Origins

The Minigrooves project started back in March 2012, the originating idea being very simple: to offer short stories that can be enjoyed in a relatively short amount of time, like during a break from work, while commuting, while sitting in a waiting room, and so on. The idea came to me while admiring the work of some illustrators I discovered by complete chance while browsing the Web. I noticed how powerful was the immediacy of ‘getting’ their style, their taste and inspiration simply by examining a few samples of their work. It happens with musicians as well. I thought I could try to do something similar with what I do best — writing. Hence, the short story format, the watercolour-with-words, the minigroove.

Delivery: the TV series model

At first the idea was to simply publish a couple of stories per week and see where the project would go. I deliberately chose a demanding pace to stimulate creativity through discipline, something I had never really tried before with my writing. And boy, did it work. When I realised the project was really taking off, I thought about some way of organising it, and again the eureka moment came quickly. I would deliver the stories like the episodes of a TV series, i.e. ‘airing’ the stories in cycles (‘seasons’), then gathering all the stories of a cycle and publishing them as an ebook. Each ebook would have some ‘extras’ (just like when you purchase a DVD/Blu Ray edition of a movie or TV series) — bonus stories, author’s commentary and notes, alternate takes, etc. This way, even those people who followed the stories during their ‘airing’ period would find something of value by purchasing the ebook.

It means a lot

I’m not new to publishing and self-publishing, but this little project means a lot to me.

These short stories are quite varied and should appeal to a wide audience. Each of them has its particular ‘groove’, each of them has its mood, and since each story is self-contained, you don’t even have to read them sequentially. Some stories are longer and more complex than others, and therefore you’ll likely enjoy them more when you have more time to read.

If you read my stories, even if you haven’t read all of them, I’d like a word of feedback, I’d like to know what you enjoyed, if you were taken by surprise by some endings, and so on. I don’t write these stories only for myself. I write them with an audience in mind. That’s why I really value your feedback — it helps to keep me going.

Thank you

Thank you to all those who have encouraged me ever since the Minigrooves project started, gave feedback and linked to it via Twitter.

Thank you to all those who showed interest towards my stories, and who have already started spreading the word about the ebook publication.

Thank you to those who have purchased the ebook or genuinely plan to. If you want to support my writing, this is a great way to do so.

You can leave feedback and suggestions by writing an email to comments(at)morrick.me or a tweet to @minigrooves.

And as always, Thank you for reading.