7 Short Fireplace Reads and How I Wrote It

Okay, so I have a new book I just wrote called "7 Short Fireplace Reads". It includes a bunch of short stories I have written, for just $1.99. Click here to visit the Amazon page. But enough with the promotions, let me talk about when, where, why and how I created this book.

First off, how did I actually make the short stories? 2 of them (The Envelope and Change) were written some time ago, but the others were all recent stories. Actually, there is a "contest" by Reedsy which gives really good prompts, five every week about a similar topic. Then people write a story for a prompt, and a judge picks the best from that week. I just used those prompts for a lot of my stories. 4 of them, A Pesky Summer Tanager, To Forgive or Not To Forgive, The Tennis and Football Club, and Sprinkles and Sugar and Sick Little Sweets were all using those Reedsy prompts. But the last story, Hugs for Millions is actually an idea someone I knew came up with: When a person gives a hug, he heals the person he's hugging at the expense of something he owned. I basically expanded on this idea, and also submitted it to the CGA writing contest for 2020.

I have a few other short stories, but I'll probably release them in another collection. Oh, and I've had A LOT more time to write books in this pandemic, since I can flip open my laptop much easier.

Secondly, why did I choose now to publish the stories? First off, it's the holiday times, and I started marketing my book right on Christmas Eve when people have loads of time to read stories. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging on, which means people are at home. E-books are increasingly popular, along with delivery on Amazon for paperback. COVID-19 also makes people's anxiety level's rise, so my book probably helps you relax. Well, I hope so.

Why did I choose Amazon to publish? This is quite simple: Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is extremely popular. This is because it's extremely easy to use (I set up the story in a few hours), you can do all of the basics (I can make a discount, add a description, etc etc), it's free (though they take around 30% of my earnings, but I don't mind), and probably most importantly, it's Amazon, which almost every person in the world can access.

And finally, why did I publish these stories? Well, for a reason almost every one of you know: I'm a writer.

Anyway, please buy my book! It's really entertaining, and costs only $1.99 for an E-Book or $3.99 for a paperback version, both of which you could probably find in between your couch cushions :)