I canāt believe itās already November. Halloween has come and gone. And Iāve hand written 31 stories in 31 days! I wasnāt the only one! There were countless others who joined me and for that I am eternally grateful and proud to be counted among them. The fun of Pentober will continue in 2024 so if you didnāt get to join us in October, fret not!
In the spirit of the Spooky Season coming to a close. Here is our 12ā Skelly and his two pooches! A real conversation piece for the neighborhood, for sure.
Now, onto whatās next for Pentober:
Pentober Camp – Two additional months out of the year (apart from October) where the entire month will encourage handwriting stories! These months will be different as it will involve more prompts to get your creative juices flowing. The proposed months for Camp are: February and June 2024 (save the dates!)
Pentober52 – You will need to opt IN to receive these emails. They will go out weekly, every Wednesday, starting on January 3rd. Keep reading for more details.
MY 100 WORD STORY JOURNEY CONTINUES
November will bring two 100 word story themes: Literary Tarot and Substack Publication Name. While many of you will be working on NaNoWriMo, I will be toiling away on adding another 30 stories, bringing me to my 200th story on November 16th.
December will bring a change of pace for writing journey. I will be participating in Advent, creating my own ācalendar of short storiesā that will run from Sunday, December 3rd – Sunday, December 24. The other days of the month will a mash-up of Holiday Cheer with a sprinkle of left-over Halloween Scare! The final suit for the Literary Tarot will conclude in February 2024.
CALLING ALL WRITERS OF FICTION
For 15 weeks I have collaborated with some AMAZING writers here on Substack and now Iām giving all of YOU an opportunity to join me! Every Free Writing Friday in November & December I will write 50 Words to go with the image prompt and I want YOU to add YOUR 50 words to my story! Youāll have all weekend long to contribute to my story. On Monday Iāll select my favorite and share that winning collaboration on my Substack Notes! There will be more information included in the next Free Writing Friday email, November 3rd.
I want to shout out Mark for his excellence in fiction but also for his amazing participation in the first annual Pentober 2023! He showed up every day for 31 days of great storytelling and I hope you will read them as well as give him a well deserved subscribe! Till 2024 Mark, I look forward to it. And. I hope to see you when Pentober52 rolls around as well šā¦
Okay, Iām technically not reading it now but Iām getting myself ready for a 19 month read through, and literary learning, of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. It is known as the first ever serialized fiction novel of the nineteenth century and seeing as Iāll be finally throwing my hat in the ring with other amazing serials being written here on Substack, I could think of no better literary work to read. Want to join me? The serial will begin in March. Sign-up now and letās read this great work together. It can be found in the public domain.
WARNING: This book is just shy of 300k words! We begin reading March 2024 and finish October 2025! Yes, thatās quite a commitment.
This might be considered a bit of a āhot takeā but (and Iām just as guilty of this as the next person) Substack is not strictly a fiction community. What I mean by that is, it helps sometimes to take a step back and try to realize we are just a small microcosm of the full depth and breath that Substack has to offer to all who visit. Iāve noticed of late (and in the past) many of us (again, myself included) will hem and haw about the lack of fiction representation within the posts that Substack themselves push out there in their weekly and monthly round-ups. Sure, they will mention notables like and or even , but the little guys look up and think, āthey donāt really need any shout outs to grow their audienceā and wish we were mentioned instead. As Iāve said (and wonāt mention again) I feel the same way and there are some days I echo this sentiment publicly and the rest of the time I hold that envy inside.
But then I decided to exercise a little perspective with Substack as a whole to try and understand if my feelings of abandonment are valid. Here are a few things I discovered:
Substack started in 2017. Just 6 years ago.
In the last 6 years they have grown to have thousands of Substack writers sending out emails regularly.
Many of those users of Substack (myself included) brought with them lists from other platforms that number in the thousands and hundreds of thousands and these emails have zero clue what Substack is, let alone how to navigate it should they choose to find out.
Substack claims there are over 500,000 paid subscribers across all of the writers on Substack and millions of visitors to the site.
So, when I see numbers like that my brain starts to calculate immediately. As some of you may know, Iāve been on a mission to uncover and track every single fiction Substack that exists. This includes poetry, artists, and musicians. It has not been an easy task to undertake but in about 2 months I managed to find 300 (so far)! That might seem like a hell of a lot until you use some perspective to realize that 300 is a small percentage of the whole pie that makes up the different categories of Substack.
Is it safe to say that Substack might look a lot like Medium, in that there is a larger proportion of non-fiction/journalists using the platform than fiction? Maybe. But the level of community that Substack instills and puts into their community as a whole is what makes all the difference in the world.
In fact, I place the blame for why so many of us feel so jilted by Substack squarely on Substackās shoulders! If not for their amazing algorithm that puts us all together in Notes so that we can connect easily with each other, we probably would realize just how many āotherā users there are. We are, by design, living in a bubble and when that happens we can become blind to the obvious.
Sure, fiction is a HUGE presence on Substack but I wouldnāt expect it to be included in every single shout out post that they make or to be a priority because there are far more other categories with bigger audiences.
Could Substack do more to make us feel less left out? Sure. What that solution is, I cannot say at this time. Perhaps they could extend an olive branch to some lesser known fiction writers and provide a bit of a hand up as opposed to a hand out?
We all appreciate the rapid fire updates but what we really need is more visible assistance for the little guy and less coddling of the big fish. We know the big fish pay your bills, keep the lights on, all that good stuff, but think how many more big fish youād have to draw from if you focused more on us. They donāt need your help or support or guidance. The big fish have done a pretty good job of proving just how well they know how to do their thing.
Iāve mentioned a few times, here and there, within comments in Notes, how I have chosen to use the Paid feature of Substack. And in those discussions Iām asked to elaborate or told itās a great idea that they might use as well. So, I figured Iād share it here in case anyone else is curious as to what Iām doing, why, and how easy and painless it can be for you to do it too!
