Sitting above a crossbar of steel, high above the roaring New York, so staggering a view, I knew a man, though he was not my friend. He stayed isolated from the group, working the harder jobs along the trim steel, hauling wires and jumping rails, as if he dared God to let him slip. When the boys ate their lunches hundreds of feet above the solid concrete, he drank from a small silver flask, the only sustenance we ever saw him ingest. But that man, alone atop the blaring city, rivaled the memory of Hercules. Watching him work, you could image him beating raw ore into form. A brute who a thousand years ago would have been hailed a God,… Continue >>
Nancy was telling Tom about her friends who recently adopted a baby from a Russian orphanage. “The poor thing,” Nancy said over her dinner plate, “she’s been so neglected. If you play peek-a-boo with her she cries because she thinks you’ve gone away. Can you imagine? Those people put that baby in a crib and let her stare at the ceiling for 6 months. But Ginny and Brad are determined to help her developmentally. Obviously, she’s got some problems.” Tom slowly chewed his salad. “How can you tell?” he said with a mouthful. “How can I tell they are determined? Because they told me. You should see them. They are so in love with that child!” “No. I mean, how… Continue >>
Ever realized that the writing on the page is nowhere near as good as the idea in your head? You’re not alone…
pjmorledge.com is having a short story competition. Check it out.
Bob Jacobs has been the administrator and member of many successful online writing, creative writing and short story forums (fora??) and has written a great couple of articles about how you too can make it through the forest of critique and encouragement… Bob has previously had this short story featured on Backhand Stories.
I found a great little site that forces you to just… write. You are given a random word, and then sixty seconds to write whatever comes into your head. It’s a great little writing exercise. oneword.com Martin
I’ve had the pleasure of publishing a few pieces from members of Write Words, a great writing community based in the UK. They asked me to tell them a little more about Backhand Stories, so they’ve published a short interview with me about the site. You can read it here. Martin
I just stumbled upon this list of sites for writers to submit their work: http://socialmediatrader.com/resource-list-40-sites-for-writers/ Enjoy! Martin.