Here’s the link:

http://www.bigpulp.com/viceforthelovelorn.html

It’s called “A Kiss and Makeup,” and it’s one of my favorites.  It started as a writing prompt, an attempt to write a 26-line story where each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. I began with Annika, and the rest came on it’s own. It was one of those stories where the ending surprised even me! Obviously, it’s been through a load of editing since that point, and though the sentences are no longer in alphabetical order, the essence of the tale remains the same.

So there you go. A new story to read, and a great prompt to try when your creative juices are running low.  This blog post is just chock full o’ story goodness!

I did one more final polish on my Lily Island story and sent it off to Writer’s Digest this morning. I’m feeling good about it, so good that if it doesn’t net me anything at WD, I’m going to try and submit it at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. It’s been one of my long term goals to have a story published there, and in Alfred Hitchcock. This could be the one!

My next project is to polish something for the Mid-American Review Fineline Competition. I’ve got three shorts that might be worthy, it’s just a question of whether or not I can get them to that point by Tuesday. I’ve got a lot of writing to do. Wish me luck!

What I’m Reading:

One of my goals for this year was to read 100 books. According to my Shelfari shelf, I’m at 46.  Most recently I finished Rooms, by James Rubart. Not quite what I was expecting, but an interesting premise none the less. If God asked you to choose between the life you have and the life you should be living, which would you pick?

Before that, I was in need of something light and fun, so I went with Donna Andrews newest Meg Langslow mystery, Swan for the Money. A quick and quirky read, with a bit of a cliff-hanger at the end for Meg’s fans. Is she or isn’t she?

Next up, Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin. I just downloaded it on my new Sony Reader (a Mother’s Day gift from my lovely husband. I must be a better mom than I thought!) and I’m saving it for Memorial weekend.

What I’m Eating:

I’m currently hooked on Udi’s Gluten Free White Sandwich Bread. After almost 3 years and countless dry, doughy substitutes, I have finally found a GF bread with the taste and texture of REAL BREAD. I’ve been indulging in bologna sandwiches, cinnamon toast, and patty melts, among other things. Bless you, Udi’s. Even if you have added miles to my waist line.

I’m working on a short story. I’m calling it a cross between Northern Exposure and Nero Wolfe. Which sets some impossibly high standards, but I’ve always been ignorant of a challenge.

Anyhoo, in the course of writing, I had one of those ‘Aha!’ moments that I had to share. I hate writing short stories! Okay, that wasn’t exactly the Aha! I was referring to. In fact, I already knew I hated writing short stories. The rough draft of this one has been moldering in my writing file for over a year. I finally aired it out only because of the looming deadline for the Writer’s Digest short story competition, which has a genre category.

I hated this before I finished the first draft. You couldn’t really even call it a story. I guess you could call it writing, in the sense that I had strung some words together into sentences, and some of those sentences were structured into paragraphs. I stress the word some. But on the whole, it sucked. If not for a little voice inside me that told me to pick this one, it would still suck.

But desperation is the mother of inspiration. And that’s when I remembered that even though I hate writing short stories, I love re-writing short stories!

Aha!

Once I found the thread at the heart of the story and yanked on it, everything fell into place.  All those half-baked ideas that I’d started and never finished, all those hints at characterization that never panned out, suddenly I knew where they all fit. I was cutting and pasting like a mad woman, and when it was all done, I’d written a story! One that didn’t suck!

It was like that scene in The Goonies, when they’re in the cave and Mikey finds that wire on the floor, and he picks it up and suddenly it sets all that stuff in motion? Things fall from the ceiling, rocks start rolling, bats fly out of the tunnel. (FYI - in this metaphor, the rocks are a good thing and the bats are my words flowing from my well of inspiration.)

So, the question is, what did I learn from all this?

1. I am no Rex Stout, but if I allow myself, I can write short stories. The first draft will suck, but I have the ability to make it better.
2. Moldering is my favorite word in this post.
3. Lots of things can be the mother of other things. Necessity and invention, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. You get the idea.
4. Classic ’80’s movies are relevant to every facet of life.

One of my favorite Dwight quotes ever! And so applicable. If you read my novels, consider this foreshadowing.

Now, short stories are not my favorite form of writing. In fact, I sort of hate them. Not reading them. Just the writing part, because I happen to suck at it. Novels are, and will always be, my first love. They give you a chance to stretch, to really dig down and plant your characters and your story roots, and plenty of time to let the plot bloom.

Short stories are much harder, at least for me. I never know where my story is going, or if I do, I don’t know how to get there. And if I think I know how to get there, I end up doing so much too fast, rushing the ending and ruining the whole darn thing.

If writing a novel is like planting a garden, then writing a short story is like finding a rock in the dirt. (This might be a lame metaphor, but bear with me.) The story idea is like a tiny gemstone lost inside of this big ugly rock. If you’re lucky, you might see a glimmer after the first draft. Every draft after serves to chip away at that rock, loosening and refining and polishing, until you’re left with something that doesn’t even slightly resemble your original idea. But if you’re lucky, it’s so pretty that you don’t care.

So for the past three months, I’ve been digging up rocks along with my fellow workshop participants. I ended with a few gems, one sparkling and a couple more in need of a final polishing, in addition to a few more rocks than I had when I started. I also unearthed something that I thought was a rock, but turned out to be a seed of something bigger.

And now that it’s spring, it’s time to get back to the garden.

But seriously, The Flash Fiction Offensive has graciously agreed to publish another one of my stories. You can read it here:
http://theflashfictionoffensive.blogspot.com/2010/02/working-stiff-by-shannon-schuren.html
or click on the link under ‘My Stories’ on the right.

Happy reading!

I am very excited about this one!

Actually, I’m very excited about all of my acceptances, but as this is my first anthology, I am excited on a whole ‘nother level. It’s a nice, solid cobblestone on my road to publication.

Which makes me wonder, wouldn’t blacktop had been smoother? What am I, living in the 1800’s? Of course, I wouldn’t mind an old nineteenth century Victorian house. Which is what the folks over at Pill Hill Press operate out of. People after my own heart.

Check them out here: http://www.pillhillpress.com/  and consider supporting small presses by purchasing a book.

From her lap, his shiny black eyes stared up at her as
she admired his permanent red smile. Fingering his tiny
overalls, she pictured the little ones’ faces, pressed
against the icy windowpanes, waiting for her to arrive
with another basket of her lifelike, homemade gifts.
The last strand of hair was finally in place. As she
gently inserted the needle to tie a knot, he lurched
in her hand and a high-pitched voice said…

That’s it. 900 word limit. They specifically want you to think outside the box, as they get a number of entries each time that are similar. And they love the surprise ending!

I really struggled this year, finally settling on a theme around 4:30 in the afternoon. After that, I had a lot of research to do on the internet, followed by a period of ‘mesh’ time in my head. I finally got up at 4:30 Sunday morning and hashed out a rough draft, then spent the next four hours tearing it apart and rewriting it.

In the end, I was happy with the results, but I must say that is the most I’ve worked on something in a single sitting for a long time. It was exhausing! And I still have no idea if my story was unique. If it turns out that everyone else wrote about the granddaughter of a voodoo priestess who falls back on her Gogo’s methods in order to keep her boyfriend faithful, I’m going to cry!

Anyway, you can take a look at:

http://www.bigpulp.com/

My story is currently on the front page, but if they move it between now and when you read it, simply click on the Science Fiction tab along the left side of the page. Science fiction. Who knew?

http://theflashfictionoffensive.blogspot.com/2009/11/til-death-by-shannon-schuren.html