Now, let me start by saying this isnāt some new trick Iāve uncovered. Iām sure there are plenty of other Substacks out there that are doing something similar. Itās just that not everyone is talking about it or making a point to share whether itās worked for them or not. Another preface I want to make is that as of writing this I am only on month number two of implementing my paid subscription idea and have yielded zero paid subscribers. This is to be expected. I am going to test this for at least the next 3 – 5 years straight before I can say with certainty whether it worked or not. So, if after knowing all that youāre willing to hear me out, hereās my idea for turning on Paid Subscription on Substack.
MAKE IT ALL āFREEā
Sometimes I feel like even saying the word āfreeā is a dirty word filled with negative connotations no matter how you may feel about it. So, let us dispense with the niceties here and go into the truth no one wants to say or admit (be warned there will be many of these ātruthsā shared throughout): Free is not a devaluation of your work! There, I said it and I meant it.
When I share my work to everyone who is subscribed and those who arenāt yet but who happen upon my homepage, it isnāt because I expect nothing in return. On the contrary, I expect to earn a living from my work. But what good is a beautiful garden if I put a privacy fence up before I started planting? That is to say, would you believe me if I told you, ābehind these doors is the most beautiful garden youāve ever seen. Oh, and thatāll be $24.95 admission before you can see it for yourself.ā You would have no way of knowing if I am a skilled gardener. You have not seen my plants nor do you know what Iāve been growing behind those doors. You know nothing about me. Now, would you pay for entry?
Taking a different approach, what if, instead of an 8ā tall privacy fence I put up bars that you could easily see through. You walk by every day on your way to the coffee shop down the street and every time you do you see me in there working away, sweat stains and all. Iāve got dirt everywhere, pots, garden boxes, a whole layout that is near completion. One day you walk by and thereās a HUGE āOpenā sign and through the bars you can see all the flowers and colors in full bloom. How do you feel about paying for entry now?
This is how Iām treating my Substack and the idea behind turning on the paywall. Everything I share via email is free. None of it is behind that paywall that so many of us cringe to even think about. No hidden tricks where you start reading an email and halfway through thereās a line that says you must pay up to keep reading (or to leave a comment). Thatās not my style
THE ARCHIVE APPROACH
Iām treating my paid subscription like (and be prepared for another analogy hereā¦) a streaming subscription (sort ofā¦). Say I have an entire season of a show that I released over the course of an entire month. Letās use June as an example as itās a clean 30 days. So, Iāve got 30 days worth of stories. In the case of a streaming service when they drop a season itās all of the episodes at once and then you can go ahead and binge them all in one sitting. Like any streaming service this is a good business model because people are coming and going, signing up and canceling, on a regular basis. Instead of trying to overwhelm someone to think they have to ācatch upā if itās the middle of June and they are released one day at a time, all 30 days are there on day one. You decide the pace you want to go. So many advantages in this model.
Now, Iām not releasing my 100 Word Stories all at once per month. Are you crazy?! No, I am releasing one per day, but the way I equate that to a streaming service has more to do with the person who is subscribing in the middle of a month. Or even the next month and they want to go back to the ābeginningā to read the others cause they enjoyed my stories so much. This is where being a paid subscriber comes in. To go backwards requires access to my archive. That level of access requires a paid subscription.
To explain it in another way, on July 1st I will have everything written from June 2nd – June 30th archived and accessible to paid subscribers only. However, for those who were subscribed from the beginning, they saw and read my stories on the days they were sent.
HOW IS AN ARCHIVE DIFFERENT OR BETTER?
The difference between archiving a month later is all in how it makes me feel to do it. I feel just as icky as Iām sure you do to either make my stories paid to begin with or share part of it and then put up a paywall. In both instances it severs the connection between myself and the community Iām trying to build. And if youāll notice, Iām not archiving the June 1st story. My idea is to leave the story written on the 1st of each month open to all so I can continue to at least share past stories with newcomers.
Is my way better? Depends on what your needs and expectations are for your Substack. Also depends heavily on the type of content youāre delivering. Some might feel this content I write in my Editorials should go behind a paywall or be for paid only. I might consider it if everyone who needed to read this were paid subscribers. But I know the majority who get anything out of these are writers (just like me) and canāt afford to pay me for the knowledge I impart, so I share it freely. Itās what I wish wouldāve been done for me when I was desperately searching for answers.
WHEN CAN I START?
Now if you like. You can easily go back to old stuff and just edit the post and make it for Paid Only. And once you do, let your subscribers know. Maybe link to some of them in your welcome email or about page as a small nudge to get them to upgrade to paid.
To me, whatās more important than when you start is being consistent and intentional in what you decide to archive. Donāt be wishy washy about it. If you say youāre going to put all of your X in the archive after a set amount of time, be sure and do it otherwise no one will take you seriously and your idea to convert free to paid will likely backfire.
After watching a YouTube video with Ali Abdaal interviewing Colin and Samir, something was said by Samir that made me ask myself the following question:
Itās a 2.5hr interview. If you have the time, I recommend watching it from beginning to end. if you donāt, read on to see what pieces I extracted and wanted to flesh out a bit more as I apply it to my own writing journey.
A ācreatorā is empathetic towards the audience. An āartistā as no empathy towards the audience. An artist paints something and says āthis is what I wanted to paint, I donāt care what you like about it, you can interpret it however you like.ā
Thereās a balance between what you want to make, what the audience wants, and what the platform wants. And right in the middle of that is ācontent market fit.ā
When I heard that I immediately had to ask myself if I was an artist or a creator. If Iām being honest I feel more of an artist. I am putting out content I want to write and not stopping to consider if any of what I write is what you, the subscriber, wants to read. And if that statement I just said is true, do I want to continue down the path of being an artist or do I want to pivot and give being a creator a try? Again, speaking frankly, I donāt think I do. I think I like where I am.
There is a certain level of fear and doubt that comes with wanting to be empathetic to an audience. If I donāt write what I feel you want to read then I am frozen in fear and writing nothing. Or if i do push something out and donāt get the reaction or fanfare I was hoping for, then Iām terrified about the possible silence or negative reception of the next thing I write.
