The story of the week for July 17 to 21 is…
Life on Earth by Sarah Krenicki
P.S. I don’t remember the last time I had such a hard time choosing a story of the week. Keep the quality flowing, everyone!
ALEX MARKOVICH: Prodigy
I remember him when we were just kids. Giggly, noisy, nearly manic, and already world-renowned. He practiced and practiced, eight hours a day, and his violin sang and cried for him.
He died alone at 35. Some people whispered that he’d climbed onto his kitchen counter and dived off headfirst.
Alex knew Michael.
JENNIFER M SMITH: She Ran
The girl in that house burned to death. Her father was burning leaves.
She was pirouetting round the fire.
The hem of her dress swirled over the flames, just long enough to ignite.
She didn’t feel it until she stopped, dizzy with her dancing.
She shouldn’t have, but she ran.
Jennifer M. Smith is an author and adventurer. She is working on a memoir of her sailing adventures, a tale of 40,000 miles at sea with her husband aboard their sailboat Green Ghost. She also enjoys writing creative non-fiction short stories about her childhood.
VIJAI PANT: That One Comment
Rukmini was tremendously busy throughout her vacations, clicking eye catching snaps and then continuously checking for new notifications on different sites.
“How were your holidays?” you ask.
“Great fun!” she answers, but her face does not light up.
She’s still awaiting that one comment for which the trip was made.
Vijai Pant is a language teacher in a school in India. He is also a freelance writer.
SARA NIESEN: Escape
We’re alone, for now.
Her dusty mane dances, muscles ripple in her neck, but her saddle remains unmoved.
Unleash the buckles! Cut the rope! every part of me screams.
My right boot scrapes against the gritty trail, refusing to lift.
Her rider returns, mounts.
Feeling the weight, I slump away.
A storyteller at heart, Sara fans the writing flames in young people as a BAWP Teacher Consultant at UC Berkeley. As founder of MindMyEducation.com she helps students take charge of their education, so they can write the stories of their lives instead of simply playing the roles laid out for them.
KERRY BANK: A Spoiled Afternoon
Behind a bench, on the empty side of the park, you see some letters upended.
Maybe they fell off a sign. Maybe they were part of an art installation. They’re very three-dimensional and very white on the green grass.
But that’s the problem with metaphors – they’re always ultimately reading practice.
Kerry works in adult education in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He thinks that most people have really great stories to share, except boring people, and that learning to tell stories empowers people to learn to learn from them.
ALISON McBAIN: Wild
Give me creosote, sidewinders, the lone call of a coyote on top of a mesa, the silver sliver of a cold desert moon. Follow the train whistle scream, the chug and iron stink of steam.
Pull the handkerchief over my mouth. Spare the women and children.
Ride like the wind.
Alison grew up in the Wild West, but hasn’t robbed any trains… yet. You can read more of her writing at alisonmcbain.com.
PJ STEPHENSON: Infernal Tune
“I’m fed up with this music.”
“Hush! You’ll upset the other opera-goers.”
“I don’t care. This infernal tune keeps me awake at nights, swirling round my head. It’s driving me mad.”
“Mother, you must get used to it. After all, it is the national anthem, and you are the Queen.”
PJ is a British writer living in Switzerland with his wife and Parson Russell Terrier. He sees the Alps every day but misses the Cairngorms. The music swirling round his head is usually Linkin Park. Follow him @Tweeting_Writer.
TAMSIN SEYMOUR: Romance by the Book
After weeks of making eyes from the other side of Fiction, he plucked up the courage.
His scrawled note said, “Coffee?” Her reply said “Convince me.” She’d read the novels: true love needs a little jeopardy.
But he missed her punctuating smile. He snatched up his satchel and marched away.
Tamsin also believes too much of what she reads in novels.
BOB THURBER: Legally Blind
Grandpa holds my hand. He taps his cane. His hearing aid emits a horrible hum. His dead eye looks like a winter moon, his right eye, which works well enough for him to manage, glints like crumpled tinfoil in direct sunlight. Whenever he bangs into furniture he spits out sparks.
Over the years Bob Thurber’s work has received a long list of awards and prizes. His most recent book is a collection of brief stories titled “Nothing But Trouble.” His first novel, “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel,” was recently rereleased. Visit BobThurber.net.