An August Update
A New [Already Complete] Fantasy Serial is HERE!
Dear Reader,
NOTE: This email may get cut off due to its length. If so, just click HERE to read it online.
If you will allow me to briefly reintroduce myself. After three years of being on Substack and sending nearly 1,000 emails in that time, you’d think I’d have done this a few times. In truth, I have never done it. But I see there are easily 500 new subscribers since I joined Substack, and while many of you know what you signed up for, I just want to introduce myself to those who subscribed and on shocked by the daily barrage of emails!
I am Erica Drayton and I write 100 word stories every single day. Aside from my daily microfiction stories (of which you can purchase via Amazon or other online retailers, link below), I also write short stories, two fantasy serials, and much more. Thank you for subscribing and I do hope you enjoy your stay here.
I also want to acknowledge my paid subscribers, without whom there is so much I could not do. In many ways, this email is a bit of an announcement of changes happening to give even more to my current (and future?) paid subscribers.
AUGUST 2024 CALENDAR
100 WORD STORIES ARE GOING BEHIND A PAYWALL
Essentially, what’s happening is that more of my 100 word stories are going to paid subscribers immediately as opposed to waiting till the end of each month and changing them all to be for Paid Subscribers only. The way this will work is:
Weekday stories are going to be paywalled immediately and Weekend stories will be available to all. However, the same Archive rules will apply and ALL weekend stories will be put behind a paywall at the end of the month.
Why am I making this drastic change? Well, if you’ve been following my 100 word stories journey, you’ll know that I’m scheduled to surpass 500 stories written on September 10th. And not only that, but by the end of this year, all 500 of these stories will be available to purchase in print form. With a possible Kickstarter happening January 1 - January 30, 2025 to purchase all 500 in one HUGE book. I think now that I’ve proven myself and my storytelling abilities as the Queen of 100 Word Stories, it’s more than enough for me to take a giant step forward on myself and my work.
When will this change happen? This will happen starting with story #501 on September 10th.
In future update emails I’ll share more exciting opportunities for you to be a part of my 100 word stories journey as I dream up ideas about 2025 with merchandise and more!
100 WORD STORIES IN SEPTEMBER
As you know, October is Pentober month. This is the second annual time of year when we do away with our computers and tech devices and harken back to pen and paper to write our 100 word stories together. And as always, here is a sneak peek at the 31 word prompts we’ll be using in October. And beforehand, as we did last year, there will be some prep prompts to get us ready for this time.
REMINDER: All previous 100 Word Stories are now in ARCHIVE for Paid Subscribers.
SHORT STORIES
Coming in 2025:
Old Wounds—New Beginnings
This collection is coming together so well I’m devoting most of my time to it these days. With Happy Eater we get insight into the mind of a creative chef genius and what makes him so special. Then, I have a little bit of fun with a late night infomercial and why buying what their selling may not be the best idea, especially when the deal is just too good to be true.
Two stories in August: Happy Eater and The Secret Keeper
STONEHAVEN | “NEW” SERIAL
I put “new” in quotations because it is and it isn’t new. Way back in 2017 - 2019 I created a fantasy world called Stonehaven. That world was to be introduced to new readers by way of The 5th Compass. This series would be 6-books in total. I got to work and published on Amazon the first 2.5 books. Years later I took it down. A sort of “rebranding” of myself, if you will. I’m going to release the first book in the series, Daxton, twice a week from now to the end of the year. I made the decision that everyone will get this serial and then the episodes will go behind the paywall at the end of every month. So make sure you read them when they are available!
CO-WRITING A SERIAL | SEASON ONE
Our reboot of The Serial Hour introduced our main characters in this faerie fantasy horror world
and I are creating in real-time. Hear more about them from our first episode back, here. And be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss our future posts and episodes where we share our co-writing journey with you.
THE OPT-IN ZONE
This area is reserved for the more “niche” emails I send out. If you’d like to receive these infrequent emails you’ll need to adjust your subscription accordingly. You can do so by clicking the button below:
FREE WRITING FRIDAYS
The opportunity to flex your muscles and write microfiction is here and it’s twice a month! Can you write a 6-word, 50-word, 100-word or under 500-word story? I provide the image to use as a prompt. You provide the challenge parameters and the story! I encourage you to go back and take up the challenge if you haven’t yet.
MURDER PEN SOCIETY
In July, we read TWO horror short stories! The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs with an open Thread Discussion that followed.
In August we’ll be reading two more horror short stories you might find of interest: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe and The Landlady by Roald Dahl! I’ve read the former at least half a dozen times but it has been at least a decade since I’ve read it again. And the latter I’ve never read before. I look forward to seeing an even darker adult side to Roald Dahl compared to his dark children’s books.
NOTES FROM A WRITER
Last month I shared how AI Images are Making Me Sick. And they very much still are!
The Killer Series I’ve been writing are so well received. Thank you. In July I released TWO of them: 1.) Reward tier ideas that subscribers might die for. 2) Learn all you need to know about recommendations: How to use them? Where? Why? And so much more!
I got BETA access to Substack’s Mobile feature allowing users to write posts/emails directly from the app. There was plenty to unpack during the week I was able to use it and not much has changed from the BETA I used to what went Live. A must read for anyone planning on using it.
I share my journey through finding short stories I wrote back during the pandemic and what it’s been like sharing them with a brand new audience of readers.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS TO CHECK OUT
TOP IN FICTION
Fed up with Substack not listing fiction on their “Fiction” category? Well, we’ve done something about it! The fiction community has come together to start curating their own list, put together by yours truly. The list comes out every Monday at 9am! What will you find on it? 1,000% fiction stories! Guaranteed! Where do the selections come from? YOU! That’s right! You have an opportunity, every Friday, to come to our weekly meet-up and share an interesting fiction story you’ve read from someone on Substack. Or, if you’ve written a fiction story, you can share it too! Main rule? It must have been written within the last 7-days of the meet-up. This keeps the weekly list fresh and new!
So, how can you discover new fiction writers to subscribe to and stories to read every single week? Simple! Just subscribe to Top in Fiction!
MICROZINE
If you write microfiction or you’re looking for really short stories to sink your teeth into, subscribe to MicroStack! We’ll have exercises for writing and practicing microfiction, a contest, awards, interviews, reviews, and so much more! The doors to submit microfiction officially opened today:
WORTH THE LISTEN
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of my “reading” by listening to audiobooks. Two things make this free, simple, and possible:
Library card from my local library.
Libby and Hoopla apps on my iPhone.
If you don’t have a library card, get one ASAP, even if you never intend to visit a library to check out a book. I don’t check out books from libraries and haven’t visited one for that reason in over 3 decades! But audiobooks are great and I only just recently realized there are some books people have praised based on who the narrator is. Lately, I’ve been enjoying listening to David Suchet reading Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot in my ear. Watching him on the television series is great but hearing him is even better. Hugh Frasier (who plays Captain Hastings on the Poirot television series) also reads Agatha Christie novels and isn’t half-bad either.