Editor: With some recent discussion on how submissions are handled at FiftyWordStories.com, in terms of copyright and ownership, I felt this fifty-word story/essay submitted by Mike Vardy was relevant. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject!

Existing work inspires my best creative work. The inspiring work seems to come in pairs: I watched an episode of Behind The Music followed by The Rutles, and an idea was born; I was thinking about productivity and watched The Colbert Report, and an idea was born.

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Mike Vardy lives in Victoria, BC, with his wife, Anne, and daughter, Grace.  He has contributed to CBC Radio, both as a writer and performer, and is the creator of the personal productivity parody site, Effing The Dog. He also co-hosts DyscultureD, a weekly podcast that “dyscusses and dysects” pop culture of the past and present with a very Canadian flavo(u)r.