Time For Celebration!

Reader Update | 3 Month Mark

Happy Halloween! (almost)

It’s a special time for a lot of people around the world. There’s usually something for everyone around this time of year. You have the Fall weather for the outdoorsy types, you have the Fall flavors for the foodies, you have scary stories and the horror movies. You have the ‘fests for the drinkers and the costumes and decorations for the tinkerers, candy for the sugar fiends and gatherings for the social beans. And and and…

So much to celebrate! For me, it’s my birthday month (a Halloween baby). It was odd growing up with a Halloween birthday because everyone is celebrating already. Not that I minded. I’m very introverted by nature so having the focus elsewhere was actually kind of a treat. Every year I was asked if I wanted a party or just go trick ‘r treating and I would generally pick the latter. It was better that way.

With that said, I just want to say thank you if you’re reading this newsletter. It means the world to me. It’s easily the best birthday present for a writer. The Storyletter is up to 44 wonderful readers and growing (more on that down below). 😃 I can’t wait to see where this will be a year from now, or even six months from now. Things are going so fast and I have so many stories to tell you all.

New Writers

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve added some new stories by a guest writer named Daniel W. Davison. He’s a good friend of mine and I’ve read a lot of his stuff over the last couple of years. He’s taught me a lot about the craft and I hope to continue to work with him to bring quality content to The Storyletter Substack, but that’s obviously up to him. I’ve been thinking about how to expand the ‘Storyletter Presents’ feature to other writers. I haven’t pinned anything down other than I want to do it. Maybe via a writing contest, or something like an open-submission window during certain parts of the year. I’m open to ideas.

Notable Mentions

• I just finished Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass. It was very insightful and he’s got a way of speaking that’s much like storytelling in and of itself. He breaks down different genres, different mediums to include scripts and comics, and he gives examples from his own work throughout the process. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a fun way to get some tips.

• I’m stoked about the upcoming Dragonsteel Mini-Con event with Brandon Sanderson here in Utah in November. He’ll be releasing the third book in his Skyward series titled ‘Cytonic’ and attendees will get a gift bag with a numbered/signed edition of the book. It’s also rumored that he’ll read a segment from an unreleased book to the audience (he did this at the last book launch I attended). If you’re in Utah, hit me up and maybe we can network at the event!

• I learned of a new tool for indie authors looking to network and promote their books and newsletters. It’s called Book Funnel. I haven’t used it yet so I can’t recommend for or against it, but I’ve seen good results from other users and I’m hoping to try it out soon.

• I’ve started to schedule out my Substack stories on other sites. So if you see them elsewhere, just know that Substack is still my main hub and I intend to keep it that way. I needed a way to reach more readers so the next logical step was to establish a presence on Royal Road, Wattpad, and Medium. So far Substack remains the most responsive in terms of feedback and reach.

Song Pick

Pokémon Celebrations

As some of you may already know, I’ve been a huge fan of Pokémon ever since I was a kid. My family used to call me BlakeMon, since I always had my GameBoy on me playing it. Not even a little bit embarrassed. It’s still a pretty fun hobby and I collect valuable cards to add to my growing collection. What’s exciting about the latest set released on October 8th is that it’s Pokémon’s 25th anniversary. They are calling it ‘Celebrations’ and it fits perfectly with this month’s theme, so I figured I’d mention it. Happy 25th birthday, Pokémon! 🤣

Until next Storyletter! ~ WM