A Random Post

As it becomes painfully obvious that time really is finite, or at least perceived as such, one has to make decisions as to how to allocate one’s time. As things progress (hopefully), perhaps more time can be spent updating blogs.

In the meantime, there are songs to collect and prepare. There is a Science Fiction novella almost ready for submission.

Keep checking back. As time permits, there will be more blog posting.

Joe's Coffee Problem (Micro-story #2)

Joe always woke up at eight in the morning. He would have his coffee, and perhaps a bowel of cereal. Inevitably, he would notice that he was running late. He would quickly comb his hair, using a little bit of water, and a tiny dab of hair gel. Although he was aging, he seemed to have most of his hair. He was in fairly good health.

There was one thing though. He always seemed to be tired. Thus, he had formed the habit of drinking a lot of coffee. By the middle of the morning, it was impossible to know how much of it he had already consumed.

There were some consequences as a result of his habit. One was that he made many trips to the restroom during his work day. The other was, despite being tired, he often had trouble falling asleep at night. Of course, the second problem would resolve itself. After a few late nights, he became so fatigued he'd fall asleep at an early hour. This didn't mean he wouldn't be tired when he woke up in the morning. He would start the whole cycle over again.

One day, Joe decided he was going to ween himself off of the caffeine fix. So, a little each day, he replaced the caffeinated coffee with decaf. His hope was to reach the point where he didn't feel the urge to drink coffee at all. But even if he could only reach the point of drinking decaf exclusively, he would be happy.

At first, over a period of a few days, he felt horrible. Over a longer period, he felt even worse. So, eventually, he went back the other way, and began to drink more and more caffeinated coffee.

He supposed, some addictions were not only worth not giving up, but were enjoyable and useful. He decided coffee was actually good for his health.

Joe and the Bird ("Micro-Story" # 1)

Every morning Joe would drink his coffee as he watched out of his window a small bird fluttering very near the window. If he could reach his outstretched arm just far enough, the bird would be close enough to touch. He never did that, of course. For whatever reason, he was just inclined to leave the bird alone to flutter about in front of his window.

He was absolutely sure it was the same bird every time. If you were to ask him how he knew that, or even what type of bird it was, he could not tell you. He knew nothing of birds. Still, over time he considered this bird a great friend. He felt as though he could have morning coffee with it, or he, or she - whatever the case may be.

After a while, he built a bird feeder, and hung it outside the window. He filled it every day. He felt as though the bird was very grateful to him for doing that. Joe would have his coffee. The bird would have his (or her?) seed. They were quite happy together each morning for many months.

One day, the bird disappeared. Joe was quite sad about this, and couldn't understand why the bird would leave him like that. Imagine, to leave him so suddenly. Yes, he was quite sad.

A few days later, Joe noticed a big cat, looking rather sinister, sitting underneath the bush just below his window. Well, Joe thought he looked sinister, but in actuality, the cat was quite happy, and rather fat.

Needless to say, Joe and the cat were never very good friends.

Micro-stories concept

I've come up with a concept I might try out on this blog. Maybe, as is often the case, it has already been thought of before. So, that would mean that I think I'm very clever, but I'm really not. Anyway, the concept is something I will call "micro-stories." These will will be very short works of fiction, perhaps as short as I can make them. Yet, they must must be complete regardless of their brevity. We'll see how it goes. I'll be writing these while working on my novella, which I hope to complete in the not so distant future.

None of these "micro-stories" will be for sale, and I doubt they would appear anywhere but here. However, plans do change. I hope to have one ready soon.

The First of These Posts

I'm using this blog as a feed  for my Author's Page, so I hope to keep the information as relevant as I can for that purpose. As I'm away from my creative endeavors, which are basically writing and music, I find it difficult to say anything of great importance using this venue. However, I should mention that I am working on a new Science Fiction novella. I could make it a novel, but especially for the e book format, I think I prefer the novella form. I won't give away too many details, certainly not details pertinent to the plot, but perhaps in future posts will describe it a little more.

As I do music and writing, I sometimes wonder if I can claim it is unusual to do both - but am certainly aware of those that have done both. Paul Bowles comes immediately to mind. He was one who often focused on shorter fiction like myself. And I am sure there are many other musicians who also wrote, and writers who were also musicians.

But keeping to the point of this blog, which is my writing, I intend to keep writing shorter works of fiction as well as my novella, which I consider a longer work. Maybe, I'll do a full novel at some point. Of course, everything is uncertain, as that's just how these ventures go. I'll do my best, at the very least, to write fiction that reads well on an e reader.