Who Are You Writing For?

(A recent conversation with my seven-year-old son Ethan. I was working on my novel and he was checking out the Microsoft Word document I had open on my computer.)

 

Ethan: Are you writing a story?

Me: Yes. It’s a book, a novel.

Ethan: What’s it about?

(Pause.)

Me: It’s about a family.

Ethan: Our family?

Me: No.

Ethan: Maybe you could write a story about our family.

Me: Maybe.

Ethan: Who are you writing the story for?

(Pause.)

Me: That’s a great question, Ethan.

(Pause.)

Me: One day, hopefully, it will get published and you could find it in a store.

Ethan: So it’s for everyone?

Me: Yes, it’s for everyone. That’s a good way to think of it.

Random Novel Quote

"Dr. Boyer wears flip-flops and a short-sleeved button down shirt, vaguely Hawaiian. He looks more surfer than doctor. Probably not much older than her sister. She’s always surprised by people her own age or younger who have made it in the world. The confidence required. The lack of self doubt. Not caring what others think. Some people were like that. She wondered how they lived, how they came to be that way, so far from her own hushed existence."

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions of 2012

Wigleaf, one of my favorite online lit journals, just released its annual list of the top 50 very short fictions of 2012.

And I was very happy and honored to see that my story "Job History" (originally published in Moon Milk Review) was included.

Other writers on the list: Aimee Bender, Steve Almond, Meg Pokrass, Amelia Gray, Alyson Hagy, Sara Lippmann, Michael Kimball, John Minichillo, Glen Pourciau, Chad Simpson, Curtis Smith and many more fine talented folks.