No one will ever accuse me of being decisive.
Even the simple question of what I want for dinner can send me into a mental tailspin. Things to consider: what I’m in the mood for, what I had for lunch, what I had for the dinner the day before, what might be for dinner tomorrow, what other people involved with this dinner have had and what they like, will this be dinner out or dinner at home, how much time do we have for dinner, how much will dinner cost, and what does the person asking hope I will say.
Every once in a while the answer comes to me right away–tacos! Or fried chicken! A big salad! But most of the time I end up throwing a few options back at the person asking (probably the husband) and hope that will lead to someone else deciding.
This means that when I have made up my mind about something, I tend to be very attached to what I’ve decided (some might say stubborn) because it has typically taken me a long time and a lot of inner dialogue to come to that decision.
When I’m in the middle of writing a story, however, I can usually decide things for my characters easily. That isn’t hard. Deciding which story I want to work on is hard. Deciding which story to put out into the world is way harder than deciding what to have for dinner.
I haven’t given up the dream of finding an agent and traditional publisher. That’s the dream! I may be rejected until my dying day, but okay. No one is promised anything in this business, so that’s how it goes.
It’s a lot easier to share art than to share stories. Where do you go to read sorties these days? Bookstores? E-books? Anthologies? Journals? Websites? Something I’m not thinking of? And if you don’t read stories, well…don’t tell me!
But thank you for reading this.
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 
Most the stories (books) I read are from browsing the shelves at Half Price while I’m selling back some of the books that I’m not interested in anymore (and, tbh, I’m lucky if I break even on my sellbacks). Others are either books that I see recommended online with enough of an excerpt or synopsis that I feel like I need that book.Short stories are mostly ones that I read online somewhere.
I’m super old fashioned and read stories out of paper books. I don’t even have a kindle. I’m curious what is out there now! Following along here to get clues!
I get overwhelmed looking online for stories. It’s hard to know where to start. Well, not just online. I feel overwhelmed in the bookstore too. Most stories I end up falling in love up are stories I happen to come across when I wasn’t really looking for anything. I would like to publish stories of my own, of course, but I struggle with how I want to go about it. Too many choices! They freeze up my brain.
I’ve got a couple of Kindle subscriptions to publications that publish fiction (NYer, Paris Review). But for the most part I read novels, sometimes stories in anthologies. For the latter, I tend to read a few stories, then put it aside and go on to read something else, and coming back to the anthology later — back and forth.
While I read a lot of fiction, all things considered, I wish I had more time in a day to read even more — especially short fiction, especially in non-brand-name (so to speak) publications.
As for writing, well, it’s embarrassing that I still consider myself a writer of stories — it’s been so long. Technically i have an excuse (have been w/out a computer at home for a couple months now, while our home offices are being renovated; my only way of “writing” during this time has been via The Missus’s laptop or my Android tablet… and both of those have to take place in weird, non-isolated locations. (Dining room, master bedroom.)
P.S. I see your seasonal snowfall is securely in place! 😉
When I saw the snowfall was back, I thought, “Can’t for John to see it!” Hahaha!
I’m writing, but I’m not submitting, so that is probably a problem. Good luck with the remodels! I hope the redone space will be inspiring!