I donāt see being a creator sustaining me enough to continue producing content for a long time let alone the rest of this year. And I wonder if this can be a truth for other writers that we just arenāt able to face or understand. How many of us are really āartists,ā angry that our work isnāt being read and loved by everyone, thereby converting free readers into paid subscribers. The issue is not with our readers, itās with our lack of empathy for them. And now that I know this, and freely admit this, I actually feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I am writing for me and my hope is that you will enjoy it. And because Iām writing for me, I hold no animosity towards the fact that I have a handful of paid subscribers, that I have yet to see any free subscriber growth, or that I donāt receive the same level of support that other writers receive.
When I think about the other writers who do get recognized, get supported, and get showered with constant adoration from all levels, I realize they are creators. They are clearly empathetic to their audience. And empathy deserves reward.
Does that mean that artists who create for themselves donāt deserve acolades and rewards as well? On the contrary! Of course we do. But we shouldnāt get beside ourselves when someone else gets it over us.
I realize this is probably going to be a hot take to many who will disagree vehemently with my thoughts. Please understand Iām merely thinking out loud about my own circumstances and view of my journey. You may not see yourself or your journey in quite the same way.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being an artist or a creator. Just like being a pantser doesnāt make you better or smarter than plotters. They are simply choices and just like any choice, they are interchangeable. And you know what else? There are plenty of examples of successful artists and creators just like there are plenty of failures with pantsers and plotters. This is not about saying whatās right and wrong. But about the choices we make.
Something else I wanted to spend a little time analyzing or sharing was what Ali mentioned about the three levels of a creative person:
Level One – Get going
Donāt think about or over analyze what you want to create and share. Just do it. Too many times we over analyze and end up never sharing what we just created.
Level Two – Get good
Now that youāve gotten into a rhythm with sharing what youāve created over a lengthy period of time, consistently, itās time to tweak and improve. Sure, what you shared in the beginning wasnāt your best work. But like anything you put hard work and effort into, youāll eventually get better over time.
Level Three – Get smart
Improvement isnāt the end goal. There is still further we can go. The best phase is to now get smart about what youāre creating so you can create more and expand.
What level are you on right now in your journey?
I would say Iām in the āget smartā level. Iām doing things like scheduling posts and creating templates several months in advance. This allows me to spend more time writing and thinking about new story ideas rather than spending time putting together my emails daily.
Over the course of several weeks I decided to do a deep dive into all of the fiction serials on Substack. However, before I started, I wanted to make my job a bit easier. Therefore, I implemented a few rules that a serial had to follow in order for me to invest any amount of time researching it. These rules not only made it easy for me to narrow down the list, but I realized it also gave me a great blue print for the doās and donāts of my own serial coming in 2024. So, if youāve got a serial or youāre thinking about starting one, I hope my findings will help you make it the best possible experience for future readers.
Also, if youāre looking for the list of active serials on Substack:
Before we get started, letās take a quick look at some numbers:
Number of Serials before my criteria was applied: 100+
Number of Serials after my criteria was applied: 39
Frequency: Majority release chapters weekly.
Paid vs Free: Many are free to read while nearly equal amount are free to paid (vise versa).
CONSISTENCY
Having a preset schedule for release is one thing, sticking to that schedule and making sure you donāt miss a week or a release date is imperative. Iāve seen too many serials that start and then after only a few chapters nothing new has come out. This can be disappointing to any reader who is taking a chance to read your work. Itās not great to see gaps, especially if other content is there but no updates on the serial itself. My suggestion, if you feel as if you simply cannot continue with the serial at this time, would be to remove it and start on a clean slate, especially if you are looking to start fresh with something new.
Being consistent doesnāt always mean forcing yourself to be creative in order to meet an overly demanding deadline. You do, however, have a couple options to help with consistency, neither of which I like but I had to fully admit to myself:
Write it all first. It hurts no one to write the entire novel first before you start to release it chapter by chapter. At least, this ensures weekly content. This also can help to free you up for editing as you go. If you have an active readership, they can help you along the way with what they like and donāt like. Write the full story and youāll find giving yourself that year (or more) to write it before you share it publicly will have been more than worth it.
Weekly isnāt the rule. Just because a vast majority of serials out in the world today release a chapter per week, doesnāt mean that is the blueprint that you must follow. Now, I wouldnāt recommend releasing a chapter every 2 – 3 months. I think that is leaving too much of a gap between chapters where your reader can become disinterested or forget the last chapter. Thereās a reason why television shows will release a new episode every week with only a few exceptions (ex. holidays). There is also a reason why streaming services like Netflix adopt the ārelease it all at onceā model but viewers wonāt always binge it in one sitting.
At the end of the day, you need to be ready for what comes with taking the step towards releasing a serial. It is very demanding and time consuming no matter what path you take. But it is always satisfying if you can keep up the pace and be consistent for your readers along the way. Theyāll appreciate it.
INDEX PAGE VS SECTION
Sure, having a Section in Substack is great. It allows all of the chapters to be neatly together in one place. But I would highly recommend creating an Index Page as well. The index allows for flexibility to share more information about the serial than can be done with a Section where you can only add a brief description.
Iāve seen some pretty amazing Index pages that go deeper than the usual list of chapters. Some options I recommend implementing in your own page:
Chapter synopsis.
High level information about your world/book that the passersby might find interesting.
Links to each chapter. Youād be surprised how many will have an index page but donāt include the link to the chapters.
The index page should be a space where you strike the right tone for what the reader can expect with your serial. If you have more than one thing going on under one umbrella, then outlining how that will look on this page is important. Perhaps you have some paid content and some free content. Let your potential readers know which is which.
One last thing, including your Index page on the menu bar can be helpful but if you have more than one serial going on, you donāt need to have them all there. Just the main one or most current. You can relegate the others to links in your About page.
