My, my, how time flies.
As of a few days ago, we completed publishing all the 820+ HeroicStories stories.
Over eight hundred and twenty!
When I took on publishing HeroicStories eight years ago in 2014, I knew this day would come. The plan was to twice a week re-publish every previously published story in HeroicStories then 15-year history, plus any new story submissions that came along. Doing the math, that means we’d be at the end of the list right around … today!
Wow!
Just … wow.
So, what next?
Again! Again!
On HeroicStories next scheduled publish day, the cycle will start again.
We’re going to use this opportunity to do a few things as we go.
- Professional editing. Editing of the original stories was inconsistent at times and had a few issues. I opted to publish them “as is”, maintaining the original more or less verbatim. This time I’ll be asking my editor to take a pass on each story before we republish it.
- Updated podcast. We added audio versions of HeroicStories part way through our cycle and tried a few different styles along the way. We’ll be recording new podcast episodes for stories that didn’t yet have them, and for those that don’t match the style on which we finally settled.
I’ll also be updating the email and the website’s look and feel to be less 2014 and more 2022.
New stories?
We’re open for submissions.
However.
The internet is not the same place it was when HeroicStories was born in 1999. Back then, venues to get your story published online were much rarer than they are today. HeroicStories provided a valuable service for people to tell their stories who weren’t up for self-publishing or any of the other alternatives of the time.
Today anyone can publish. The internet is full of blogs, services like Medium.com, and of course, social media. Each of those makes publishing your own story online almost, but not quite, trivial.
Given that we only accept stories directly from their original author, and ideally not previously published elsewhere, new story submissions to HeroicStories have dwindled to near zero.
Pragmatically, I don’t expect that to change. That’s OK.
We’ll print ’em if we get ’em, and if they meet our submission guidelines. But most of what is coming will be more polished republished HeroicStories stories.
Onward!
Given that it’s unlikely that you’ve read all 820+ stories, I hope you stick around! Even if you have, they’re great twice-a-week reminders of the fundamental goodness of people.
I hope you’ll share HeroicStories with your friends. Now’s a great opportunity to jump in!
If you’re interested in a daily dose of positive news from current headlines, be sure and check out one of my other projects: Not All News Is Bad. I call it “An antidote for everything else”.
As always, thank you for being here and being a part of HeroicStories.
Let’s do this again in 2030, OK?
Thank you for doing this. Almost every story I read uplifts me, encourages me, and gives me hope that good people still exist.
Thank you for the past 8 years and for doing it all again! I have been a fan since the very very beginning. I have loved reading the stories all over again or for the first time. Thank you for continuing the good news and for striving to build and improve!
Leo, I can’t believe it’s been 8 years since we first contacted each other! You’ve done a wonderful job, and I’m so glad someone stepped up to take the reigns after the passing of the last publisher.
When I created the first Heroic Stories Facebook page as a compliment to the website, I did so because I loved the concept. I had no idea if Randy Cassingham or anyone else would be angry, or even care. I had always planned to pass control to whomever claimed ownership in the event they asked, so I wasn’t too worried. In fact, I reached out to the last publisher, and instead of being angry or mentioning “cease and desist”, she loved it and asked me to take over that social media version. I accepted.
Sadly, when she passed I had no idea, so I kept on posting stories I thought fit the concept, be they new or archived. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine a world without Heroic Stories, and I didn’t understand why they were no longer being regularly published on the website, nor why she wasn’t responding to my emails. When we first spoke online, I was saddened to know the real reason for the sudden discontinuance, and I was overjoyed to find you had taken the helm and restarted it, and you are a fellow fan of Welsh Corgis to boot! Not that it’s related, but hey…
My contributions in this may be a minor tidbit relegated to the history of HS, but I’m so glad I had a somewhat small, but hopefully integral part in keeping Heroic Stories alive. Here’s to another 820+ stories published!
We live in a world which seems increasingly dedicated to encouraging negativity and uncaring, uncivil behavior. It’s encouraging that there is still pushback against such counterproductive thinking by people who put in the time and effort to do things like publishing HeroicStories.
My deepest thanks to you for your consistent efforts to make the world a better place for all. Keep up your good work!
Thank you for continuing to publish Heroic Stories as well as Not All News Is Bad.
I enjoy reading both of these! Like others have said, it’s nice to read to positive stories
instead of only negative news. Keep up the great work!
I’ve been a follower of Heroic Stories since the beginning. I think, I’m really glad you’re continuing this service. May I make a suggestion? When I saw originally published …. I thought they are no longer accepting new stories.
By the way, when someone I cared about was going through depression, I subscribed her to HS. She said it really helped her to know that there are still good people out there.
I’m an English teacher in Taiwan. Many years ago, you published a story about a Taipei taxi driver who drove a women out to the ocean. He had a funny feeling about her so he watched her. When she walked into the ocean to drown, He jumped into th4e water and saved her. My students loved the story and we had many lively discussions on whether or not he had a right to save her.
I love Heroic Stories so I’ll continue to read the stories and hope new ones are submitted.
That would be The Troubled Mr. Wong.
Thank you, thank you! I enjoy all the stories everyday. Some I save on my computer for later meditation.
Thank you for all the years of encouragement.
If I may also make a suggestion: you may want to consider going back to a previous practice of sending out some of the comments people post as feedback on stories. That may lead to more reader engagement and possibly new stories if you follow up on certain comments. (Just an idea.)
Best wishes to you as you move on with the updated format.
I hope that you will continue for a very long time. I feel that stories of kindness, often from strangers, is the kind of stories that give us hope and assurance that we all need. Kindness of others is so very important in our world now, more than ever. I sincerely hope that stories of kindness never end.