New work in Danse Macabre

Yes, it's probably bad form to break the silence on this blog with a bit of self-promotion, but here it is anyway.

I just had a flash fiction piece published in Danse Macabre! I don't usually write sci-fi type stuff, and Danse Macabre doesn't usually publish much sci-fi, so we turned out to be a good fit. I made it into their Symphonie Fantastique issue (July 2009) with my story, Vandals.

The journal is here, and my story is here.

Enjoy!

Wasn't that a little TOO easy?

Here's one for the hometown crowd. A man sort-of accidentally breaks out of a Lake County, Florida, prison to meet a girl, then realizes he wasn't supposed to do that and decides to make it a full-fledged escape. Oh, and uh, he gets caught again.

I just... really?! really, really? Sometimes I have dreams in which I accidentally do something completely moronic that will probably change the rest of my life, but then, I'm unconscious during those.

And you have to wonder about this pen pal who also seemed to think this was a fine idea.

Enjoy, folks!
Lake Prison Escapee Wanted to See Pen Pal

National Poetry Month

Happy National Poetry Month, everyone! I'm a day late on this because I thought if I posted it yesterday, you would just assume it's a joke.

To get you in the mood, I recommend these great writing- and poetry-centric blogs.

Perpetual Folly: A professor in Virginia who writes, publishes, reviews recently published stories, and frequently attends Shakespeare plays.

Poemocracy: An almost-finished MFAer in Florida who's also great to hang out with.

Poetic Asides: The editor of the Poet's Market and the Writer's Market brings you lots of info on poetry and the 2nd annual April Poem-A-Day challenge, which I will attempt again this year.

Poetry Daily: A poem a day in your RSS feed. They're not all winners, but they're short!

What did I forget?

The TCPalm is competing with the Ledger?

Sebastian, Florida, isn't really near where I grew up, but they had two hard-to-believe stories in as many days, so I feel like I have to post them.

Yesterday, someone was arrested after chasing a Burger King manager around the parking lot and throwing an apple pie at a sheriff's deputy (why not banana creme?!).

And today, the same TCPalm reported that a 61-year-old woman had lived for six years with the decomposing body of her mother whose social security checks she continued to cash. This is actually not the first story of this sort that I've seen recently. You have to think, though, that a crazy plan like this would work better in some place that's not so hot and humid.

Speaking of local news...

I made the front page of Sunday's Business section in the illustrious Columbus Dispatch. Well, the picture is much smaller online, but you'll have to trust me that it took up most of the space above the fold, right above the headline.

And yes, I used my "married name," even though it's not my legal name, because who reads the Dispatch anyway? It's a freaking terrible paper (self-congratulatory example headline).

The story that brought me such local fame (my story, we'll call it), is about this great new place I've found, Qwirk. This is a space in German Village where small independent businesspeople and telecommuters like me can rent out space to work. I know it sounds kind of silly--you're paying someone to let you work?--but I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed it. Not only have I been meeting people here, just like you wold in a normal office, but also it gets me out of the house and helps me separate home from work. The people have all been super friendly and enthusiastic, and the space is comfortable and casual. With the monthly plan I signed up for, I can work either in an open office or in the common area, both good options depending on what I have to do and who's in the office. The Internet works better than in any coffee shop--my past workday refuge-- and it smells better, I don't have to order a drink I don't want, no one hovers over me for my table, and I can stay for as long or as little as I want. And people talk to me, which is completely different from a coffee shop where people just glance/stare at you over their monitors or books.

I'd gotten to the point where I was ready to quit my job and take my chances in this economy because I didn't want to work in my home office any more. But Qwirk has been such a bright spot, helping me get out and experience that co-worker environment I craved, while still supporting the telecommuter freedom I've gotten so used to.

The Internet exists

...so that you can interrupt your work day with things like this.

Now tell me that didn't make you smile.

Hometown news series

Every so often, probably everyone finds some ridiculous story from her hometown newspaper that makes the national 'weird news' section. (I'm pretty sure people from Florida experience this more than most people). You know, the stuff you talk to your co-workers about during lunch-- "Hey, did you hear about that guy who was rescued from alligators by the police while swimming naked in a lake in the middle of the night... again?"

This happens often enough near my hometown, that I've decided to make in another blog feature here at Live from Flytown. To open this Central Florida-based series, we have this fascinating story of a kid who was kicked off his school bus for farting. This situation, I imagine, would have been fatally embarrassing to most people, but this kid gets his picture taken with his father, who is upset that he has to miss work to pick his stinky kid up from the "Opportunity School" (read: he already was kicked out of regular school). A legitimate complaint, sure, but do you call the newspaper to complain?! My favorite part is near the very bottom--excuse the pun--of the article where the editors tell you "This story appeared in print on page A1." A still-local friend tells me it was above the fold. Priorities?

Now I'm remembering why I moved...