When I bought seven songs for my song-prompt week, I actually added an eighth “bonus track.” “Landslide,” by Fleetwood Mac, inspired the day’s shorty.
Working Title: Relationship 1 to 7
1st Sentence: Phase 1. Even your hair.
Favorite Sentence: But here’s what you don’t get: I’m not your mother.
Word Length: 272
Photo of Stevie Nicks at Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, CA, 2/1/2008 by Chris1345.
Another week of shorties under my belt! New York style cheesecake is one of my all-time favorite treats and this piece is a BEAUTY, yes? Mmm, congrats to me. Today’s story prompt was the song “Anyway You Want It,” by Journey. Now THAT was a blast from the past. I love the idea for the shorty the song inspired but the promising start wound down to a disappointing finish. Maybe a strong revision will save it.
Working Title: Stick a Fork in It
1st Sentence: She used to have the same trouble in tennis.
Favorite Sentence: She pulled the fork out of her leather bustier and he shivered in anticipation.
Word Length: 1,077
I made FIVE false starts trying to write a shorty in response to the song “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits, one I very much enjoyed way way back in the 1980’s when I was so young and the world was before me… heavy sigh. Sometimes I have to just throw my hands up and write myself a joke story to meet my daily shorty commitment. Next!
Working Title: Sheer Rear
1st Sentence: She called herself “Her Hiney-Heiness” and she loved to say that she’d built her empire on her “royal rump.”
Favorite Sentence: Greta spread her arms wide and stood to deliver her signature goodbye line, “A woman who loves her cheeks lives in peace,” then blew a kiss and slapped her own rear.
Word Length: 722
The day’s shorty was inspired by “Stuck with You” by Huey Lewis & The News. Not one of my favorites from this band (there was a time in my youth when I had a very strong affection for Huey’s chin dimple) but I have a nostalgic appreciation for the melody and easy lyrics. But I had to push hard to come up with a story for this one. Still, with a strong revision, what I finally got might be a keeper.
Working Title: Rubber Band Test
1st Sentence: One last trust-building exercise and we could all go home.
Favorite Sentence: Brenda, on the other hand, had encased her ample, hour-glass figure in a shiny skirt suit, but one that was more Mother of the Bride than Lipsticked Mover and Shaker: puffy shoulders, a frilled peplum around her hips, and that godawful candy pink—she looked like a wedding gift on stilettos.
Word Length: 1,182
Photo by Bill Ebbesen, July 2010.
I knew well the music and some of the lyrics of “She’s a Beauty” by The Tubes just by virtue of being a kid in the 1980’s. I had never actually listened to the song with any attention, so I was surprised to discover that this is not a love song. Ha! Far from it. The shorty it inspired has the same attitude as the song, I think, making this story the first in my week of prompt songs that feels connected in any way to its inspiration.
Working Title: Every Minute
1st Sentence: I said I’d never live in this goddamn town and I meant it.
Favorite Sentence: Not six years later he slid off a bridge in an ice storm and just like that I’m Mrs. Ford Dealership.
Word Length: 334
Photo by Pnicholaspate, August 2011.
Today’s song happens to be one I don’t care for, “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I find it ironic that the singer belts out these lyrics about how important it is to be a simple man to soaring, anthem-like music, and that over-serious, too sincere framing drives me a little nuts. I was hoping that sense of irony might make it to my story, but no. A sad mother-daughter tale with a not-so-simple man at the heart of it. Meh. Next.
Working Title: Fooling Around
1st Sentence: I never knew my father.
Favorite Sentence: The sun was down completely now but there was a high, bright moon that shone on the water burbling like it came up from a split in the earth.
Word Length: 595
Photo by Andrew King, March 2010.
At Ogunquit again, this time with the husband and a Jacuzzi, for a long weekend in the last blush of summer. As I write, I’m sipping a “mocha choca,” an espresso-blasted hot cocoa prepared lovingly for me by a very nice young woman with an accent I can’t place at the Cafe Amore, one of my favorite places in the village. I’ll remember this when I’m trudging to the gym in thigh-high snow this winter. For now, I drink my buzzy cocoa and post Day 2 of my song stories: Today’s shorty was inspired by one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters, Tracy Chapman, singing the sad, sweet “Give Me One Reason.” This shorty could not be more different from that song in tone, yet I wrote it while grooving to Tracy on a loop, so go figure.
Working Title: Growing Old Together
1st Sentence: There was a time when their enthusiasm for the same fringe metal bands, when simultaneous swooning at the sight of a banana split, when their mutual hatred for sitcoms crammed with beautiful, over-tanned people living in gigantic New York City apartments… well, when all of that, put together, all of that said LOVE.
Favorite Sentence: So much so that when they discuss the minutia of whatever the fuck they think they believe—you know, when they start talking shit about life cycles and other dimensions and mystical-wistful, wordful casserole—first they start pointing, and then they start getting red in the face.
Word Length: 505
Photo by 2candle at en.wikipedia. CC-BY-SA-2.5,2.0,1.0; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Today I start a week of shorties inspired by songs. To select my songs I created a Pandora radio station and spent about 20 minutes entering singers and bands I like and giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to songs the site selected for me. Then I saved the station and went on with other things. Last night I went back to the station and wrote down the titles and artists of the first 7 songs Pandora gave me, whether I liked them or not. I bought the songs from iTunes and loaded them onto my iPod. Today I began my series by listening to “Little Bitty Pretty One” by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. Because this song is impossible to hear without dancing, I got up and danced like a fool for a good 20 minutes while replaying the song. Then I sat down at my computer, turned the volume down, and continued to replay the song while I wrote.
Working Title: He Swayed
1st Sentence: They met at a sock hop.
Favorite Sentence: She carried two children and worked for Legal Aid while he dipped and swayed through a few classes in archaeology, then did a light be-bop through some good WWII history—Hitler and Stalin, that’s the real shit.
Word Length: 593
Photo by Flickr user “shortiestar3000” June 2006.
can't thank the Maine Arts Commission enough for granting her their 2012 literary fellowship, which she used to launch Daily Shorty. Claire writes, edits, coaches other writers, and blogs in Lewiston, where she stays sane by working on her scraggly yard, running 5Ks as slowly as possible, perfecting cracker recipes, and playing badminton. She spends the remainder of her free time with her sweet husband and perfect cats. You can contact Claire at dailyshorty@gmail.com.
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