Jo B. Paoletti
  • Home
  • Books
  • Poetry
  • Flash Fiction
  • Gender Mystique
  • Contact
  • Home

A month of stories

6/1/2017

0 Comments

 
As I explained in an earlier post, part of my retirement plan is "more writing, fewer citations". Participating in the Story A Day in May challenge was part of that plan. Despite the bad timing -- spanning the last weeks of my last semester before retiring -- I somehow managed to post something every day for thirty-one days. (To see the entire collection, click here.) What am I taking away from the experience?

  • It helped me experiment with strategies for capturing and recording my writing, especially when I am on the go.
  • It helped me establish a daily writing habit again. Getting words on paper no matter what is crucial. I am pretty good at doing this for academic articles and books, but needed to develop an approach that was more free-form, less goal-driven, and less linear.
  • It helped me discover my imagination again. I had no idea, at the beginning, what kind of stories I would write. As it turns out, I have a bit of an inner H.H. Munro or Rod Serling -- a penchant for mysterious endings and creepy plot twists.
  • I wrestled with many of the prompts, but also used them as often as I could. I also used my own old journals (over 50 years worth) and a tarot deck.
  • I got more comfortable with dialog, and am now looking for ways to get better at creating voices for different characters.

What will June bring? July and beyond? More writing, and also editing. Lots of editing. (Yes, I saw all the typos.)


0 Comments

Detour

5/31/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
He'd planned to write all morning, but had ended up in the emergency room instead. As he watched the pain meds drip through the IV, he reflected on the wisdom of reaching for the page the wind blew off his desk. It wasn't that great, anyway.
0 Comments

Sail away

5/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Sail away

Were you my anchor,
Or were you the ship?
Discernment is needed
For this farewell.
Our home was the harbor,
And you the graceful ship,
Sails straining with the wind.
Take up the anchor of our love,
Carry it with you to new adventures.
And back, someday, to me.

0 Comments

Writer's Block

5/28/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Every day, a story. The month was almost over and it couldn't end too soon. At first, it had been fun; she'd wake up and check her email for the prompt, then think about it while she took a long shower. Day six was promising; a choice bit of flash fiction with a twist she was particularly proud of. But that was followed by several days of progressively weaker and more disappointing efforts. At the two week mark, the muse woke up again and graced her with an inspired plot. She rushed through her shower and threw on a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, fired up the computer and -- vanished. The words wouldn't come, and the brilliant plot transformed into a moldy skeleton.

For the next week and a half, ideas came hard and words came harder. Stiff. Trite. Repetitive. Really, really repetitive.

On the last day, the morning routine came up empty. She showered until she was wrinkly. A long walk did nothing. The skies closed in and soon she was staring out the window at a gray, drizzly afternoon. Time for a nap.

And in that nap, she found the most amazing story.
0 Comments

What right have we?

5/27/2017

2 Comments

 
It turned out to be a meditation, not a story.
What right have we to love
While weddings turn to funerals?

What right have we to live
While babies drown at sea?

What right have we to eat
While others starve in darkness?

What right have we to peace
While millions flee from war?

What right have we to live
If not to help our neighbors?

Sing it. Say it. Do it.

2 Comments

Writing story

5/27/2017

0 Comments

 
I am cheating, for now. Later on today I may post one of the stories whirling in my head, but for now, here is a placeholder from last year's writing.
Picture
0 Comments

Not quite.

5/26/2017

0 Comments

 
I started off with today's prompt, which was to tell a story as a series of letters, or tweets, or similar installments, all in the first person. But I ended up using my tarot deck again. I drew three cards for the beginning, middle and end of the story.

​And here it is.

I almost did it the summer I turned twenty-one.

It started off as a routine Friday night at the buffet-style restaurant where I worked. The food was nothing special, but it would fill you up without emptying your wallet. The big attraction was the improv show, featuring a manic group of theater majors from area colleges. I remember a few of them by name, the ones I thought might make it big someday. But It's a sure thing none of them remember me -- the waitress uniform and hairnets probably made a bigger impression than I did.

But there was that one moment when I almost came out from behind the dessert table and became -- a star. The adorable blonde guy had asked the audience for prompts for the next sketch, and someone yelled "a waitress"! His eyes scanned the room and caught me -- "You!! Come on!"

In a flash, I imagined myself whipping off my hairnet and letting my long hair cascade down my back, unbuttoning the top two or three buttons of my polyester uniform, and wowing them with my version of "Let me entertain you" (The one I had been practicing in the shower since I was ten.)

But then the old me took over. I shook my head, stepped back, and stammered, "I-I-I can't".​

But I almost did.
0 Comments

Abel and Cain: A story in 14 lines.

5/25/2017

0 Comments

 
The prompt today was a delightful challenge, for a change: a prose "sonnet" -- a story in fourteen sentences, grouped in some way. I chose the Shakespearian arrangement, 4-4-4-2. The first grouping is from Genesis, as it appears in the King James version. It is more than 4 sentences, but I don't care.
Abel and Cain

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.



What were they doing in that field, I wonder? “Cain talked with Abel”, but did Abel talk back? Or did he glower at him, his face dark with anger? Perhaps Abel laughed scornfully, shook his head, and turned his back.

Imagine instead that Abel put his hand on Cain’s shoulder. That he said “Please, don’t say that, brother”. That he said “I would never do that to you”. That Cain saw the truth and was sorry.

God would be so relieved. Instead of endless parables about fratricide, he could create cicadas with wings like butterfies. 
0 Comments

The secret of my success

5/24/2017

0 Comments

 
Today's prompt was to embed a hidden message in a story or poem. I took the easy way out, so you should have no trouble finding it!
PictureSkipping rope in Milwaukee, WI, 1950. Life (via Google Images)
The secret of my success

Maybe you need a break;
Also, a cup of tea.
Keep this sage advice,
Easy as can be.

When you push too hard,
Or strive to be a star,
Remember that “all play”
Kept Jack from going far.

Pause every twenty minutes,
Laugh, or dance, or sing.
A little levity in work
You need to give it ZING!

0 Comments

How to murder your department

5/23/2017

0 Comments

 
I used to work in a different department on the same campus. We were tops; more research grants, more PhD students, more publications than any other unit in our college. We attended graduation together, watched the Super Bowl together, and, when threatened by outsiders, defended ourselves and each other with loyalty and absolute sincerity. But in a period of about five years, we went from a powerhouse department to a scattered band of former colleagues. For years, I have joked that when I retired I would write the story of how it happened, but it would have to be disguised as a murder mystery.

Today's prompt was to turn all or part of a story into a list. So here is mine:
Picture
Don't worry; it's not entirely true, and if you think you are on the list, you aren't.

For the faint of heart, a word of reassurance:

Academic murder isn't real murder. 

And a caution for everyone: this works for killing other social groups, too.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    January 2023
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016

    Categories

    All
    ALLtheHolidays
    Blog Recycling
    Ethical Consumption
    Fiction
    First Dates
    Indian Film
    Leisure
    Mortality
    News
    North Platte
    Personal
    Poems
    Retirement
    Ruminations
    Social Justice
    Srk
    SRK Quest
    Story A Day
    Teaching
    Unitarian Universalism
    Writing

    RSS Feed

"It is a better joy to teach than to be taught" - Alfred North Whitehead

  • Home
  • Books
  • Poetry
  • Flash Fiction
  • Gender Mystique
  • Contact
  • Home