I love short stories. That’s where I began as a writer. While I have several novel-length projects underway, what always gets my creative juices flowing is the idea for a new short story.
It was just over a year ago that I published my first book, a collection of short fiction titled “Shorts”. I thought I was being clever, only to discover it had been done before. But the stories are original, and they’re mine.
What I discovered along the way is that the short story doesn’t get much love these days. Once upon a time, it was the proving ground for writers. The short story is a challenging format, requiring top quality storytelling with just a few thousand words to work all the pieces in.
Today, I come across a great many readers who turn their noses up at the very concept of short fiction. Which is really sad. There are so many wonderful stories out there to enjoy. Not all of them need to be told in seven massive volumes.
So I am going to push back. I want the short story to be given its due, even if it never rises to the heights it once held. Each month of 2018 I will offer up a collection of short stories for your consideration. I have some wonderful authors lined up for your consideration, Fitzgerald, Twain, Conan Doyle. My goal is to entice you to try at least a couple of them. I hope you will find something to pique your interest this year.
Here are two from last year, to whet your appetite:
Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King
I want to link again to a wonderful blog post, “Writing Short Stories” by Clare over at “50 A Year“.
This is part of the larger transformation of this blog in the New Year. It will become what it was always meant to be, my writing and creative blog. Over the last couple years, I’ve also developed a loyal following for my blogs on diet/diabetes and exercise. So those topics will continue on a monthly basis. My hope is that I can retire my job search posts in the near rather than far future as well. But my hope is to offer lots of interesting topics as we go.
“Shorts- A Collection of Short Fiction” by J.D. Phillippi is available in e-book and paperback versions. An audiobook version will be added early this year. You can find it at:
And you can check out my writer’s page “Stories Are My Life” at JDPhillippi.com
Stories Are My Life 