The Final Edition
What’s Next?
Welcome to the last issue of Sketchy Scoops!
Thank you for Reading.
It feels appropriate that I should begin this newsletter by by expressing my gratitude to everyone who has followed me on this crazy journey. Made even more so by the imminent arrival of Thanksgiving (for Americans) later this week.
Scoop began almost on a dare. It had its origin story on Substack Notes and for many weeks all of its stories were inspired by things people would post on Notes. Eventually that had to change because there just wasn’t enough crazy stuff happening at that time, but it gave way to events and characters that led the story into unexpected and unplanned areas.
I never expected to reach so many people or to have so much fun writing the story. I am grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you.
What’s Next?
I will be shifting my focus back to my original newsletter: Written Ward. One of my regrets with Sketchy Scoops is that I started an entirely new Substack to publish my stories about the itinerant reporter. Written Ward has always been a mix of both fiction and non-fiction so Scoop would have fit in perfectly there, but at the time I wasn’t sure how things would go and wanted the freedom of not having to worry about changing the tone of the existing newsletter. Oh well. Lesson learned.
I look forward to publishing more opinion pieces, some biographical stuff, showcasing art and fiction or even moments in time that have meant a lot to me and explaining why, but I will also be publishing new fiction on Written Ward. I am looking forward to the change because it doesn’t come with the relentless deadline of having to publish the next installment every Monday. Instead, I want to be able to hold stories until they are finished and polished and present only my very best work there.
Many of you are already subscribers over there, but if you aren’t already, I hope that you’ll join me over there. I’m hoping to make things easier for anyone who is interested in following me over there by adding all of the Sketchy Scoop subscribers to that mailing list, but I am going to hold off for a week before doing so. That way if you’re not interested, you’ll have enough time to unsubscribe. In fact, here’s a direct link to the account management page for Sketchy Scoops. If you want to unsubscribe, you can do it right here.
Regardless of whether you follow me over on Written Ward or not, I am grateful for the time we’ve had together and I really have enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you who have taken the time to comment or reach out to me on Notes. It’s been fun!
All the best,
John Ward
It's a shame the timing didn't line up with The Suff, that would have been perfect for this. Suff bonus chapter? And yeah, my substack right now can feel like too much of a mixture, but having everything in one place is helpful, so for the next serial I don't need to start from square one subscriber wise.
John, I would definitely call Sketchy Scoops a worthy experiment and success. Many writers are afraid to step out from their normal routine to see how readers would respond to something new. Kudos to you, and I look forward to seeing where you're headed next with Written Ward. 👍