LACK OF COHESIVENESS
Be sure to include an easy way to get to the Index Page and Previous Chapter on each new chapter. And put these links at the beginning and end of each chapter. This will help not only recurring readers to go back one if they missed a week, but also newcomers who might come across the serial and want an easy way to see the Index so they know what they are getting themselves into.
NAVIGATION IS KEY
The menu bar is really important nowadays. If you had asked me 6 months ago or 1 year ago I wouldnāt have given the menu bar a second thought. But with Substack doing such a tremendous job acclimating newcomers to not only Substack but visiting our actual pages, itās paramount that we make the Index page not only easy to find, but not buried either. What do I mean by that? How many different pages/sections do you have on your menu bar currently? If I have to scroll from left to right to see them all, thatās a problem. Making sure your serial index page is there is important but try not to surround it with pages that may not be updating as frequently or other things that will take attention away from it. Pinning the Index page on the homepage isnāt such a bad idea either. Unless youāre like me and you have a āYou are Hereā page that outlines more than just your serial index for newcomers. In which case, make sure you highlight with ease and simplicity how a reader can access your serial.
As I work through my serial and all the pieces Iām creating to get ready for January, I wonder if seeing this kind of behind-the-scenes stuff would be interesting to anyone out there? If so, let me know in the comments and Iāll see what I can do about capturing the images, templates, and scheduler into one Editorial for the future. And donāt worry, Iāll never put anything I share along my journey with writing behind a paywall.
Are you writing a serial? If so, tell me what itās about? Share your index page in the comments. And if you found this at all helpful, let me know what changes youāve made or plan on making because of it?
Everything you need and need to know to master Pentober!
If youāve heard me mention Pentober many times before itās because Iāve been waiting so long to talk about it I just canāt help myself! And now that we are so close to October 1st I want to give one final walk-through of just how easy it is to participate!
This is a community event. I want everyone, whether you write fiction or not, to join in! Even if you just journal. This is for you. So, find a notebook or notepad (with or without lines) and a pen or pencil. Get yourself to a quiet corner and letās write together.
STEP I – The Tools
I still havenāt decided myself if Iām going to be bold with a pen or use a pencil for the benefit of erasing. Time will tell where I end up on that front. But so long as you have a notebook/notepad (with or without lines) and a pen/pencil then youāre all set. For info on how Iām going to share my tools and work, keep reading.
STEP II – Location + Music
I believe trying to find a place with as little distractions as possible is always helpful when sitting down to write, no matter the topic. As this event is very much āanti-technologyā might I suggest a comfy couch? I know when Iām in āwork-modeā on my computer, a desk is best. But for this, I donāt think we need to be as rigid with out surroundings.
Music is optional, but if youāre like me, sometimes a good song can help set the mood to write. And if youāre also like me, music with lyrics can be a cause for distraction instead of inspiration. That is why I listen to classical music when Iām the thick of a great writing session. Here is my go-to playlist on Spotify:
STEP III – The Prompt List
Okay, so before we take one last look at the prompt list, I want to remind you that you do not need to use the list if you prefer not to. Sometimes a word just doesnāt speak to you or evoke inspiration that manifests into a story. That is perfectly fine. The key point of this event is first and foremost to encourage creative writing. Now that we got that out of the way, the list takes itās inception from Inktober which does a similar list for illustrators everywhere.
Take the word and either feature it somewhere in your story, or use it as inspiration instead. The choice is yours. For an added layer of difficulty and challenge (if you want) make your story exactly 100 words in length. This will be how I intend to go about writing my stories. Of course, if you want to write pages upon pages of a story by hand, that is perfectly fine. But keep a few things in mind:
There will be sharing involved so neatness and legibility of the handwriting is important.
A great story, however brief, can be accomplished with less space, not more.
Here is the Pentober 2023 List:
STEP IV – Sharing Our Work
Writing the story is only half the fun. The other half comes when we can see each otherās work and praise as well. This means taking a picture of your story to share it around.
Iād love the opportunity to feature your handiwork (see what I did thereā¦) and there are a few ways you can help me do this:
Reply to my email. Unfortunately, leaving an image comment just doesnāt work (yet, I hopeā¦) in Substack. So, instead, I ask that you hit the reply button to my email and attach your story.
Share your story on social media and use the hashtag #pentober. Iām not the most active there these days but for Pentober I will make an exception for October and visit: Instagram, X, and BlueSky.
In my November First Edition email I will highlight the ones Iāve read and seen and I will be sure to also share your stories along the way on Substack Notes and even reshare on social media as well! Oh, and if you see my work out there, Iād love it if you shared it as well.
HOMEWORK TODAY: Share your tools with me! Restack this Note (if youāre a Substack Notes user, and include a pic of them. Or, share an image of your Pentober tools on social media using the hashtag #pentober and Iāll be on the lookout. Iād love to put together a collage of our tools!
STEP V – Rinse / Repeat
This is a 30-day event. Pace yourself. If you miss a day that is A-ok! The point is to have fun along the way and meet other Pentober participants as well.
BONUS – VIRTUAL WRITING EVENT
Would you like to see exactly how I write my 100 word stories LIVE? Well, in October youāll have TWO opportunities to see for yourself. I have two 90 minute sessions planned, all happening on my Twitch Channel, where you can watch me write a few stories, learn my secrets, ask me anything, join me in some sprints, and much more! So, mark your calendars and sign up below:
Session I – Saturday, October 7th 12:30pm – 2pm EST (90 min)
Session II – Saturday, October 21st 12:30pm – 2pm EST (90min)
Each session will have different prompts used and therefore feel slightly different, especially depending on how many people are present.
I will be the only person on camera. You will only be in the Twitch chat room. If youād like for me to do more of these (perhaps at different times of the day) or use Zoom so we can all be on camera (but not required), do let me know in the comments.
I hope this helps us all appreciate the art of handwriting again.
EXAMPLES
From September 24th – September 30th Iāve been doing a practice week. Here are three days worth of examples for you to see how easy it can be.
If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments.
