In Today’s Journal
* The Bradbury Challenge Report
* Taking a Breather Today
* FYI
* The Braying Jackass: A Bit of Fun
* Of Interest
The Bradbury Challenge Report
Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer.
The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories:
- Erin Donoho “An Un-Boring Woman” 2800 historical coming-of-age
- Balázs Jámbor “Memory Cube” 4400 fantasy, psychological
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Playing Chicken” 3107 Romance
- Christopher Ridge “Subdivision” 2123 horror/fantasy
- Christopher Ridge “The Memory Photo” 1827 fantasy
- Christopher Ridge “Pulling My Own Strings” 1432 horror
- Christopher Ridge “Cannibal Carwash” 2750 comedy horror
- Christopher Ridge “The Weight of Her” 1279 dark literary
- Christopher Ridge “A room for the Night” 1456 transgressive horror
- KC Riggs “The Wooden Box” 2462 General Fiction
- Dave Taylor “The Inheritance ” 2,729 Horror
Chris Ridge is still kickin’ his May Story-a-Day challenge! If you want to join him, email me.
Congratulations to all of these writers.
Taking a Breather Today
In the book on Author Intrusion, we’re already through Chapter 3. Last Thursday, I was about to post Chapter 3, Part 1 when a question came in from a writer.
That put me on a different track. When the smoke cleared an hour later, I’d written what will be the last chapter of the book. (There will be more between now and then.)
So I posted Chapter 3 “late,” Part 1 on Friday, Part 2 on Saturday, and Part 3 on Sunday. So today I thought I’d give you a minor breather from the book with the following catch-all.
FYI
First, Amazon is changing the way they calculate royalty rates for audio books. Dave Chesson (the Kindlepreneur) is on it with this article:
Dave also recommends the following sites (and I concur). These are invaluable if you’re considering publishing through one of the pay-up-front subsidy/vanity publishers.
I’ve warned against using such publishers in the past, often to no avail. Sometimes these publishers soak writers for thousands of dollars.
So before you commit to a subsidy publisher, at least search these two sites to see whether your would-be “self” publisher is valid or a scam:
Dave also announced that Inkers Con 2026 is coming up.
From his email,
“Inkers Con 2026 runs May 30 through June 12 and includes
- 24 expert presentations covering craft, marketing, business, and advertising
- Live Q&As, networking, roundtables, and coworking sessions
- Replay access for 6 years
- A 30-day money-back guarantee
“It’s all online, so you can attend from home and watch sessions on your own schedule.
“And honestly, one of the best parts of events like this is simply hearing how other working authors approach the business side of publishing. Sometimes one small idea changes how you market, structure, or think about your books going forward.
“If you decide to register, use the coupon code KINDLEPRENEUR at checkout. It’ll save you $50 and send a small commission my way to help fund my coffee addition.
“Here’s the link with more details: Inkers Con 2026.”
Okay, I’ll be back tomorrow or the next day with Chapter Four. Talk with you again soon.
The Braying Jackass: A Bit of Fun
One reader, in a comment on my “Braying Jackass” post from a couple of days ago, suggested I use Chat GPT to create an image of the creature, then share the image in Sunday’s post.
But as my writer friend A.S. often says, “I had excuses”:
- Being hopelessly (and happily, thank you) behind the times, I wasn’t sure where to begin.
- Plus Sunday’s post was already running long.
- Besides, as a fiction writer I’d much rather let my readers experience whatever mental image appears in their mind as a result of my description.
But in the end, the idea hooked my curiosity, so off I went to Chat GPT for the very first time and copy-pasted my description from the post.
Below is what appeared in Chat GPT’s “mind.” (Frankly, I’m a little annoyed at how much the image resembles me except for the toothy grin.) Enjoy:
Of Interest
Change Your Writing Life Through the Science of Habits
The Collector This is some really great stuff on several topics. And a subscription is free.