He couldn’t recollect her name. What he remembered was the place she told him she came from. “I’m from a wonderful town called Sewickley.” She pronounced it carefully and distinctly, as if he were a slow second-grader. Perhaps if she’d said “My name is Suuusan,” he would have remembered her name, but the town was what stuck. “It’s near Pittsburgh. It may sound like it has a funny name, but it’s a wonderful town. A wonderful town.” It was like a little lecture. What was so special about Sewickley? She wasn’t explaining. Lots of trees, he guessed, lots of single-family homes, good schools. The sort of place everyone came from. Up to then, he’d spent his life moving with his… Continue >>
”Mr Terrance Trent…” ”D’ARBY!” He added loudly. Found it hilarious, thought he was original. Despite having done it once a fortnight for almost a year. Jokes wear thin but this one had eroded. Well for me it had, however not for the newer hordes of strugglers who sniggered at this wit, those who’d heard of the musician at least. Blue shiny tracksuit pants and a zipped top in the middle of summer. Scuffed black dress shoes inappropriately completed the ensemble. Craggy features, stained teeth and sunken jowls from a lifetime of cheap cider and tobacco aged him beyond his years. Perched on the edge of the waiting area couch in the Job centre, his perch, which he’d occupied since the… 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.