I am a full month and one full moon behind.
Two items to share:
https://substack.com/inbox/post/151729846
1. "Sympathy for the Strawberry" was published as scheduled on the Beaver Moon/Full Moon November 15th. It was not published on Kindle Vella as that platform will soon be wiped clean and taken down. So, my initial plans of having all thirteen ghost stories published throughout the ensuing thirteen months each on a full month on the Kindle Vella platform via Amazon has now been wrecked.
I had to find a new host. And after some research and consideration, I decided upon Substack. They have quite a following due to various journalists posting through there, so, I figured there is interest and an audience in that platform.
But I still am much busier than anticipated due to school obligations and family scheduled events and upcoming holiday activities that I did not update this website or publish a blog and promote it on Facebook or Goodreads.
2. I missed my self-imposed deadline of publishing the next short story today on the full moon--a Cold Moon, December 15th. I could have published "Bonetown Road", but I re-read it intending to follow my editors' marks and wishes, it struck me as being a weak tale. Not in detail or style, but in content. I love the characters and setting, but I could do better. There is real-life material from that time in my life that would work great and be a natural fit for this story.
So, I am in the process of rewriting the story amid all of the crazy life schedule and I missed my deadline. However, that does not mean that I am dead or that the story is dead. It will keep the same characters, keep one setting, lose another setting, and gain more depth in detail and plot by dovetailing in real-life experiences for this particular story.
Also, I changed the title of the short story from "Bonetown Road" to "Meridian House." There is a real Bonetown Road but it's in Zion, Arkansas, not Illinois. And I have spent many hours at the real Meridian Coffee House in Alton, Illinois. So, I think this a change for the better
I plan to publish "Meridian House" on the NEW MOON of the month in December for the 30th.
BOLO!
This publishing a short story on the full moon of every month is a trick I borrowed from Peter Gabriel who release a new music track for his then upcoming record "I/O" on every full moon and a different re-mix on every new moon. So, I dovetailed it for publising a GHOST STORY on every full moon--thirteen tales, thirteen months, and thirteen full moons--except I didn't make this month's full moon. But I borrowed the back side of Peter Gabriel's trick and will publish the next story on December's new moon, December 30th, fifteen days from today.