Spring in Toronto… with a Sprinkle of Mother’s Day!
- CJ Franklin
- 11 hours ago
- 5 min read
Sunday Writing Journal - May 10th, 2026
Accountability comes in many forms.
I made a writing tracker spreadsheet. It turns green if the number is above 500 in a day. It turns red if it’s below. It turns gold if it’s over 1000!
Typically the colour alone is enough to shame me into hitting my writing goals.
But what can I say, I’m a sadist. I crave the public accountability of a weekly journal!
It’s an idea I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I’ve been working to take writing more seriously. I want it to become more than a hobby. (Sometimes saying, or writing it, out loud can go a long way.)
It’s also a great way to build more of a connection with more people in the community.
So here we are. With journal entry number 1.
First of all, happy Mother’s Day!
Moms are great. They should be celebrated more than once a year, but here we are. Flowers, chocolates, a phone call. All great things.
Shoutout to my Mom. She’s awesome. Shoutout to my sister-in-law. Top notch Mom there too. And shoutout to my girlfriend. Cat-mom. But still counts. (Our cat is very cute… Cat tax below…)
Writing Update
Structure you say? Sure. That might help.
Let’s start by looking back at this week in writing.
I am in the depths of editing the longest story I’ve ever written. It’s the sequel to my first novel. And by sheer accident… The first draft came in at 85,000 words. (I was aiming for 50.) One of my quarterly goals is to get this book released.
I am not one of those authors who says I love the editing process.
I don’t.
I try to enjoy it, but I just don’t.
Instead I break it into pieces. Currently I’m aiming for an edited chapter a day. It takes about 15 minutes per and it’s going well. I should be done editing in about 2 weeks.
There are some structural issues to fix. I don’t have a great process, but my current idea is to get through the whole manuscript then make the big changes. I have a rolling list on a notepad for what to change and where.
Other than those issues, I like the book. I finished it about 4 months ago and set it aside. I’ve caught myself laughing at a few of the jokes, cringing at others (and erasing them…), and loving some of the characters.
With all that being said… I couldn’t help myself.
I started a new book. I’m not writing a ton in it, but I’ve committed to 3 chapters a week. Small chapters of 800-1200 words. It’s a cyberpunk LitRPG that I have no idea what I’m doing with. It’s fun. I’ve been releasing them on Royal Road.
Everything about it is new to me. New genre. New setting. New website for release. New release schedule. I’ve never done a chapter-by-chapter release.
It’s fun. I feel a bit of a rush from the deadline. It does feel strange though. There’s been a few things already that I would definitely have changed if the chapters weren’t already out.
Experiments are cool. I think I’m going to try putting it on the website and Medium as well. See what happens.
I mocked up a cover with AI. I hate it too. I’m planning on getting a real artist to make one soon. I’m just not totally sure what I want the title to be.
(You can find the chapters on the website…)
Life Update
Spring has been sucky so far in Toronto.
The cherry blossom trees are out. That’s been nice.
But it’s been cold and rainy. With the exception of today. Today (Sunday) was/is beautiful. Still chilly, but lovely out.
I went to a Blue Jays game. Turns out Obama and Shaq were there. Weird. Found out afterwards from twitter. Sort of cool.
This was a pretty boring week. Not a ton in the life department.
I bought a new hat, but it’s embarrassing. It’s one of those dorky ones for running. It looks silly as heck, but god damn does it keep the sweat and sun out of my eyes.
I’ve been reading two very interesting books.
The first is Easy Money by Ben McKenzie. (The guy from the OC.) It’s all about the crypto industry and the fraud inside of it. It’s fantastic.
The perspective in the book really stands out from others in the nonfiction space. Ben understands he comes from a strange background for someone writing a nonfiction book on crypto. He’s not afraid to laugh at his Hollywood background and how it differs from what this is. (He did co-write and research it with a journalist.) Very cool. And very frustrating. The whole industry is stupid.
The other book I’m about halfway through is A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. Something of a classic series. I remember my grandma having these books on her shelf. Sadly the author died shortly before finishing the alphabet. She was just starting the last book; Z is for Zero! She got all the way to Y.
It’s a good book. Solid mystery. Great female investigator. You can definitely see where some of the modern tropes came from. She wrote it in 1982. It’s pretty funny seeing some of the prices in the book. A motel room for $11.95, paying nickels for collect calls, being upset at coffee costing 95 cents.
In television, I’ve been watching Ghosts (the US version.) Rose McIver is the best. I love everything she does. I don’t know how I missed this show for the past 5 years. It’s a sitcom where our main character has an accident and can now talk to the ghosts living in her newly inherited mansion.
Funny, full of heart and the perfect 22 minute length episodes. It’s been a minute since I’ve watched a new sitcom I enjoyed.
To end this journal on a Sunday, let’s do a quick writing exercise.
For this week, let’s write a complete story in under 50 words. A micro-story.
Chifford watches the birds dance on the fence. Up, down, peck at the wood. No longer. He wouldn’t stand for it. Not on his fence.
Tensing, he watches. And waits.
For the perfect moment.
To pounce.
Strike.
‘Chiff!’ Human calls out.
The birds fly away.
Stupid human.
Tomorrow.
He pounces.
My cat was on my lap. This story was based on a true story from about 10 minutes ago.
That’s it for me.
This is all new to me. If you have any ideas or tips, please let me know.
Happy Mother’s Day. Hope you have a great week, and we all get some nice weather.
Cheers.
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