Too Much In One Day…
I Managed A Ton of Stuff Today…
But unless I get going now, going to miss the night’s story.
Worked on Smith’s Monthly layout and recorded a bunch of the lectures from Kris’s class this coming week for the Study Along class online, Exercised some while Kris was using my computer to record videos for the Study Along class online. Cooked dinner, and then worked on the books for the challenge and more on Smith’s Monthly.
I finally came up with a name for the entire series of books that will hold all the stories.
Challenge Accepted
Each book will have 33 stories in it, plus an introduction. If I get the challenge over 300 actual stories, which is my goal, with the rest (65) being novel starts and such, that will be a nine-volume set. How cool will that be? Even 200 stories and six books would be really cool. Right now I am working on turning in the first two volumes so WMG can get started on them and we don’t push all the production back to the end of the year.
So that is what happened when the idea of a monthly series of books failed by the first part of April. Really what happened more than anything else is that I got my hardcover set of CRIMES COLLIDE, five volumes. And wow are they beautiful. I got them in the mail and just held them and stared at them. Don’t think I have had better-looking books in 40 years. It was from the Kickstarter in January. 10 stories by me, 10 by Kris in each volume. So I think 33 stories by me per book will produce books about the same size or larger. Nine volume set, 300 short stories. If they can look anywhere close to has fantastic as CRIMES COLLIDE, I will be in heaven.
I am a little behind on story count and unless I stop typing right now, I will fall another story behind.
But so exhausted and it is so late, and my brain is mush, that might happen anyway. Ahh, well, nature of a long challenge, especially when I can make up stories later on by writing more than one in a day.
11 Comments
Balázs
It’s so exciting! Cool and motivational. I’ll buy all of the books. One year I’ll also do this challange. Wish great fun.
dwsmith
Very motivational. Thanks!
Daniel Fellows
Hey Dean, this is an awesome idea. I can’t wait to see the finished 9 volumes. I am slowly collecting the sf Colliding Worlds collections and will get the 5 Mystery collections as well. The 9 volumes of Challenge Accepted will be a great addition to my library. Keep up the great work. And good luck for the rest of the year.
dwsmith
Thanks, Daniel. Appreciated.
Judy Lunsford
I am so excited you are still going with this!!!
dwsmith
Sure makes your 100 in 100 days clear on that amazing achievement. I think I made it 35 days before I missed a day.(grin)
T Thorn Coyle
It’s such a great idea, Dean. And what another awesome way to keep you inspired on the challenge through the rest of the year!
I had a non-fiction project that stalled out because I wasn’t sure what structure it needed. Then I thought, “I could do 100 entries for Make 100 in January!” Boom. New project I’ll be happy to work on between now and then, plus a Kickstarter I hadn’t planned on! My brain is already ticking on other Make 100 projects.
dwsmith
Yup, I have the new books from CRIMES COLLIDE sitting where I can see them in my office. Really is amazing help.
Keith West
Hmm…
*stares at overflowing shelves*
Where am I going to put those nine volumes when they become available…?
dwsmith
You got about nine months to figure that out. (grin) It will be a Kickstarter next January. Thanks!!
Mark Kuhn
This is a great idea! I’m just about to begin reading the Crimes Collide series.
Yesterday I happened upon your Essentials video on YouTube. In one of the videos you talk about taste. It’s amazing, for me, anyway, how my tastes in fiction have changed so dramatically over the past two years. Between Covid, and losing my brother to Covid, to sending our 16 year old dog to the Rainbow Bridge in February, I found myself unable to get interested in fiction that was too intense or violent. I shocked myself when I started reading Cozies a few months ago. I never, ever liked them. Now I can’t get enough of them. I also found myself reading Harlequin’s Intrigue series, which is romantic suspense. Talk about being shocked!
Keep it going, Dean. You keep writing, I’ll keep reading.