Which One?

This afternoon, Wade Peterson and I met and discussed short stories and why we write them.  There certainly isn't much of a market for them, hence our new blog.  We set down our motivations.

"These days there are few magazines that publish short stories. It is still a genre we love. The short story sets the scene, introduces characters, and moves things along to a conclusion in a few thousand words. It is literature that the reader can enjoy during a single cup of coffee.

"Our stories are character driven. We like inventing a character and finding out what he or she will do next. Once we enter the world of our novels (and we are writing novels), we are stuck with those characters for months if not years. Our short stories let us meet new people, deal with them, and move on. It is rather like meeting people on public transportation, hearing their stories, empathizing, and getting off the bus without ever having to see them again.

"So here we are, putting our stories out there perhaps to someday be discovered by those publishers who will give us enormous advances to keep on doing what we love and would be doing anyhow. Wade thinks we are both cracked. Colleen thinks we can't help ourselves, it's what we have to do.

"Above all, we want to be read."

It's my turn to post a short story on the new blog. I've been writing stories for some time now and there are a few possibilities.

There's a story about a boy, a girl, a dog and a sandbar.

How about a woman who can't get over her first love?

Then there's a story about island fever.  Or the one about a depressed pastor.  Or community theatre and a great kiss.

So many stories, and I have to choose one.

I am so open for suggestions.

On Friday, check out http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com and see what I come up with