Faster Than I Write It Down

Posted on July 18, 2011 by

It’s been a year since I started writing without a net here on Stories Now Told. Twelve months, 158 posts (including this one), one poem, and over 170,000 words later and I still have a notebook brimming with ideas for new stories to write. Which brings me to a recurring question I get, “Where does this stuff come from?” Continue reading →

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Lesson Learned

Posted on July 15, 2011 by

I was given two great gifts in the summer of 1987. One was the opportunity to see the Drum Corps International finals in Wisconsin with my future classmates. I got the second gift the same week we piled in a van and rode many miles north. I received it from an attractive, soon to be senior named Pam. Continue reading →

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Promises, Promises

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

There were basically two reasons I made my mom drive me across town to Magic Wheels skating rink every Friday night instead of the much more convenient Rainbow Roller Rink. Okay, truthfully, there were three reasons, but only two of them ever paid attention to me. Obviously, those reasons were female and the three of us formed a ridiculously silly teenage love triangle. Continue reading →

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Some Sugar

Posted on July 11, 2011 by

High School memories are funny things. Some people over romanticize them, and some dwell only on the unhappy ones (which is what I usually do, but mostly because they are funny). For most of my freshman and all of my sophomore and junior years of high school, I had a pretty good friend named Tonia. While she was never my girlfriend, she was definitely my girl friend (that space is an important distinction). We spent a lot of time together and I am convinced that she saved me from having all bad memories. She was a year older and  was my constant during the roughest part of those formative years. This doesn’t mean we never ran in to problems of course. Continue reading →

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A Good Reason to be Late

Posted on July 8, 2011 by

I got my first real job when I was a junior in high school. I was terrified of tardiness, so I always left about twenty to thirty minutes before my shift even though we lived only five minutes from the mall where I worked. I hadn’t even worked there a month the November Saturday I walked out the front door and enjoyed the unseasonably warm temperature. I thought I might actually put the top down on my way to work and looked forward to the drive. Then I saw the flames. Continue reading →

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A Short Exposition Upon the Different Treatment of Men and Women by Dental Professionals

Posted on July 6, 2011 by

Chrisie and I have a good friend who also happens to be our dentist. On the plus side, he’s the first dentist I never thought performed unnecessary procedures. On the negative side, he knows us well enough to tell us what we need to hear instead of what we want to hear. Continue reading →

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Start Feeling It

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

From about eighth grade on, I planned to teach music. It was what I Really Wanted To Do. I thought about it daily and even attempted to come up with innovative ways to impart the love of and technical ability for music. No one close to me was surprised when I started my college career as a Music Education major. I thought my first semester would be difficult but rewarding. It was an unmitigated disaster. Continue reading →

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