Keys
Another rejection letter, another locked door. Wonderful stories – but unpublished, unread.
Broke. Downhearted. Sudden idea!
Landlord says no rent, no home. Write him curly black hair, a twenty-something body. Don’t worry about rent ever again, he says.
Hungry, write the grocer a healthy boy child. He adds “& Son” to his sign, keeps the larders overflowing.
Lonely, write a soulmate.
Empty, write fulfillment.
Unsolicited advice. Read it aloud.
“Your stories are strange. Forget the fantasies, return to reality. “
Laugh with delight and grab a pen – imagining, creating, gifting. Bringing joy. Writing a better world. Unlocking doors!
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI love your story and the way you are unlocking doors to a different world, Fuji! This shows the magic potentiality there is in words and in stories. Our creativity can open unknown worlds. I am thinking Dickens in a time of poverty and misery. Reading the quotation in your story, I am remembering when I was a literature student in Sweden in the 1970s. Literature was supposed to be extremely realistic… Read more »
Love your comment, Christer, and the example from your student days. Words can absolutely open new worlds! I had a lot of fun writing this story, and imagining “paying the rent” by rewriting the life of the landlord, etc. I might try this with my mortgage or utility company! ?
Hello again Fuji, the tempo to this story is fast, and my mind is trying to catch the tail of all the words that jump by, flash by, linger then disappear. And yes we write what we feel, does it really matter if it does not impress? And the answer? It’s in the last paragraph.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHello Eric – thanks for the great comment! In this case, the writer didn’t write what he felt, he wrote a new world for himself. “I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
Hello Fuji, I have read and re-read your story many times and have found excitement in the flurry of words but have somehow been unable to find the words to comment. Now having read Eric’s comment, it becomes clear. It’s the joy of the words that have kept me reading, some I understand, some I wonder about. What matters is that your story always brought me back for another read and that,… Read more »
Hi Linda! Yes, it really should be the joy of the words themselves that brings you back. I am thrilled that you came back for a re-read. The word “I” used to be almost in every sentence – I did this, I did that. As an experiment, I stripped out all pronouns so I could get more words in! I think it made the story less clear (a good thing, I think)… Read more »
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleFuji, like Linda, I also had to read your story again. It is fascinating and compelling. I like the short sentences that don’t beat around the bush. It adds to the pace of the story. The last line is hopeful that things will get better, we need to bring our own change in the world. I enjoyed reading this.
Thank you, Marianna! I had a good time writing this, imagining a world where whatever you wrote became reality. Whoa – we would have to be super careful with our words, then, wouldn’t we? ?
On the one hand it could be great, but on the other hand, some people have some strange ideas and we might end up with more problems! 🙂
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with Google’writing a better world’, if only we could. I have to say one of the reasons I write is to help me to escape the mundanity of real life and to live vicariously through my characters. There is so much more fun in make believe, so many marvellous places to visit. Who wouldn’t want to walk through the wardrobe, dive down the rabbit hole or take flight to Neverland ?