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| Georgie Porgy nearing 82 |
Oh what a nightmare. We changed our internet from awful CenturyLink to Xfinity and lost our email address. In the midst of this wonderful late-in-life creative rush [now 27 stories], I'm fighting all the problems that come with new email addresses. The sign in problems. Password messes. You name it. I can't even explain some of the problems. Still? Creating like mad. Trusting my psyche, my imagination to lead me to the source. Anyhow... this is my check-in with those who follow my labors in the word arbor. I'm thinking I might do this. Since most lit mags won't accept any stories that have been "published" on the internet, I'm going to try this. I'm going to put my email address in here. Anyone who'd like to see one of my stories, email me with your email address. I'll pick one favorite story and send it as an attachment to anyone interested. You can judge how I'm doing. I'm very happy with what I'm finding in me to write about. I still need to pick one story. Waiting to get your emails: geomert.q.com@gmail.com The story I picked is less than a 1000 words.
Don't worry. I won't put you on a mailing list. I don't have one in the first place. And I'm so not a marketing whiz.
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| trumpery, the word |
I'm on my third story in a week: "Game Of Hearts", "Activated Charcoal" the first two. I'm beginning a third today named temporarily "Superstition". Notice that I put quotation marks around the short story titles. And I use italics for novel titles. These affectations result from earning my Masters In English. I believe those are recommended by the Chicago Manual of Style which was the standard. Many professors demanded those stylistic requirements. What about movie titles and song titles? I know I could do research to trigger my recall of those long ago days, but, let me be honest, I truly don't care to take the time. I'd do it if it came up in a short story and I needed the detail. I'd rather use italics for everything. These days of trumpery, I suppose I would demand those standards of students if I were teaching. I'd forgotten all about that word, trumpery. Amazing how it came to me just now. And how fitting it is for these days of worthless nonsense in the White House.
Lastly, my first submission of a current story was returned from a reputable literary magazine. But I was specifically asked to submit again. That feels better than outright rejection.
I feel the necessity to comment even though demand is
down. Since May 9, I have created 24 stories, beginning with "The Line Ahead". I just finished the 24th story, "The Phone Call". All this began when I picked up an old collection of Ray Carver's tales Will You Please Be Quiet Please that was yellowing on a bookshelf in the office. So he was influenced by Hemingway and Chekhov? Now I'm influenced by his writing. I also doted on Hemingway and Chekhov back in the 1960s. I believe a line can be drawn through the connections. What a bitch that Carver died at age 50 of lung cancer. He was a smoker. Now e-cigarettes are killing people with lung ailments. Drawing anything but air into our lungs is risky. Thus the need [political opinion follows] for protection of our atmosphere. Clean air is a necessity for the human species. For all mammals to be exact. Even fish need oxygen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOGvQsWW1As
