So I’m sort of meta-blogging today– meta, in the sense that I’m blogging about what I’m going to be blogging about– mostly so you guys don’t think I forgot about you out there!
Firstly, why aren’t more people reading literary journals? The Paris Review is relevant again, there are few if any annoying ads in most journals, and they are chock full of really great stories and essays without all of the B.S. of commercial rags.
Secondly, how does one make blogging fun again and not feel like a chore? There are so many things I want to say but when i sit down at the keyboard, many times it feels like a burden. How do people go about remedying this?
Thirdly, a list is forthcoming: Books you probably aren’t, but should be reading.
Finally, I’m having trouble with a story (http://www.fictionaut.com/stories/joseph-m-owens/mr-twitchy), more specifically, I’m having trouble finishing this story. I’m not sure what’s working and what isn’t. I’m not sure where people see the story going or ending, BUT I certainly am curious. How would you like it to end? I’m going to write up a few endings, post them here and let people choose which one they like best, how’s that sound? Here’s all I’ve got [with respect to one potential direction the story could go]:
I still want to leave this open as to whether Mr. Twitchy stole the Xanax or not, but have the guy get all happy because he thinks he scored and found the pills in the luggage (which he should know they aren’t the right ones since the guy wouldn’t have had time to put them away anyway). Sure, they look like his pills, but right as the story ends, he realizes (after he took a bunch) it’s a different pill. And thinks he recognizes the name of the drug. That’s right, it’s a prescription strength mega laxative. And the plane bathroom occupied light just went on…
That’d serve him right for being such a dick!
I wouldn’t go that far on the narrator, but his know-it-all mentality does kind of make me want to see his self-assured actions mislead him into a comic fall like that.
Comic fails are always a win!