364 Days Until Halloween 2021

If you're like me, you've already begun to count down the days until Halloween 2021.

I know, I know. It's Nov 1st. There are other holidays to look forward to.

Okay, I'll give you that. There ARE other holidays. But I'm still going to pine for the next Halloween. The most wonderful time of the year.

And in the meantime, I'm going to share a pretty cool Kickstarter project that I'm honored to be a part of. It's WMG Publishing's Holiday Spectacular 2020.

Imagine an original holiday story delivered to you every day during the holidays? But not just the regular "the holidays" - on top of the Christmas themed tales, you can get Valentines and Halloween tales for 2021.

It's the story gift that keeps on giving, almost all of the way through 2021.

This project was born out of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's combined love for short fiction and holiday countdown calendars.

Subscribers to this project will get the first story on November 26th, 2020 and then a new story EVERY DAY through January 1st, 2021.

That's right! A Brand New Original Holiday Story Every Day, following three distinct themes. Mysterious Chrismas, Fantastic Christmas, and Sweet Holidays.

But wait, there's more!!!!!

Because (and you'll see why I related this to my eagerness for Halloween 2021) there are two more wonderful projects:

•  From February 7th through the 14th, 2021, you can get eight original Valentine stories delivered to your inbox. One each day. This Sweet Valentines collection is edited by Annie Reed.
• From October 25th through November 2nd, 2021, you can get nine original Halloween stories delivered to your inbox. This Halloween Harvest collection is edited by yours truly.
  

All of the stories are fantastic. I've had the privilege, as one of the series editors, of reading them all. But I'm a little biased about the ones I selected for my combined Halloween and Harvest themed anthology.

The stories are available to be delivered on those calendar dates but will also be available in book format.

And you can get in on the action and check it all out before this Kickstarter runs out in another 16 days.

What's your favorite time of the year?

Imagine, If You Will, A Man Obsessed With Sharing Thought-Provoking Stories

I am about half-way through writing up the introductions to each of the stories in the Obsessions anthology that is currently part of a Kickstarter project. One might also think of these bits as interstitial pieces.

I learned how to do this effectively from mentor Kristine Kathryn Rusch while editing titles in the Fiction River anthology series. And I liken those bits to the role that Rod Serling played in The Twilight Zone, where he would walk out and set up and introduce a story.

In my case, each introduction, or interstitial, will include a bit of biographical information about the writer, my own teaser about what you're about to read, as well as some notes and direct quotes from the author on the inspiration, genesis, or other "behind-the-story" details. I write them immediately after going through a detailed read-thru and line-edit of the text, looking for typos or other formatting elements that might need a small tweak.

These bits run from anywhere between 300 to 1000 words. There's no specific formula. I liken them to me talking a long walk with the reader, and sharing some amazing stories that dear friends (the amazing contributing writers) have shared with me. And, as I relay each tale, I first introduce who that writer is and why their story is important to the overall theme I'm sharing.

Similar to that long walk, the other fun part is determining the order of the stories. Because they span multiple genres, and each has its own unique mood, cadence and feel, the order is important so I can keep my walking/listening/reading companion on a path that is interesting, offers plenty of different fascinating, entertaining, and thought-provoking bits of scenery to enjoy along the way.

What should be a riveting, entertaining, inspiring, and ultimately thought-provoking walk that stayed with them long after we both returned to our respective homes.

Have I mentioned how much I love this part of the process?

 

Cat Fight Blooper Clip

As I was interviewing Natasha Bajema, the author of BIONIC BUG, for a forthcoming episode of my Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing podcast, two of the cats (Fish and Meredeth) decided it was the perfect time for a little misunderstanding between the two of them.

An Adventure To Choose To Support

Remember the old Choose Your Own Adventure books? How would you like to do one in real life?

When I was doing a talk at the Ontario Writers Conference last year on the topic Digital Storytelling 360° I made a point of bringing up the possibility of writers crafting a story or even a mystery based on the GPS and or QR code function of a person's smartphone (it's at about 10 minutes in to the video) that brings them to or relies on physical world locations.

Interestingly enough, being part of that dream happened. 

I am delighted to be one of a group of authors taking part in a new collaborative writing project.  The other writers and I are creating writing Choose Your Own Adventures that you can do in real life!

Not only will the readers/participants actually get to stand where the story is happening but they can dictate what happens next, while exploring the weird and wonderful features of a new (or old!) city.

I will be penning the story that takes place in Toronto, Ontario.

It's a pretty progressive plan and an exciting project to be a part of.

But we need your help to get this project off the ground.

To do this we have set up a crowdfunding page for our project http://pozible.com/chooseadventure.

If you don’t know what crowdfunding is, it’s all explained on the page. But one thing to keep in mind is it involves rewards and they are amazing, including everything from signed books to Skype conversations with the authors.

If you are interested in seeing such a project get kick-started and could pledge to this project I would be greatly appreciative. Even if the only thing you can afford is to pass the word onto your friends, family, and colleges or just pledge $5, every bit counts! It really does.

We launched a couple of weeks ago and the funding and support is coming from around the globe.  But we still have a long way to go and really could use whatever support you can offer.

I mentioned that I am writing the Toronto story, if this project is able to establish the funding required.  But it will cost a lot to get this going, ensure all the writers are paid and that the technology and physical world elements are all in place to make this happen effectively.

Here are some of the stellar writers who will also be writing a choose your own adventure for this project:

Isobelle Carmody, Marianne De Pierres, Sean Williams, Mindy Klasky, Sophie Masson, Michael Pryor, Tansy Rayer Roberts, Kim Wilkins, Angela Slatter, Lee Battersby, David B. Coe, Jennifer St George and Robert Shearman.

If you are able to donate or simply share this cool project I would greatly appreciate it.  And if this project gets off the ground, I look forward to working on the Toronto adventure and sharing updates about it.