This week’s story isn’t very good. I’m aware of that.
That’s why I’ve applied for federal arts funding. Because I honestly do believe there’s a kernel of a good idea somewhere in here, and that I just need time to develop it further to find it.
So I applied for a grant, it was approved, and I’ll be spending the next several months taking this piece of flash fiction on a tour of small, northern towns through Alberta and British Columbia. I’ll be reading it in whatever performance venues are made available to me, and afterword there’ll be Q&A sessions where I deal with the issues brought up in the text.
In doing these Q&As, the hope is that I gain new insight into my story, which I can then use to edit or alter it such as is needed to allow my nugget of a good idea to blossom into a better realized tale.
It won’t be easy, I admit. But not everything needs to be easy, does it? Sometimes the fact that a task is daunting makes it that much more satisfying to embrace.
After all, if success always came easily why would we appreciate it?
And I honestly do believe in this piece.
So away I’ll go, to do what needs to be done and, one would hope, eventually return with the best damn flash fiction I can create.
I’ll keep you posted as to how it goes…
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Weekly Prompt Story: Bubbles
http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/2011/11/06/weekly-challenge-289-bubbles/
Bubbles
By Chris Munroe
Bubbles rise to the surface, burst, and are gone. And as suddenly as that it’s all over.
He’d thought he could steal from me, thought I wouldn’t notice a few bucks “disappearing” here and there.
I make it my business to notice everything.
I could have alerted the authorities, but it’d been a while since I went hands on, so I solved the problem myself.
An invite to an afternoon on my boat, a bottle of wine and a willingness to wait for my opportunity.
And now, as I sail home, I can’t help but smile.
I’ve still got it.
Bubbles
By Chris Munroe
Bubbles rise to the surface, burst, and are gone. And as suddenly as that it’s all over.
He’d thought he could steal from me, thought I wouldn’t notice a few bucks “disappearing” here and there.
I make it my business to notice everything.
I could have alerted the authorities, but it’d been a while since I went hands on, so I solved the problem myself.
An invite to an afternoon on my boat, a bottle of wine and a willingness to wait for my opportunity.
And now, as I sail home, I can’t help but smile.
I’ve still got it.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
This is Not a Robbery
Everybody get down on the floor, hands behind your heads, and try your best to remain calm. This is not a robbery.
Maybe eighteen months ago, when I first lost my job at the firm, I’d have considered robbing a bank, but back then I thought a new job was just around the corner and that I’d be back on my feet in no time. And now that I realize what a joke those hopes were, it’s too late. The time has passed. It passed when my wife packed up the kids and moved back in with her parents.
They were my world. I tried to convince them things would get better, but after a year of waiting even I was beginning to doubt it. Once they were gone I felt like I had no reason to go on.
Didn’t even bother looking for a job after that. Didn’t see the point of it without a family to come home to afterward. I found it harder and harder to bring myself to care about anything at all. When the bank finally sent somebody around to kick me out of the house the only thing that surprised me was how little I cared.
Afterward, at a local shelter, my things in a trunk at the foot of my cot, I considered eating my gun. But that didn’t appeal to my sense of the dramatic. I’d always had a well-developed sense of drama, back when I was a man, and the idea that I die the way I wish I could have lived appealed to me.
So here I am. And no, this is not a robbery.
It’s a suicide attempt. And you’re presence is just an unfortunate side effect.
So try to remain calm as we wait together for the police to arrive.
Maybe eighteen months ago, when I first lost my job at the firm, I’d have considered robbing a bank, but back then I thought a new job was just around the corner and that I’d be back on my feet in no time. And now that I realize what a joke those hopes were, it’s too late. The time has passed. It passed when my wife packed up the kids and moved back in with her parents.
They were my world. I tried to convince them things would get better, but after a year of waiting even I was beginning to doubt it. Once they were gone I felt like I had no reason to go on.
Didn’t even bother looking for a job after that. Didn’t see the point of it without a family to come home to afterward. I found it harder and harder to bring myself to care about anything at all. When the bank finally sent somebody around to kick me out of the house the only thing that surprised me was how little I cared.
Afterward, at a local shelter, my things in a trunk at the foot of my cot, I considered eating my gun. But that didn’t appeal to my sense of the dramatic. I’d always had a well-developed sense of drama, back when I was a man, and the idea that I die the way I wish I could have lived appealed to me.
So here I am. And no, this is not a robbery.
It’s a suicide attempt. And you’re presence is just an unfortunate side effect.
So try to remain calm as we wait together for the police to arrive.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
For the record...
...this blog will continue to update during NaNoWriMo. I have #fridayflash stories, albeit extremely short ones, in the can so as to keep #fridayflash going, and prompt stories are 100 words so I'll be keeping up with them too. This won't take an enormous amount of my mental energy, obviously, since I'm expecting NaNoWriMo to take a lot out of me, BUT I do take this thing seriously too, so I'll find things to update it with even as I'm busy NaNo-ing.
Also, if you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, here's my information so you can keep me honest about the work I need to do...
http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/munsi
Also, if you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, here's my information so you can keep me honest about the work I need to do...
http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/munsi
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Happy Halloween!!!
And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my weekly prompt story and Halloween celebration! Enjoy...
http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/2011/10/30/weekly-challenge-288-halloween/
Halloween
By Chris Munroe
And welcome back to Zombie chat! We’ve got some amazing guests joining us on the show tonight and we can’t wait to get started.
First up we’ve got Nobel prizewinning economist Paul Krugman joining us, and we’re going to eat his brain. Our musical guest is Canadian ‘90s power poppers The Odds, playing one of their classic hits. Finally, the head chef of a popular downtown restaurant will be dropping by to cook us a meal involving a surprising secret ingredient!