From September 1st to the end of 2023, I will rely on your comments, likes, and the open rates to help me choose the best 100 word stories Iāve written. My intention is to create the very first collection of these stories. The first book will include, you guessed it, one hundred stories. So far, Iāve written over 120 such stories. In the next four months Iāll add another 120+, bringing the total number to choose from to almost 250! Thatās a lot for me to filter through. Sure, I have my favorites, but I want to involve you in the ones I select for this collection. I realize not everyone wants to leave a comment, so hereās how you can ācast your voteā and become an integral part of my book:
Leave a comment. I will even count comments that say āthis was terrible.ā Although, I hope if youāre leaving a comment itās to say something nice or constructiveā¦
Hit the Like button.
Open my email.
Yes, these are in the order of how much each will weigh when it comes to scoring. So, leaving a comment will weigh much higher than Likes or Open Rates when Iām scoring each story. The scoring will be a bit more ānuancedā because Iām going to try to do a 1 – 5 star rating based on the three criteria above plus how I feel about the story as well. I could just go by the Likes and Open Rate which are more statistical but who wants a book put together by stats alone? I know I donāt. So I need to put a bit more human emotion into my decision making. Of course, this means that if I like something written in these next 4 months that gets zero comments and zero Likes, I will include it in the book anyway. It is my book after all!
I will grab all the stories that received a 5 star score and put them in the book. When I came up with this idea my biggest fear was having over 100 stories with a 5 star rating. But now Iām worried I may not have that many. Then Iāll be forced to take the 4-stars which bring its own unique challenges.
WHY NOT DO THE FIRST 100 DAYS?
Ah, well, I thought of this too. But I felt that would be the easy way out. Sure, some of these are written in a particular order or go together and to separate them wouldnāt make sense. I have an idea when it comes to those particular stories. But if I were to just take the first 100 days it would be leaving a whole lot of amazing ones on the table. I feel like Iām getting better at writing these over time so it stands to reason that number 300 might be far and away better than number 52 in my list of stories. I want to try to give them all equal opportunity.
WHAT ABOUT THE STORIES WRITTEN FROM MAY – AUGUST?
Since those stories are for paying subs only now, as they are archived, I will go back through them to rate them based on two of the three criteria above and my own judgement. Some of them do have comments left prior to being put behind a paywall and I will take them into account as well.
YOU MENTIONED STORIES THAT GO TOGETHER. WILL THEY STAY TOGETHER IN THE BOOK?
Of course! However, I must really love all of the stories in order to put all of them in. Now, what doesnāt count are the Substack Name Publications or any āthemesā I may have thought up of at the last minute or that were intentional. Another example would be the Tarot decks or Pentober. I donāt want to devote an entire monthās worth of 30+ days when I only have 100 to choose. That would be almost 1/3 of the book! If itās a pair or like āthe 7ā then sure, they might go in the book and be kept together.
WILL THERE BE MORE THAN JUST THE STORIES IN THE BOOK?
This is where it gets interesting. I will include a few sentences or paragraphs alongside each story that will give a bit of background to how it came to be written. If I choose any publication name stories I will, of course, reference that Substack specifically. I want to have more than just 100 pages of stories but not distract from them either.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE EDITIONS?
If you hadnāt heard there will be TWO different and very distinct versions of this first (and every subsequent) collection. This is how they will be distinguished from each other:
Size: One will be 7.5 x 7.5 and the other will be 8 x 8. Yes, I am going to make these collections into a square shape. Each story being just 100 words I think visually it makes sense.
Hardcover vs Paperback: The Special Edition will be hardcover. The regular edition will be paperback.
All paid subscribers will receive the hardcover special edition version in the mail. US/Canada shipping for monthly subscribers. For global shipping you must be an annual or founding member. This reward is for every collection I print. Hardcovers will never be available for purchase outside of subscribers. That will be the only way to get your hands on these.
Paperback versions will be available for purchase on Amazon and other online outlets.
As an added bonus for the hardcover editions, they will include more than the standard 100 stories. That number is still being worked out. But they will ALSO include 100 word stories that have never been (and will never be) published so you can only read them if you are a paid subscriber to get the book in hand.
Will there be an ebook? At the moment Iām leaning towards no. However, if I can figure out how to make the unique formatting design of the paperback book look just as visually cool as an ebook then I will do so but only for the paperback. The ONLY way to get your hands on the hardcover is as a paid subscriber. Have I convinced you yet?
ONE FINAL NOTE
I really want to thank all of you for silently pushing me to write these stories. There have been many nights where I just didnāt think I had anymore ideas. But then I see how many Iāve written so far and I think of all of you whoāll read it and maybe like it and I push myself just a little bit. Just one more story. Now, I donāt worry as much about if Iāll write my story but what my story will be about. I still hope youāll like them but thatās par for the course when youāre a fiction writer.
Oh, and if youāre wondering about release dates for these two editions? Iām thinking Summer 2024. If by some miracle Iām able to push that up to Springtime, youāll be the first to know.
100 Word Story Collaborations & 100+ 100 Word Stories Written
Dear Reader,
This email might be cut off before the end. Click the Subject Title to view this email online in its entirety.
With Fall under way and the Summer weather hopefully long behind us, the time has come to talk about a new month with an all new idea for prompts! Yes, in September weāll be going through another suit in the Literary Tarot deck, but I want to take a quick peek behind the curtain at October because this is an idea nearly ten years in the making! It started from Inktober. If youāre not familiar, it was created by Jake Parker in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. And ever since, Iāve wanted to do the same for myself to develop positive writing habits.
So, how will this go? As always, for myself, Iāll be writing one 100 Word Story every day in October. You can write any length youād like using the word prompts, but I suggest keeping it short when you see the Pentober Rules:
Write a story using a pen/pencil & paper
Absolutely no typing on a computer or digital device allowed!
Share it.*
Repeat.
*Take a picture of (or scan) your story and post it to social media, your Substack, or Substack Notes. How or where you share it is less important as the act of handwriting a story in the first place.
