Photo prompt: what’s the first idea that comes to mind?
Filed under 2015, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday
Road sign overhead reads: /
“EXPECT POTHOLES, USE CAUTION” /
Would prefer asphalt.
Filed under 2015, Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Willard’s stories were so full of imprisoned characters, they were starting to complain of overcrowding.
Filed under 2015, cartoon by author, CarToonsday
A songwriter sitting at a bar tried explaining to the woman next to him why he’d given up dating.
“Did both sisters know you were dating the other one?” the woman asked.
The songwriter nodded. “At first, they both said: ‘cool, date all.'”
“Then?”
“Then it wasn’t. So I said I was leaving. Tina cried when I left, and so did her sister, Marge. I told them, ‘Don’t cry for me, Marge and Tina.'”
The woman poured her drink on the songwriter and she left.
Filed under 2015, Monday morning writing joke
How Genre Fiction Became More Important Than Literary Fiction
The book war is over. The aliens, dragons, and detectives won.
Source: http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a33599/genre-fiction-vs-literary-fiction/?fb_ref=Default
Literature or Genre fiction?
Only idiots or snobs ever really thought less of “genre books” of course. There are stupid books and there are smart books. There are well-written books and badly written books. There are fun books and boring books. All of these distinctions are vastly more important than the distinction between the literary and the non-literary. Time has a tendency to demolish old snobberies. Once upon a time, Conan Doyle was embarrassed by the Sherlock Holmes stories; he wanted to be remembered for his serious historical novels. Jim Thompson’s books—considered straight pulp during his lifetime—are obviously as dense and layered and confounding as great literature. Correction: They are great literature. Who really thinks, today, that Stanislaw Lem isn’t a genius, that he’s “just a science fiction writer”?
Rest of the article: http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a33599/genre-fiction-vs-literary-fiction/?fb_ref=Default
Filed under 2015, genre, literature
What did the guru say?
I went into the woods today
a question on my mind.
I did not expect it,
but a guru I did find.
Young and fair of hair,
she sat in the eye of a thatch.
Bright were her clothes,
brightest thing in the wooded patch.
I approached with care
afraid I might frighten her away.
She bade me come closer,
“Do you have a question today?”
I said that I did
and proceeded to try to ask.
It was about triskaidekaphobia,
but she said that would simply pass.
“It’s a silly number
falling on a Friday.
If that is all you have,
then you have no reason to stay.”
I turned to leave her,
feeling suitably rebuffed
when she said she had a question
if I thought I had the right stuff.
Then she paused a minute
and I told her I would try.
She said she wanted to know
about this day they called pie.
“What types of pie,” she asked,
“will there be on pie day?
If I come out of the woods
can I taste whatever I may?”
I thought it through a minute
then realized what she meant
but if she were looking pie
this might not be her event.
I told her 3.1415 was
what this day was about.
She looked up to the sky
and then I heard her shout:
“Just another lousy number
when all I wanted was a slice.
Take two radii and form a wedge
of blackberry would be nice.
“Add a scoop of ice cream
to this little wedge of pie.
Is that too much to ask?”
and then I heard her cry.
I quietly left the woods
tiptoeing over roots and rocks
vowing never to complain
to a guru with golden locks.
–photo and poem by David E. Booker
Filed under 2015, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday, poetry by author
Each year I am born /
and each day I begin life /
are fodder for dreams.
Filed under 2015, Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
FAMILY MATTERS guidelines
Glimmer Train
Maximum word count: 12,000. Any shorter lengths are welcome.
Held just twice a year: Open to submissions in MARCH and SEPTEMBER. Next deadline: March 31.
Winners and finalists will be officially announced in the June 1 and December 1 bulletins, respectively, and will be contacted directly one week earlier.
Reading fee: $15 per story. Please, no more than three submissions per contest.
Prizes:
Please make your submissions at Glimmer Train’s online submission site: http://www.glimmertrainpress.com/writer/html/index2.asp. We look forward to reading your work!
* Remember that sticking too tightly to “fact” can limit the larger truth that fiction is able to reveal. Give your story the leeway it needs in order to find its own life. And, if your story is closely related to your actual experience, it is wise to change details that would allow the real-life people to say, Hey, that’s me!
Filed under 2015, Writing Tip Wednesday
Sometimes the Importance of being Ernest was too much to bear.
Filed under 2015, cartoon by author, CarToonsday
Before she became a novelist, Mary Shelley wanted to open a bar and restaurant in Berlin, but she didn’t have much money for a sign, and she was told the sign could not be very big.
Calling it
Bratwurst
and
Beer
was too many letters and did not look right, especially with one word longer than the other.
After much contemplation and taking the letters apart and putting them back together with some other letters, she came up with words the fit the sign size and her budget:
Frank
-N-
Stein.
Filed under 2015, Monday morning writing joke
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