But first, what’s left of David Mitchellson is outside with the action weather report. Take it away, David!
“Raaaaaaaaain…”
http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/2011/10/30/weekly-challenge-288-halloween/
Halloween
By Chris Munroe
And welcome back to Zombie chat! We’ve got some amazing guests joining us on the show tonight and we can’t wait to get started.
First up we’ve got Nobel prizewinning economist Paul Krugman joining us, and we’re going to eat his brain. Our musical guest is Canadian ‘90s power poppers The Odds, playing one of their classic hits. Finally, the head chef of a popular downtown restaurant will be dropping by to cook us a meal involving a surprising secret ingredient!
But first, what’s left of David Mitchellson is outside with the action weather report. Take it away, David!
“Raaaaaaaaain…”
Friday, October 28, 2011
Publish or Perish
Last December I joined a Facebook group for aspiring writers.
Publish or Perish.
The group was fairly self-explanatory. I pledged to take my writing more seriously, to finish the projects I started and to actually edit and submit my work for publication upon it’s completion. In exchange, the group offered a forum in which to communicate with other writers in the same position, a place to vent, moral support and a clearly defined goal.
Publish one story, just one, in a major print magazine over the course of calendar 2011. How hard could it possibly be? I had a whole year in which to do it!
I figured the group would give me the kick in the pants I needed to get some pages written and it honestly has. I’ve gotten more work done this year than I ever have, and I credit the group with a large part of the motivation that took. I’ve kept up my friday flash stories week after week, expanded them from drabbles to stories of 500 to 3000 words, and even have my first novel outlined and ready to begin drafting come November. I’ve placed stories on a number of online magazines and podcasts, including appearances on some of my favorite audio fiction ‘casts. Hearing my work performed makes me prouder than I can say.
But I still haven’t placed a story in a major print magazine.
I’m doing my best not to worry about it, but sometimes I can’t help it. The twelve month deadline the group imposed seemed like forever when I joined up, but now it’s nearly November and, while I’ve accomplished a lot, the one hard, fast goal they established continues to elude me. I’ve even started having stress dreams about the deadline, now only two months away.
Which I understand is dumb. Stressing out never helped accomplish anything. But I can’t help it.
After all, they made it perfectly clear what was expected of me. Publish one story, just one, in a major print magazine over the course of calendar 2011. And they made the consequences of failure equally clear. I mean, it was right in the name of the group, and I did join of my own free will…
I do still have two months. I’m still writing, and improving every day. I’m still editing and submitting, and it’s certainly not too late.
But, in the meanwhile, I’ve bought a gun.
Just in case.
Publish or Perish.
The group was fairly self-explanatory. I pledged to take my writing more seriously, to finish the projects I started and to actually edit and submit my work for publication upon it’s completion. In exchange, the group offered a forum in which to communicate with other writers in the same position, a place to vent, moral support and a clearly defined goal.
Publish one story, just one, in a major print magazine over the course of calendar 2011. How hard could it possibly be? I had a whole year in which to do it!
I figured the group would give me the kick in the pants I needed to get some pages written and it honestly has. I’ve gotten more work done this year than I ever have, and I credit the group with a large part of the motivation that took. I’ve kept up my friday flash stories week after week, expanded them from drabbles to stories of 500 to 3000 words, and even have my first novel outlined and ready to begin drafting come November. I’ve placed stories on a number of online magazines and podcasts, including appearances on some of my favorite audio fiction ‘casts. Hearing my work performed makes me prouder than I can say.
But I still haven’t placed a story in a major print magazine.
I’m doing my best not to worry about it, but sometimes I can’t help it. The twelve month deadline the group imposed seemed like forever when I joined up, but now it’s nearly November and, while I’ve accomplished a lot, the one hard, fast goal they established continues to elude me. I’ve even started having stress dreams about the deadline, now only two months away.
Which I understand is dumb. Stressing out never helped accomplish anything. But I can’t help it.
After all, they made it perfectly clear what was expected of me. Publish one story, just one, in a major print magazine over the course of calendar 2011. And they made the consequences of failure equally clear. I mean, it was right in the name of the group, and I did join of my own free will…
I do still have two months. I’m still writing, and improving every day. I’m still editing and submitting, and it’s certainly not too late.
But, in the meanwhile, I’ve bought a gun.
Just in case.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Weekly Prompt Story: Zoo
As heard on the current edition of "100 Word Stories"
http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/2011/10/23/weekly-challenge-287-zoo/
Zoo
By Chris Munroe
“You will not turn this courtroom into a zoo!”
The judge seethed, and I suppose I saw his point. Calling a lion tamer in as a character witness was one thing, but a cage of monkeys as “evidence” in a murder trial was beyond the pale.
Perhaps I should have apologized.
Instead I threw open the cage.
Monkeys exploded out of it, and everything was chaos. Lawyers, bailiffs and jurors scrambled, dodging flying poo as best they could. Hilarious.
I was sad to make my exit amidst that grand chaos.
But I had to. They’d have inevitably found me guilty…
http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/2011/10/23/weekly-challenge-287-zoo/
Zoo
By Chris Munroe
“You will not turn this courtroom into a zoo!”
The judge seethed, and I suppose I saw his point. Calling a lion tamer in as a character witness was one thing, but a cage of monkeys as “evidence” in a murder trial was beyond the pale.
Perhaps I should have apologized.
Instead I threw open the cage.
Monkeys exploded out of it, and everything was chaos. Lawyers, bailiffs and jurors scrambled, dodging flying poo as best they could. Hilarious.
I was sad to make my exit amidst that grand chaos.
But I had to. They’d have inevitably found me guilty…
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