PEN/PENCIL & PAPER? REALLY?!
What makes this challenge great is not just writing a story, but taking the act of writing all the way back to before typewriters and just keeping it basic. Cross-outs and all! To mark this special month of Pentober Iām going to write all of my stories in a Jonathan Adler journal. I havenāt devised a plan for calculating 100 words by hand besides good old fashioned counting but Iām excited to get back to the basics and I hope you join me! If you do, Iād love to hear about it in the comments section and share a picture of your journal and writing implement as well!
THE PENTOBER [OCTOBER] LIST
Because youāre subscribed Iām not going to make you wait! Now, no cheating! Try to wait till October 1st before you start going off to write all 31 stories! The point of sharing the list this early is just to get your brain percolating and hopefully build some hype around Pentober ahead of time. Feel free to share the list around social media so anyone who may want to join us can sign-up:
JOIN ME SEPTEMBER 24 – SEPTEMBER 30 FOR A PRACTICE RUN
Thatās right! Iām not going to send you into October without some examples of what Pentober is all about!
Starting September 24th I will share via email (and on Substack Notes) exactly how I intend on using my notebook and pen to write my stories, count the words, and share the story on social media.
And to keep it exactly the same as October, here are 7 words Iāll be using the last week of September as prompts:
A QUICK POLL
Iāve seen this done by a few people and, in truth, I did this a couple years ago with my Friday Fiction 2.0 Podcast. And Iām wondering if you all would be even slightly interested in my bringing it back, starting with October, and possibly going back into the Archives as well with my 100 Word Stories:
Keep in mind because each recording would likely be under 30 seconds I am not likely to do any voice editing or anything really fancy and Iām not by any means on the level of a voice artist like LeVar Burton who does some amazing dramatic readings on his podcast and I highly recommend listening to him if you arenāt already! But if itās something youād like to hear, let me know in the poll and like I said, Iāll introduce it in October alongside Pentober! And who knows, maybe this will be my entry into TikTok and Iāll do some vertical video recording of me reading the story as well? š¤
THE SHORT SHORT STORY COMPETITION
Every year I try to enter at least one writing competition. Iām building a list of loses and rejections. Unfortunately, 2022 I skipped because I had a lot of family changes that happened. Iād like to get back to it in 2023 with the Writerās Digest competition. The Early Deadline is November 15th with an entry fee of $30 and Iād like your help to raise the funds. Consider becoming a paid subscriber. If I get 10 subscribers to upgrade to paid in September/October I would net just enough to afford the entry fee by November 15th. If you do your part to help, I promise to do mine and write the best 1500 word story Iāve ever written!
If you want to learn more about the contest and join me in submitting something this year, check out the page here.
A 100 WORD STORY CALL FOR COLLABORATIONS
There are so many of you who showed interest in writing these 100 word stories that I invited anyone who wanted to join me to collaborate and there have been 7 so far with the 8th coming either today or later this weekend. If youāre wondering where you can read them, they are exclusive to my Substack Notes.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
I will send you 50 words to start and you will conclude the story with your 50 words. Trust me when I tell you, no matter how or where I think the collaborator will take the story, it is always a surprise, which is why I enjoy doing them so much.
I am putting out a call for anyone else who may want to collaborate with me. Just let me know by sending me an email: [email protected] and put ā100 Word Collaborationā in the Subject Line. I may need a day or two to get back to you but I promise I will. I only do these once a week so keep that in mind. Also, if weāve collaborated before, we can totally do it again so go ahead and reach out if you want!
WORTH THE WATCH
Ali Abdaal is a leading leader in productivity and Iāve been watching his videos religiously for the last 5+ years, at least. He has a new book coming out this Winter (Feel Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You), but here is a great video where he discusses some great tips about being better at productivity.
A MESSAGE FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS UNLOCKED – Iāve recently resurfaced all of my ālong fictionā pieces and placed them all behind a paywall. I will have new flash fiction and long form fiction stories of up to 2.5k words coming very soon as a part of my Curio Fiction collection of stories coming in 2024. But for now, please enjoy exclusive access to my longer fiction by clicking HERE.
I recently read an email newsletter from Jessica Brody of Writing Mastery fame who is also the author of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. In her email, she talks about a concept called āNovel-in-Storiesā and I was hooked immediately because itās something Iāve already been doing but didnāt realize someone had given it a name.
What is a novel-in-stories?
A novel-in-stories is a literary work that consists of a series of interconnected short stories or vignettes, often featuring overlapping characters, settings, or themes.
Novel-in-Stories Example
There are plenty of short story collections but the key to making one of them a novel-in-stories is the common thread between them. A recent collection would be Tom Hanksās Uncommon Type. The common thread is a typewriter featured in every single short story in some capacity.
How to get started writing your own novel-in-stories:
You could start with a short story youāve already written. That can be a great source of inspiration. Or you can try to start with a common thread that you already know ahead of time will weave through your collection of stories. Here are a few common threads you could use to get you started:
a common character | You can build your novel-in-stories by following the same character. Since youāre not writing a traditional novel, you have some more freedom to explore the character from multiple perspectives. This can be done by having different stories from different POVs that somehow include the main character and show how they grow and change throughout the novel. Winesburg, Ohio is a good example of this, with George Willard as the common character.
a common setting | Like James Joyce did with Dubliners, you could use a common setting for your collection of stories. In this style of novel-in-series, the setting becomes almost like another POV character, where you get to see different times and different people through the eyes of the same place. With this method, you can keep the same setting across short periods of time (following different characters as they pass through the same place on a particular day for example), across longer stretches of time (such as city, building, or place thatās existed for many generations), or anything in between.
a common object | A novel-in-stories can also be centered around a single object. This can be the same object, perhaps something that gets passed relatively quickly from person to person (like a coin), or more slowly, like a piece of jewelry or art gets passed from generation to generation. You could also follow physically different objects that are of the same kind, like Hanks used the typewriters in Uncommon Type.
a common unifying theme or concept | This method is a lot more flexible than the others, where your novel-in-stories is held together by a common theme thatās experienced across the different stories. This theme could be anything. In Olive Kitteridge, for example, Elizabeth Strout uses a novel-in-stories to explore the complexity of human relationships, the challenges of aging, and the search for meaning in life. In Wisenburg, Ohio, for example, Anderson explores themes of isolation and loneliness in addition to the common setting.
