When The Bough Breaks
You can get my flash fiction piece When the Bough Breaks free in Heather Goodman‘s August Newsletter: Glimpses.
From J.A. Konrath–How Not to Start a Short Story
I think this will have a permanent link on my front page. How Not to Start a Short Story.
I’m not getting paid big bucks to pick stories, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen. I feel the exact same way.
Seventeen Days and Counting
…Until the release of Dark Harvest and my story Saigon Seventeen.
I’m actually scared to smithereens but don’t tell anyone, okay?
Coach’s Midnight Diner–Submissions Extended
Coach just announced Diner submissions will be extended to May 31st!
The announcement at Relief says:
Diner Subs Open Until May 31
Submisisons for Coach’s Midnight Diner will remain open until May 31st. After receiving some harried emails from folks we met at Calvin (“I just found out about the Diner! My story is almost finished but not quite! Can I please have more time?!?!?”) I decided to go ahead and leave it open. So go ahead and finish your Shatner on a Plane story and get it in!
Old Country-George Jones
Maybe old country music is part of the reason I’m the kind of storyteller I am?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the story that some songs tell. I know a lot of you think country music sucks, can you stick around for just a minute and listen to a few of my favorite old country songs? These songs are like watching a movie. Close your eyes and listen.
Here’s one of my favorites. He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones.
He kept her pictures on his wall, went half crazy now and then. Aw, but he still loved her through it all, hoping she’d come back again.
The visual is set up, you can see his walls, you can see him drinking or slamming his fists into the walls because he misses her so much. He might have been mad and hurt, but he still loved her. And we have no clue what happened. Because the point is, it doesn’t matter what happened, he still loves her.
Found love letters by his bed, dated nineteen and sixty two, he had underlined in red, every single “I love you”.
I went to see my friend today, oh but I didn’t see no tears. All dressed up to go away. First time I’d see him smile in years.
He stopped loving her today. They placed a wreath upon his door. Soon they’ll carry him away. He stopped loving her today.
How heartbreaking. Her love letters are on his nightstand, maybe even some laying on his bed. He’s broken, the man is clearly grieving the loss of this woman he has loved and still loves. He underlines in red every time she said, “I love you” in her letters. Can you imagine loving someone that much? I can. I do love someone that much. And maybe the reason I can relate to this song has more to do with the fact that I see a little of myself in this man who loves this woman so much.
Then it gets even more emotional as you find out the narrator is going to see his friend, and there are no more tears, “first time I’d seen him smile in years”. The the chorus, he stopped loving her today.
What a powerful short story. Just a few sentences and you, without a doubt, know how much this man loves this woman. Today, he stopped loving her because he’s dead.
You know, she came to see him one last time, we all wondered if she would. And it kept running through my mind, well, this time, he’s over her for good.
Good God, then she has the audacity to come to his funeral! And I hate her for making him suffer like that. That quick. I hate her and I can’t believe she showed up for the funeral. And the narrator, he tells he agrees. “this time, he’s over her for good.”
He stopped loving her today. They placed a wreath upon his door. Soon they’ll carry him away. He stopped loving her today.
These are the stories I want to write. This unforgettable love. The pain, finally ending. Isn’t that what we all want? The pain and the hurt to just end?