In so many words
Go small or go home
I give myself an hour every morning to write one 50-word story.
Fifty words. That’s it! What could be so tough? 🙄
Most days, I spend the entire hour agonizing over that one single story. On other days, four or five spill out of me with plenty of time to polish yesterday’s work.
Fast or slow, good or bad—the only rule is to fill the hour with Story.
Here are a few I wrestled with this week.
Cause of Death
No one dies of forgetfulness. If forgetting was deadly, she’d be dead already.
She forgot everything: birthdays, ball games, to pick me up after school. She forgot to feed my fish when I went away to summer camp.
Now, holding her hand, I realize even her grip has forgotten me.
All heart. No tart.
I couldn't cheer her up because she wasn’t depressed, not really, just in love with something that wasn’t here yet, like she knew it might never come, so she was hopeful and sad all at the same time.
Then, one day, the sadness left her eyes.
And so did I.
_ War Dept
This morning at coffee, my boss called his wife "The War Department." The guys laughed. They had names for their wives, too. "The Warden!" one guy shouted. "Fun Governor!" said another. "Old Ball and Chain!"
I kept quiet.
I am a better man because I was your boy. Thanks, Dad.
She didn’t say
They say those little fish like mackerel and sardines are chock full of healthy fats, Omega-3s, they say.
Good for your hair, skin, and nails, those Omega-3s. Make you strong, manly, and irresistible to the opposite sex, too. That's what they say.
Turns out… she don’t care what they say.
Wasn’t that fun?
Twenty days into 50-Word February, I’ve written nearly forty of these little ditties.
Most of them are trash, but I’m really happy with a few. And Still Life, the story picked up by FiftyWordStories.com, was popular enough to be chosen as their Story of the Week! (still kinda tickled about that - yay me!)
That’s it for now.
I love you guys ❤️🔥
Stay safe. Have fun. And long or short— keep telling your stories.
-Paul