I recently mentioned that I decided to serialize my first story—a novella called The Wheel—and publish it here on Substack. I also had the idea to bring you all along on the process of getting that story ready and the daily ups and downs of my road to publication. Now, I'll admit, I feel sheepish even using the words “publish” or “publication” because I've certainly not convinced anyone to publish me—that is a much larger task—and all I’m really going to be doing is copy and pasting words here. Anyone can do that, but once it’s done, the story technically has been "published," so here we are.
Before I jump into that process, I wanted to look back at the road behind me. After all, every good story needs a prologue (no, it doesn't) and a thick base of backstory to build on (wrong again), so unfortunately, I can't skip this step (I could), and you’re just going to have to read it (nah).
At multiple times in the past, I’ve found myself frustrated with the fact that I didn't know some of my big writerly milestones. Did I start writing that story last summer? Winter? When did I finish it? Austin Kleon champions the practice of logging these things, which I will most certainly be doing going forward, so it only made sense that I go back and try to piece my journey together up to this point. I went back through my files, looking at "Created on" dates first, and supplemented what I found there with social media posts about my progress (unfortunately, many had been posted as “Stories” and are lost to the digital ages).
So, without further ado, here is a log of the main events of my time as a writer (the ones I could nail down, at least) with a few comments along the way.
…ok, a lot of comments.
Today, I’m trying video for the first time, BUT it’s a choose-your-own-adventure situation. The video and the text below it present essentially the same story.
Take your pick.
I’m debating doing this for each entry in the series going forward, but putting the video portion behind a subscription paywall. That way, you don’t NEED to pay to get any of the content, but you can get a little extra verve and panache out of the deal if you do. We will see. I will say this video is a decent amount longer than what I’ll shoot for going forward.
Codename: Svendrew - Started August 21st, 2021
I've talked about this story before. It was my first real attempt at writing fiction. The file was created at 1:51 am on a Sunday. I was three sheets to the wind because it was courage of the liquid variety that I needed to walk out my door, dear Bilbo, and into my own grand adventure. I eventually found this story to be too big, too ambitious, for my wet-behind-the-ears fingertips, and set it aside.
Finger tips with ears. Gross.
The Wheel - Started September 4th, 2022
Perhaps the biggest surprise of this exercise was finding that I struggled with Codename: Svendrew on and off for over a year before throwing in the towel and embarking on something "shorter." I could swear it was mere months, and I am convinced that something is off in the dates here, but I just don’t know. Either way, this is the most important milestone on this list because The Wheel is the story that I will be publishing here. It may also be my most personal story. Read about its origins HERE.
The Wheel - First Draft Complete on February 20th, 2023
I believe this one, and that probably validates the prior date; five and a half months sounds about right (but I’m still not convinced). It was my birthday, I had the day off, and this was my present to myself: finishing the first draft of a story for the first time. It was a Monday.
Rue (Short Story Version) - Started February 23rd, 2023
No rest for the weary. Three days later, I started work on an idea I had while writing The Wheel. I was dead set on writing an actual short story for a change. The Wheel was supposed to be short but became a novella. I achieved my goal with Rue, but a few months later, I dusted it off again to expand it into a novel. Whoops.
Smokestorm - June 4th, 2023
Remember when Canada was on fire and the whole world was a haze? I was on my first ever solo trip to my mom's cottage in the U.P. during that, and it was wild. I couldn’t see the water below the Mackinac Bridge on my way up, and when I got to the cottage, I found I couldn't see the other side of the lake. The sunset was as blood red as I've ever seen through the smoke. What if this smoke was due to something else? Nuclear war, maybe? What if I was an angry, spiteful, lonely mother and ex-wife who had come to this very cottage to live my last few days in paradise before dying from radiation sickness? I wrote this story in one single flow state, buzzing on G&Ts while the smoke continued to strangle the sky until it purpled.
I regret to inform you that Smokestorm is vulgar trash. I like the concept, but not enough to put the required work into fixing it. Maybe someday. However, this trip was when I learned that I can get so sucked into writing that I forget about dinner until 8 or 9 pm.
Rue (Expanded Edition) - September 27th, 2023
That same June weekend, I was probably starting or in the early stages of turning Rue: The Short Story into Rue: The Novel. On September 27th, I posted to Instagram that I was "halfway done." That assessment was probably B.S., but I was working on it.
