Short Story: Neverland

  It is time for another sneak peek. At this point, both of us have finished the main drafts for all of our stories. We're very excited as we move completely into beta reading and getting ready to revise for the final times on all of our stories. At this point we're hoping for an end of October publishing date, so everyone be prepared for that, and wish us luck.

  Here is this week's clip from my short story titled "Neverland":

  She knelt on the alcove seat, unlatched and opened the windows, and leaned out over the windowsill. The busy city streets stretched out far below her, but she tried to ignore them. She took a deep breath and tried to imagine that the air didn’t smell like car exhaust and smog.
  She leaned back in the seat, brushing back her blond bangs. Her eyes wandered up and down the city streets and over the peaceful darkening skyline for a full minute before they came to rest on the book that she had left on the windowsill. She traced the title on the front cover with her finger and smiled. Pride and Prejudice. Her favorite.

  This story is probably my second favorite that I've written for this collection (and my wife agrees). I actually wrote the beginning of this story (the first three pages or so) for a creative writing assignment during my first term of college two years ago. I went back to it about two months ago and was re-reading it and realizing that it wasn't really a complete story, but I really liked the idea.

  The story follows a woman in her mid twenties who is struggling with the real world, the more-or-less recent loss of her mother, and the pain her father has caused her through his controlling ways. This story is basically about a time in which she realizes she needs to grow up and move on. The themes of this story are family love, unforgiveness/forgiveness, loss, and growing up.

  This is one of the more family-friendly, hope-filled stories for this collection.

Short Story: In the Middle of the Desert

  First for an update before a sneak peek. My wife is so fantastic that she has polished all four of her short stories into beta quality, and sent them out for review. I still have two more to finish, but we're getting very excited as we're getting close to the finish line.

  So this week's sneak peek is a look at one of my wife's stories. This one was written this summer and is titled In the Middle of the Desert.

  Heat. It surrounded him. The sun’s rays found the holes in his shirt, giving him spots of sunburn. The desert sand spilled in between his crossed legs, rolling over his pants and sticking to his sweaty skin. Even the breeze that passed through periodically, was warm and chapped his lips. His digital watched beeped, that meant it was now noon. She would be here very soon. Jerzy lay down, the sand’s warmth radiated to his bones, the day was hot, and he loved it.

  This story is about two lovers ending a relationship. Basically they are both artists who want to end the relationship while still on good terms as they both know that it was only temporary and don't want either one to get hurt. It's one of the more tame and family friendly pieces that she has written for this collection.
  This story deals with themes of love, pain, connection, and reaching for your dreams. She wrote it this summer after taking a break from writing. She had heard a true life story that inspired her to write this one, and hopes readers find it just as fascinating as she does.

Short Story: The Boy

  This week's sneak peek is of a story my wife has recently finished for the collection.

Click. The boy turned off his lamp and crawled into bed next to  his four year old brother. The boy had been reading, or escaping as he called it. Because the world was too deathly real for him; if he read he could pull his eyes away from the ribs of his brother as his chest rose and fell in agonizing gasps. If he could read, he could forget the dull look in the eyes of his mother, who had no more tears to cry. The boy lay, sweat dripping from his thin strong body; he wiped it out of his eyes and stared up at the ceiling.

This is the opening scene of a story about a boy struggling to survive in a family that is falling apart in the middle of the Great Depression. His father has left the family, and the boy is struggling with that loss and the fact that he, a twelve year old, can do little to nothing about it. This story deals with the themes of pain, loss, family honor, love, devotion, and sacrifice as the boy tries to find his place in the world.
My wife began this story around four years ago and has been slowly improving it, changing it, adding to it, cutting it up, and putting it back together again since then. Earlier this week she stumbled upon the original draft of the story in one of her journals and laughed at how different the versions were. The stories are so different, and the characters' names and personalities are all completely different, and it has a completely different feeling about it. And now finally it's ready for other people to see.
Next week I will share another of her stories.