I’m Taking a Short Story Writing Class

Theodor Kittelsen

Time to hold myself accountable for claiming to be a writer. That is, a creative writer. I write a lot for work, but that is no excuse for not writing for myself. When I do get some time to write, I pull the old “my favorite authors, according to themselves, have read anywhere from a million to a billion books, so I should do the same before I start writing.” No disrespect to my favorite authors, but I don’t believe they have read as much as they claim to have read. Kurt Vonnegut said something about letting people think you are writing a lot more than you are, perhaps writers do that about reading, too.

What I am getting at is work and reading can no longer be an excuse for my lack of writing.

With hopes that it will add a little structure to my writing habits, I have enrolled in a Short Story writing class at UCLA. I am going to share every story I write so you can follow my progress – let’s hope there is progress.

Here are a few short stories I enjoy:

“The Potato Elf” Vladimir Nabokov

“A Diamond as Big as the Ritz” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The Ballad of the Sad Cafe” – Carson McCullers

“The Shell Collector” – Anthony Doerr

“The Laughing Man” – J.D. Salinger

“Harrison Bergeron”- Kurt Vonnegut

“The Pearl” – John Steinbeck

“The Bulgarian Poetess” – John Updike

“Darling Loraine” – Paul Simon (it’s a song, but the lyrics tell a story)