Fiction Fiesta

Reaching for stars

Credit: Peakpx

If you follow me in Substack Notes, you know I am participating in Volume II of Same Walk, Different Shoes which is a collection of fictional short stories organized by Ben Wakeman, in his Catch and Release newsletter. The posts will be published tomorrow, Friday, July 5, at 8:00 a.m. eastern.

In this collection each writer parlayed a 100-word prompt into a short story of up to 2,500 words. This is my first effort at fiction, so from the moment I volunteered for the compilation I was trepidatious. My “Inner Critic”, which I’ve now affectionately named “fearmongering fuckwit”, immediately went to work on me.

---

Special thanks to

Michael Estrin

for his excellent post about inner critics.

K-Fuck Radio: First time caller, long time listener

---

The inner dialogue with ‘fuckwit’ went something like this -

fuckwit: Are you crazy?! You don’t have a fucking clue how to write fiction. You’re going to fail. Everyone will know you’re horrible at writing.

Me: Oh! My! God! I don’t have a clue about how to write fiction. I’m going to fail. I suck at writing.

fuckwit: Thank goodness you got off that ambitious crazy train. You can try this the next time, maybe (big fucking maybe, HUGE) when you aren’t such a horrible writer.

Me: I gotta get outta this. I need to tell

Ben Wakeman

something came up. I can’t do this.

Me: Wait a minute! If I want to run the other way isn’t that fear? Shouldn’t I forge ahead when I’m scared. Hell yes!

The rest is history. The process, which I left for nearly the last minute because - hello, fear - was easier than I expected.

What I would love is feedback about the story from you, good or bad. It was a pleasant surprise to find that I enjoyed writing it, even from the prompt of a stranger. Your feedback will help me write better in the future. Thank you for your support!