Progress Iām making with my own novel-in-stories idea:
This is exactly what Iām working on or have been trying to work on for the past year (or so). I want to write a series of stand-alone stories but they all have something (or someone) in common. My curio fiction (which I wrote about in The Writer magazine July issue1) collection is still in the works and will feature 10 short stories, each of them will have something in common with each other. As a practice run, I recently wrote what I refer to as āThe 7.ā A series of 100 word stories that are connected. Here are those stories:
6/24/23 – Starless Sky (Rhiannon – Fleetwood Mac)
Her feet dangled over the edge of the roof her seven story apartment building. Bare feet. Painted black toe nails. She turned on her teal Studebaker AM/FM radio, tuned to her favorite station.
āThis song goes out to all the wild women flying in that starless sky. You know who you are.ā
It was like her favorite broadcaster knew exactly what she wanted to hear. He spoke directly to her soul. It was a sign. The one she waited for her whole life. The lyrics buzzed through her body. She swayed side to side, closed her eyes and leapt.Ā
6/25/23 – Stolen (Johanna – Sweeney Todd)
āWelcome to another hour of macabre musical tracks! Somewhere out there I hope thereās a Johanna just waiting to be stolen.ā
The truck hit a bump along an old gravel road. Headlights off so not to arouse suspicion. Radio loud enough for the driver and his passenger to hear. He hummed along to the song, tapping the wheel hypnotically.
Moonlight broke through the sycamore trees revealing a dilapidated Victorian house, long abandoned by time and money.
He lowered the cab of his truck and pulled her bound legs towards him. Hoisting her over one shoulder her name tag falls. JOHANNA.
6/26/23 – Stop (Fancy – Reba McEntire)
Her gas tank was just over three quarters empty and a sign up ahead said she wouldnāt see another gas station or rest stop for sixty miles. She pulled off at the next exit, excited at the prospect of stretching her legs.
Engine switched off, she opened her door and winced from the loud gas station music.
āā¦on hot Summer days I just want a beer, a drag, and a Fancy tune. How ābout we light it upā¦ā
She pulled a cigarette and match from her pocket, then releasing the nozzle from its cradle, stood still, letting gasoline drip out.
6/27/23 – Heartless (Billie Jean – Michael Jackson)
Waiting at a drive thru her favorite song came on the radio so she turned it up. When it got to her favorite part she belted the words like no one was watching. āWhatāll it be?ā
She shouted her order, refusing to turn it down till it finished, and pulled up to the next window to get her food.
āThat one goes out to all the heart broken girls secretly wishing to be heartless.ā
Bag on her lap she pulled away. While at a stop light she reached in for her burger and pulled out her still beating heart instead.
6/28/23 – Lie in Wait (Jolene – Dolly Parton)
āIf youāve got a best friend named Jolene, be warned. I hear sheās a man snatcher.ā
Heather lit a cigarette and lowered the volume on the station playing in her ears. She leaned against a tree and waited. No one paid her any attention while she watched her ex-boyfriend who was also waiting. For her.
When he waved to someone in the distance, a tear rolled down Heatherās cheek. Her cigarette fell and she snuffed it as she walked towards them.
āā¦and I cannot compete with youā¦ā
āJOLENE!ā A gunshot left her auburn hair mixed with blood on the ground.
6/29/23 – Buried (Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles)
āWhat a weird song to play at a bowling alley, amiright?āĀ
My friend and I giggled sneakily at the guy behind the shoe counter who looked just like a member of the Beatles.Ā
āAnd just like that, poor Eleanor is no more. Youāve been listening toā¦ā We laughed louder realizing it was a radio station playing and not a CD.
āEllie, youāre up,ā I said, then the power went out! I heard screams around me. āEllie?ā I whispered in a panic.
Lights came back on and there she was at the end of the lane, buried under hundreds of pins.
6/30/23 – The End (Delilah – Tom Jones)
She kissed him sweetly before he got in his truck and drove away. She walked to her bathroom and turned on a light.
āI knew a Delilah once, and she deserved to have the grin wiped from her face too. If you feel the same, this oneās for you.ā
He got out his car, leaving the door wide open, the song blasting into the night sky. He crossed the road to her front door and rang her doorbell.
Her laughter came before she opened the door then faded when she saw him standing there with a knife blocking the moonlight.
WHAT THREADS āTHE 7ā TOGETHER
Female song titles.
Female main characters.
Radio in each story.
Same radio host.
CURIO FICTION FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
As I mentioned earlier, I have 10 such short stories planned. Each of them woven together by one of the common threads I mentioned earlier. Which one am I using? Youāll just have to read them to find out. Which brings me to the end of this editorial. Iāve recently decided to treat my writing with a bit more seriousness and that involves putting more of my fiction work behind the proverbial paywall. This includes my curio fiction short stories which I fully intend on sharing here, to my paid subscribers, when they are written in their rough draft form. I will also send my paid subscribers the ebook when it is ready as well as the paperback copy (personalized). If youād like to read the stories in their infancy and get this collection in your hands, consider subscribing today.
Read HERE for a comprehensive list of all the rewards paid subscribers receive.
And why you should be more conservative with your Likes as well
Recently, an update to Notes came to pass and this update made everybody very mad. It seemed like an innocent enough update. We could āfollowā fellow Substackers via Notes (which we were already treating like the best social media platform we never dreamed could be real) instead of feeling forced to subscribe to them. Seems like a win-win idea, right? Little did we know how wrong we were.
