Gosh, 6 years of weekly posts, mostly short stories but we didn’t start out that way… And to think this all started because my wife got sick and I made up a childish story for her and then I was waiting around for supply work to come through.
Don’t get me wrong, I always wanted to be an author (lifelong goal achieved with Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse in 2021 and continuing on. Did you see that Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir came out in March? And that’s not even the last book I’ll publish this year!) But I hadn’t anticipated short stories being part and parcel of the idea.
When I first posted Cudde Dragon all the way back in 2017, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with writing and posting short stories every single week, which is why I interspersed them with cosplay tips (which only lasted a year and a half). Sometimes I still struggle, other times I am drowning in an abundance of story ideas.
I still remember that first new short story week, the desperate need to come up with a story and share it online regardless of potential quality. I’m not trying to say I think I did a bad job — I’ve certainly improved, but I don’t think it was bad. I just remember the intense pressure I felt trying to come up with a story good enough to put online.
It was kind of beautiful when I realised all those story ideas, all those random scenes that pop into my head but have no greater story to look into, those were actually useful for something specific, not just to clutter up my house with notebooks filled with random scenes that couldn’t fit together no matter how Frankenstein’s Monster a book I wanted.
Now we’re six years in.
It’s hard to fathom sometimes. Six years. Marriage, pets, house and country moves galore (just done another one, or… half of it), a worldwide health crisis. We’ve been through a lot.
I want you to know that I appreciate you reading my stories, even if you never comment, or always forget to press the like button (we’ve all been there), or even if you don’t have a wordpress account so can’t really engage (love to the lurkers, I know I’m a lurker too). I appreciate every single person who clicks through to read, and I hope I’m offering up things you enjoy.
My Top Story Of All Time (so far)
Go figure that the story where I had to take my own stock photo for the graphic because what I wanted didn’t exist is the one that made it big (relative term).
My wife has suggested turning this story into a full length novel. Last time she suggested that I spent five years trying to make it happen (if you are interested in an ARC of that upcoming novel please let me know), so you never know…
As for upcoming things
You might have noticed my attempt at themed months starting in January. I’m not sure those will make it to the end of the year… I thought it would be great to have prompts pre-built in, but it turns out I felt a bit more boxed than boosted. (Although how much of that was the overwhelm that comes with releasing books… but that’s a conversation for another day.)
Still, we’ll see where it takes me for the rest of the year, I’m not giving up on them entirely just yet. (I am, however, glad I didn’t announce them all at the beginning of the year, because I have changed things up a lot since then).
Expect to see more Terya Tales and other book-related short stories, as well as my sharing the first chapters of any books as they become available.
Do you have a preference for when I should share Chapter One? As soon as you can pre-order or closer to release day?
I hope you have a great rest of your day, and, as always, I’ll see you next week for another short story.
Don’t forget to share the ones you like with your friends, family, or even that one coworker you tolerate. Anyone you think would enjoy.
If you liked this please do share it with your friends, family, or that coworker you kinda tolerate.
If you’re interested in my book, you can find out more at WillSoulsbyMcCreath.com or sign up to my Mailing List
Don’t forget you can find me on Social Media as @nopoodles
If you want to support me you can buy me a coffee here
and I’ll see you all next week for another Short Story.
© nopoodles 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Nopoodles 
Happy 6 years! I’m so impressed you’ve managed to post so many short stories in all those years, and write full length novels at the same time. Definitely looking forward to more books! And I look forward to reading more of your blog for many more years.
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