with these storylines quite randomly and May’s story is no different. I did a bit of a dive on it when I discussed Rear Window and how I’d be fascinated to know what a story like that would look like if told from the perspective of the villain instead of the protagonist. The Flat is my take on a classic with a few added twists and turns along the way.
Some relationships lead us to do drastic things. We lose control only for an instant, but surely it can be fixed. That’s what Trevor Lockwood thought when he stood over his wife’s dead body, the murder weapon in his hand. He could indeed fix this. But what to do about the nosey neighbor who witnessed it all and just won’t go away?
How does a typewriter fit into all this? You’ll just have to read it to find out.
Part 1 is coming tomorrow but you can read the other stories here:
Every month
and I discuss our serials, our journey, and share it all with you. In May we take a look at our favorite characters, specifically how we would handle secondary characters and possible spin-offs because of them.
NEW IDEAS USING AUDIO
With the addition of video and audio I’m looking to find a way to incorporate these new mediums into my 100 word stories for paid subscribers. I’ve already done some tinkering by going back and reading a few 100 word stories in audio format. I won’t tell you which days I chose, just that it’s at least two from the last two weeks of April. I’m hoping to make this a regular occurrence whereby I will record myself reading the story the day after release. In a perfect world I would write the story in the AM, record it in the afternoon and then post the story in the evening. Fingers crossed I will be able to get to this point.
Also, how do you all feel about maybe getting a sort of podcast experience where I do a deep dive into my writing process for my Anthology series of short stories? I’m wanting to go behind the scenes and I think it might be a bit more interesting if I talk you through it rather than write it out. Let me know in the comments? If I were to do this it would be a podcast for everyone.