in no particular order…
i. ANNOUNCING: Lamb - new Serial Fiction
Some of you may have noticed I’m posting a bit more fiction lately.
What started quite slowly, with just What Did I Say? and BALLOONS in the first six months of FORD KNOWS, is turning into a more regular feature.🤞
You see, I was working on my literary1 contemporary gay fiction novel—Watrspout, the story of Jimmy, an adorably lost young artist/party-bottom/drunkard—for the last three years, and I really didn’t have much short fiction to share.
More recently, I’ve written several episodes of a new serial fiction project based on a friendship from school days that took a dark turn—titled Lamb.
Coming next week:
Lamb
Two friends on different but parallel paths, from private school through college and their raging twenties, until the abrupt, mysterious end of their friendship.
Told through reminiscences, journal excerpts, letters, and short stories, Lamb is a snapshot in episodes of young men coming of age after the decimation of AIDS—a new, sometimes shiny, sometimes dark afterparty of gay awakening.
ii. WEBSITE
I expect I’m going to delete my website in the new year—I think my hosting subscription is up in May—but I’ll definitely keep the domain name mrtroyford.com and transfer it here to Substack.
It’s not a lot of money to host it, I don’t even remember how much, but it’s become very static since I started FORD KNOWS, and much of what I write is here now. I don’t even look at my website for months at a time. Why do all of this in two places? It doesn’t make sense.
I hired VVilliam, my SpokesCat, for the website—he’s staying on as a consultant. How do you like his recent glow-up?
We’ll be reposting some of those scribbles and bits over here in the next however long, and making this Ford Central or Ford Headquarters or Ministry of Ford or something.
Not change FORD KNOWS, of course, maybe a section for FAQs and other details—Ford HQ—that’s good and short. Si.
iii. PLEDGING
Pledging is this feature on Substack where new writers who are still free but trying to generate interest in paid subscriptions can plant a seed in their readers’ minds before turning on the PAID feature.
Why support something with money that can be had for free? I’m so glad you asked.
Here is a serious discussion of writing and the state of publishing, and why we might choose to pay for good writing here on Substack:
And here’s the cheeky version:
Hey! Writing this Substack is a lot of work, like 15 to 20 hours a week, on top of the “actual” writing of novels, novellas, short stories, flash, micro, dribble2, drabble3, autofiction, serials, etc., not to mention rewriting, editing, synopsisizing, querying, submitting, conte$ts, writing cla$$es, etc., etc.
This is usually also all on top of a day-job, which for me is the domestic circus of dog walking, meal planning, cooking, dishwashing, grocery shopping, Roomba supervising, sundry housekeeping, laundry, siestas, etc., etc., etc., which all fall loosely under the umbrella term “house husbandry.”
Also I’m doing volunteer editing through an outfit called Pencilhouse, and I’m probably going to start doing some paid editing because it’s high time I was earning an actual income again.
Originally this was just a nothing little quarterly communiqué that kept vaguely interested friends abreast of an aspiring writer’s goings-on, but now is a daily labor of love, a weekly column that attempts to amuse, inform, titillate and inspire while simultaneously avoiding any extreme uproar or stupendous instances of stupidity (with mixed results.)
What if you got jazzed up and became a patron?
What if becoming a patron of the arts was as easy as ordering a jumbo pack of extra-fancy origami paper, but when it arrives, it turns out to be a real live one-eyed alley cat who talks smack and writes short stories and other bits of literary fluff, and you think, what the hell, this is even better—I’ve got a million craptacular art projects going (and precisely ONE wonky paper crane to show for it) but how many people have a RLOEACWTSAWSSAOBOLF? (Not that many, I can assure you.)
You could put it on your resume, your email signature, your business cards, your mailbox or front door, on the side of your car, shaved into your own and/or dog’s fur: PATRON OF THE ARTS!
You’d be joining the ranks of the Medici, the Borges, the Habsburgs, the Tudors and Guggenheims—i.e., practically ROYALTY (to me… :)
So, pledge levels:
We’ve settled on an angelic riff—$5.55/month, $55.50 a year, $111/year Founding—apparently, any three numbers is an angel number, and although we don’t really believe in all that, it can’t hurt.
(WHAT? $55.50/year is only $4.63/month?! I KNOW! That’s not even an iced VENTI two-pump sugar-free vanilla latte, that’s like somewhere between a one-pump tall and a grande, NO COOKIE…(!!!))
Anyway. Pledging. It’s a thing.
PAID Subscriptions will turn ON January 18th to mark the One Year Anniversary of FORD KNOWS…!
Now, if you just got here and you’re like “Whoa. Hitting me up for money already?”—Fear not! For the moment, I’m not putting anything behind a paywall. Your weekly splash of glitter will continue unabated, sparkly and refreshing as ever, and we can just pretend that my paw is out because I’m holding up my invisible emotional support frog, Tad.
A paid subscription would be entirely a token of generosity and appreciation on your part—but if it’s not a good time or you’re just like “Ugh, I don’t wanna,” your continued Reading, Liking, Commenting, Noting, and Sharing are so very appreciated—any and all support means the world to me.
More of a spontaneous, moonbeam-in-your-hand kind of supporter?
You can also Buy me a coffee any old time, and that too would qualify you as a Patron of Great Distinction and earn my undying gratitude. 👑
FIN
O.o
NEVER utter the words “literary fiction” to anyone in publishing. EVER. Even if they say it first. Even if they say, “I love you, whisper ‘literary fiction’ to me, darling.” DO NOT.
A dribble is a story of 100 words.
A drabble is a story of 50 words.
twas just coming around to see what you've been up to, saw you lamb posts, & was, like, imma read this one first. huzzah, hooray, i'm so happy to have read all your news here, friend.
Looking forward to your fiction! I have to say, substack is just one more place for me to feel overwhelmed but I’m glad I’ve connected with you and I wish you so much success. 😊