Week 128 – Fathers, Flagsticks and Strictly Perseverance

The literary legend we know simply as Hugh Cron is taking a well-deserved break from proceedings this week and has entrusted me, his faithful Welsh sidekick, to come up with a few choice words to sum up the week that was at LS Towers*

* not an actual tower – more of a chateau really.

I can neither confirm nor deny if Hugh is adding something extra to his Irn-Bru over the course of the weekend but I can at least confirm that from a roundup perspective what I lack in wit I more than make up for in lack of wit.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and in amongst daydreaming about the unlikely possibility of having the gift of peace and quiet bestowed upon me by the small people who rule my house and ruminating on a suitable bottle of red wine to lubricate the long hours of golf-watching I intend to do tomorrow night, I started to wonder about how being a parent has changed me as a writer.

Since becoming a father I have become increasingly drawn towards pursuits that require mental toughness, patience and perseverance. Writing requires all these things in spades. Running (which I do a lot of) is the same. Hell, even drinking takes a dollop of all three if you want to do it properly.

Being a dad has altered the kind of stories I’m drawn to and the way I approach my own storytelling – but more than anything it’s made me much more prepared for the unappreciated slog-fest that putting words on a page is all about.

OK it’s also meant that I’ve had license to let my imagination roam and have enormous fun telling silly tales about Eric the Sausage-Eating Squirrel and Boris the Bee but that’s beside the point.

I’d argue that if, as a writer, you don’t possess those qualities in abundance you are not going to get very far. Perseverance in particular.

I’d further argue that everyone who appeared on the site this week already has them in their locker*

* not an actual locker – I’m not saying that the idea of a locker within which you could stow away character traits that have somehow taken on physical form and could then dole them out as required isn’t a fantastic idea, but it’s not relav…I wonder if you’d use a potato peeler to strip off shavings of perseverance…there’s something about perseverance that feels parmesan shaped to me…not like patience which is like a marshmallow of some kind not to menti…

We kicked off the week with Hugh Cron and his story, Dave. Hugh’s perseverance has been well-documented around these parts. Dave is another uncompromising piece to add to his extensive back catalogue of grit and humour.

Next up is another LS legend, Adam Kluger and his story, Anika (is it just me or is this starting to sound like Strictly Come Writing?). Adam has been a regular (and most welcome!) contributor over the last eighteen months (60 stories and counting) and sticks at it through success and failure. Anika is a great example of his patience as it was a resubmission and reworking of a previously rejected piece.

“Adam has created another really good character in a cohesive slice of life story”

“I think Anika would be a lady worth meeting…but I’m not that brave!”

Wednesday saw the return of Larry Lefkowitz and his clever and funny take on a three wishes story. After a couple of story rejections it was a good day for us and A Good Day For Nudnik Fish.

“This had a great jaded, cynical quality to it.”

“It was fun to read and left me with a smile on my face.”

Rarely a week goes by where we don’t welcome a new author to the site and this week we were lucky enough to have two. On Thursday we welcomed Kim Suhr to the site with her story Our Hoyles. Great to have you as part of the LS family Kim – we hope you’ll have plenty more for us in the future.

“The card-specifics were a good way to anchor the scene – easy to picture four people playing a hand and the ensuing dynamics.”

“hahahahaha…YES!”

Lastly this week we have perhaps the epitome of mental toughness, patience and perseverance…and a host of other qualities to throw into the stew *

* not a real stew…ok I’ll stop it now…

A. Elizabeth Herting has been submitting stories to us for the last nine months. She has taken rejections in her stride, with good humour and with the utmost professionalism. Put simply, it has been a joy to interact with her and we are all thrilled that her hard work has paid off and she has a story – He Died – on site for you to enjoy.

“cleverly done and it was a poignant piece.”

“a strong opening and a good idea for constructing it around days of the week…I liked the bookending of the phrase ‘he died on a Friday'”

Thanks to everyone who has contributed this week – have a great week of reading, writing and commenting…and you’ll be back in Hugh’s comforting embrace this time next week.

Nik

 

p.s. A big thanks to the two golf models – my father and my son 🙂