Rue (Novel) First Draft Complete - January 6th, 2024
I finished my first novel! What a fucking rush, let me tell you. It was sad, though, too. I loved my characters, and my time with them had come to an end. What happened in their lives after those final pages? I wish I knew.
Eulogy Started - January 8th, 2024
You might be noticing a trend here that finishing a story is almost as much about getting it done as it is about moving on to the ideas that have been trying to claw their way out of your brain while you were working on it. This short story idea popped into my head in the summer of 2023, but I forced myself to wait until Rue was finished to write it. As soon as Rue was done, I jumped on Eulogy and finished the first draft two days later. It’s my first true short story, and it will stay that way. I swear.
The Wheel Second Draft Started - February 12th*, 2024
Almost a year after finishing it, I started significant rewrites on The Wheel. I'd improved a lot while writing Rue, and let me tell you, the first half of this story was written poorly. Fixing it almost doubled the story in size.
*(This date is likely off by about a month. There is no way I finished these rewrites in two weeks, so I’m guessing I started it around the time Eulogy was finished. I take very little time off between projects, so I’m sure that is more correct.)
Rue 1.5 Started - February 25th, 2024
The Wheel rewrites were finished, and that meant it was time to read Rue. That was my birthday present to myself this year: reading my novel for the first time! (I follow Stephen King’s advice of shelving a project for at least six weeks before reading it again. If you are counting, this was seven weeks later, so I just made it.) When I finished reading the draft, it was a rush again! I read it on the 20th/21st, and the 25th is when I started minor edits based on my reading notes; hence, I call it a “1.5 draft.” I completed this before sending it out to friends and family "beta readers" to tell me what they thought about it.
Gull Island Started - May 25th, 2024
Every Memorial Day weekend, we head up to the cottage for the first time. I had finished my Rue 1.5 edits most likely within the month prior, and while I looked out at what we call "Gull Island" on Big Manistique Lake, my wife and mom were reading my novel nearby (a terrifying experience). The fam had been begging me to write a story about that island, which is infested by seagulls, and how the abandoned cottage on it was haunted. This felt like half an idea to me. I needed more. After staring at it from the dock and thinking through my ideas, I decided to combine the island concept with something completely different that had been on my mind for years. It's not a haunting thing (sorry, fam), but it is something, and it is a mess. Or at least I think it is; I haven’t read it yet. I finished this in August and haven't touched it since. Maybe the story itself is haunted because I think I'm scared of it.
The Water Tower Started - August 28th, 2024
The idea for this story came to me fully formed as the Blue Angels flew over a water tower in the documentary on Amazon Prime. I wrote most of this where the story is based, next to the water tower at Earthen Ales.
Rue Second Draft Started - September 9th, 2024
The reviews were in. My novel didn't suck! In fact, my friend Nate (probably the person I was most keen to impress with this particular story) told me the writing was better than that of the book he paused to read mine: Dark Matter. Maybe not the story, but the actual writing. Damn. After gathering feedback from all my readers, I started the second draft in September and finished on December 14th. Again, a rush! Every damn time! Just like the cornballer, Michael!
The Water Tower Second Draft Finished - February 21st, 2025
This was a quick revision to prep for submission. Then I found out it was twice as long as what anyone wants to publish. This whole submission/publishing thing stresses me out; I don't know what to do! Maybe it will get posted here after The Wheel.
Eulogy Third Draft Finished - February 25th, 2025
Another quick revision to prep for submission. The length on this one is perfect, but most places that take short story submissions want you to read their magazine first to get a feel for what they publish. Mmmmm, I have better things to read right now. Again, this stresses me out, and I don't know what to do. Maybe I'll submit anyway. Maybe I'll distract myself with yet ANOTHER writing project instead...
As usual, this thing sprawled beyond my control, so I'll quit here. If you made it this far, I hope it wasn’t boring. It was more for me than for anyone else, anyway—me and the smattering of folks who might find it interesting to see what the process of writing a handful of stories over the course of a few years looks like.
Next time, I'll talk more about The Wheel and get this new/old project rolling on its deadly axis again. Stay tuned...
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