Member-only story
Sometimes that’s all you can do.
You throw yourself into an endeavor, and then you get lost because it’s more than you can handle — and you have to reassess your commitment. There is no shame in this.
I am speaking specifically of my commitment to post a new short story every Friday. Per Ray Bradbury’s directive I’ve been reading a short story, a poem and an essay every day. And I’ve been trying to post a short story every week. I have loved this assignment, but the short story part is suffering. To do that justice, I’d have to be doing nothing else all week. It’s unrealistic. I have to reassess.
Ray Bradbury, I bow to you. And I’m rebooting, making this 1000–day MFA of yours my own. I hereby modify my commitment, and promise to work on (not necessarily finish) a short story every week.
I’m still all in. This minor shift only helps me develop the necessary muscle to go the distance. And the exposure I’m getting is rich. Check out the names on this excerpt from my spreadsheet. These are only some of the authors whose short stories I’ve been privileged to read in the past month.
I feel like the luckiest human in the world! For free I got to read all those short stories and more.
So world, I hereby express my profound gratitude to the existence and maintenance of libraries…
