Against my better judgment, I’m participating in Story-a-Day May again this year. (If you’re giving it a try, let me know!) I love Story-a-Day because it motivates me. I like the pressure. It’s why I like NaNoWriMo as well. With no pressure, I’ll just sit and stare into space, dismissing every idea and distracting myself with social media. I get more grading done when I have a deadline and I get more housework done when guests are coming over.

So, a while back I discovered this nifty podcast Nocturne. I was working on painting a wall (see picture below!) and I found the stories so compelling, I listened to them all.

In any event, listening to all these stories of the night, inspired my own story ideas, and so when this year’s Story-a-Day rolled around, I was ready. I’m working on a series of short stories (connected? maybe…maybe not…) titled, A Night in a Graveyard and Other Stories of Immortality. We’ll see where they go.

But I also need to finish other works-in-progress. I keep working and working and not finishing. Maybe I’m subconsciously trying to avoid looking for another publisher. I don’t know. Well, no one wants to read about typical writer insecurities!

In other news, I’ve been reading this tome: Ever Yours: The Essential Letters by Vincent van Gogh. You can read many of his letters here. The book is over 700 pages. Big pages with small type. It’s why I pulled out of the Goodreads challenge to read so many books this year. It’s a slow but fascinating read. He writes about his work, his family, his love life. I see his process, how he looked at the world and how he learned. It’s such an insight into his mind. Thank goodness for letters. What do we leave the future with email? Email and text messages aren’t quite the same, are they?

Anyway, thanks for reading!