Memoirous

I was a bit hesitant to publicize this recent short story publication— Because the more I thought about it, the more self-conscious I became that it blurred the boundary between real life and fiction. I know, I know we all have these thoughts, especially as creatives. At the same time readers are also sleuthing out connections between a writer and what might possibly be autobiography—or even not that sophisticated, they simply assume that someone is writing nonfiction when it is clearly fiction. For the writer: I remember at a Festival of Faith and Writing listening to Carlos Eire talk about how his book Waiting for Snow in Havana came into being. It was written as fiction, maybe in his mind a pretext to loosen him up and allow him to get words down on paper. Anyway, his editor asked how much of this is true, your life, and he answered all of it. They marketed it as memoir. At that same conference I also sat in on a talk about the novel Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski, who shared ...

2024 is off to a fruitful start—yet not so much new writing from this writer. Pure of Heart came out in February in Fathom . A very sweet short story (14 min. read) about a simple girl, in terms applied from the past: a servant, who become ingrained into a family of middle-class means and how that relationship touches every member. I was inspired by Flaubert’s story "A Simple Heart". A few weeks ago my piece The Yellow House appeared in both the print and online journal Of Rust and Glass. After reading Rachel Cusk’s novel Second Place , I was inspired to attempt something similar. The brilliance of the novel was that it kept the reader guessing, I kept thinking something was going to happen, perhaps a murder or falling out, something to reward the reader for reading to the last page. But nothing. A kind of bait and switch, or just baiting. In the end people disappoint us, we’re disappointing, the narrative is quotidian.   Coin-Operated Press has accepted The Machine W...

If you like what you read here, please click in the upper left corner and become a follower. Recent posts will come into your email box. That way we can start a conversation about NOTHING! And, don’t forget my reading on Tuesday, April 30 at 7 pm EASTERN with other contributors Of Rust and Glass. Print copies will be available April 30,  go here:  https://ofrustandglass.com/ ZOOM for writing contributors. April 30, Tuesday, at 7 pm EASTERN time. Go here for ZOOM link:  https://fb.me/e/ 4mjb9vL5t My story is called The Yellow House loosely, and I mean loosely, based upon a visit I made to Sweden in 2014 . I keep a mental and physical notebook of story ideas—often very random, never knowing how I might tie something together to make a narrative, a beginning, middle, and end. All writers, unless they are liars, must confess that real life speaks into their writing life. So I hope the real life people, my friends, don’t think this story is about them. After reading...

This post is to announce my latest acceptance. A piece called Yellow House was taken by the Midwestern literary journal Of Rust and Glass. I’m proud to be part of this. Print copies will be available April 30,   go here:  https://ofrustandglass.com/ ALSO on April 30 th there will be a reading on ZOOM for writing contributors. April 30, Tuesday, at 7 pm EASTERN time. Go here for ZOOM link:  https://fb.me/e/ 4mjb9vL5t Thanks. Cover image below.