No sooner did this innocent update roll out did we start to see immediate repercussions. Strapped to the back of the āfollowā update was the āLikeā insanity child. Born of a strange idea we never asked for. And if we had I am sure we all would like to take it back!
Now, instead of just seeing the fresh new ideas and questions weāve come to love about Substack, free of ads and the other fluff we hate from other places, here we are in the land of confusion.
I see more āLikesā on my timeline than actual Notes. Sure, some are restacking instead, but I didnāt realize just how few and far between real communication was happening until the āLikeā swarm hit. Now I find myself having to scroll past no less than a dozen āLikeā posts before I get to something that someone actually wrote that I want to comment on. By the time this happens, I am:
Annoyed.
Fatigued.
Confused.
Over it.
That last one is the real problem, as I see it. Once Iām āoverā something it typically means my brain has rewired itself to feel the previous three all at once even before Iāve encountered, or in this case opened, the app. Why do I want to feel those emotions every single time I open an app? Better to just avoid the thing altogether. It doesnāt take much for this to happen and without even realizing it I use the thing less and less till Iāve stopped using it altogether. I am nearing the stage where opening Substack to look at Notes and actively participate in that community will cease. And that bothers me on so many levels.
THIS NEVER SHOULDāVE HAPPENED
I realize this is likely a āme problemā but if you are feeling similarly, Iād love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Iām annoyed that I should be feeling a similar way to how I felt back during my bird visit days. Five years ago I was an active twit. I was on there 24/7. Twitting and the like. Pretty soon I was fatigued by the whole notion of ātwit twit twit and pray to be seen.ā I had better things to do. I decided to work around the system. Surely I could make this place my own with what little controls that were available to me, right? So I went about attempting to game the system. I crafted Lists and only visited the Explore page. I did what I could but there were too many holes in the ship. Why was I wasting so much time trying to salvage what was unsalvageable? My confusion quickly led to me being over it. So over it, in fact, there be no twits on my phone and any remnants I may have acquired of it on my computer or other devices are 100% wiped clean. I AM TWIT FREE!
Fast forward to Substack Notes. A place far and away unlike any twit Iād ever encountered. A breath of fresh air. Free from pesky annoyances. I actively enjoyed spending time waist deep in the Notes of anyone and everyone who was present. And whatās more, I was never tired or drained from the time I spent in Notes because I came away either with knowledge or dropping knowledge on someone else. To help or be helped was a concept I never thought possible. It just made sense. I never wanted to leave.
WHY IāM MAKING SUCH A BIG STINK ABOUT āLIKESā
To put it simply, because I see the writing on the wall. It starts with āLikesā but before we know it, the next āupdateā will be couched as the best thing they couldāve done for the community but I guarantee it will come with itās own set of challenges and confusion. Sure, I could try to live with the āLikesā issue and overlook it or allow myself to be frustrated for a time and then get that little hit of dopamine when I finally encounter a real post in Notes. I could probably suffer this way for 30min before I had to exit quickly. Is that what Substack wants? Maybe they realize weāre all spending too much time scrolling and communicating in Notes so this is their way of giving back by shouting at us to āLEAVE THIS PLACE AND GO WRITE ANOTHER EMAIL!ā
If that is the case, I thank you, Substack Gods! It is true, that ever since Iāve found myself spending less and less time in the new land of confusion and annoyance I am writing way more content to send via email to my subscribers.
However, I enjoy meeting fellow Substack users and learning from them. Thereās no place else where I can get that kind of community. Not on Discord or any other platform. And to have it in the same place where I create my content is ideal.
Was Notes broken? Certainly not. If anything, it was perfect. And maybe thatās why it was changed in this way. I notice all too often that itās the things we find perfect that are immediately altered. Their creator thinking it can be made āmore perfect.ā So they tinker and toil and think theyāve done a great thing when in fact theyāve managed to take what once was perfect and tarnished it. I hope that the Substack Gods realize their colossal mistake and go back. If they continue on this road it will make it unfixable. And what is unfixable, as we all know too well, turns perfection into an absolute and total TWIT.
NEVER USING āLIKEā AGAIN
On a positive note (on Notes) what seeing so many āLikesā on my timeline has made me realize is that perhaps weāve all become complacent with this feature. Instead of saying how we feel, why we āLikeā what weāve just read, we rely on a button to convey that sentiment and move on. It becomes something we do without even realizing it. Does every single post/comment need to be āLikedā? I would argue the answer is no. They do not. And yet, I will received 10 Likes to my post or comment and zero comments. Sure, seeing something get all those Likes can be gratifying but pretty soon you realize just how empty that can be.
Receiving Likes tells me nothing. I am left with more questions than answers:
Why did you like it?
What did you like about it?
I challenge all of us to STOP using the Like button. It should not absolve us from actually saying something to each other. And guess what, if you donāt have anything to actually say, then donāt. I much rather receive zero Likes and 2 comments than 20 Likes and zero comments. One far outweighs the other. We need to stop being so lazy and free-wheeling with our Likes. There, I said it. And this is coming from someone who used to be just as foot loose and fancy free with the Like button as well. It got to the point where I would click the Like button before I even read the comment! What?! Thatās insanity!
Immediately after I realized Notes would take my innocent Like push and place it smack dab on other peoples timelines, I stopped. I will never Like again. The last thing I want to do is disrupt someoneās Notes experience because Iām throwing around my Likes like candy on Halloween night. Be the person you wish others to be. Donāt disrupt someone elseās Notes experience because you feel this urge to Like before you read.
Now, you donāt have to be exactly like me. If you really need to or want to Like something, by all means, go ahead. Iām just suggesting we THINK more about the Likes we give rather than just giving them.
The way we instinctively look both ways before we cross the street, we need to read it through before we click that Like button.
What are your feelings about this whole Like situation happening over on Substack Notes? Have you felt this shift at all? Perhaps you donāt even know what the heck Iām talking about? Well, you can visit Notes and see for yourself. Iāve oft heard it described as so much better than the other Twits out there. But as youāve read, only time will tell if that holds trueā¦
