The Blacksmith and the Sample

The Blacksmith

When the inspiration hits I love to write; I need to write. My preferred genre is short fiction. I write for my own pleasure and, if a story is written with a particular person in mind, for the subject. I’ve been collecting stories for over a decade and have decided to make 13 available in book form.

I thought that the stories were pretty good. I knew that I enjoyed writing them, and rereading them, but I also knew that they had structural and mechanical flaws. I could proof read a story six times and still find errors. I realized that before I let these things out to the general public that they needed an expert editor.

I found one such editor in a friend from Peace Corps service. I call her my blacksmith. Alecia has taken the stories, heated them in the fire of dispassionate analysis then pounded out the rough spots and the blemishes. She has made the mechanics more reliable and the structure much more durable. It has, though, been a painful process.

These are my stories, and like the character in the title story of the forthcoming book, Sparky and the Cowboy and other Stories I love them for themselves, not for whatever competitive advantage or success they may have. To see them red-lined and yellow highlighted was painful. It got to be that if I could manage two paragraphs in a row without the blacksmith pounding on her anvil, I felt victorious. While I accepted 85% of Alecia’s suggested changes, every time I saw a red mark, it created a thoughtful internal debate. ‘Did I wish to leave it in the original or should I accept her modifications.’ That debate and her suggestions have much improved the stories and them more readable.

It is still months away before the self-published book will be ready, but thirteen stories have been selected, edited, and reviewed. The printing contract has been signed. I’m excited and you’ll find a section of one of the stories in the blog entry directly below. Your comments would be very much appreciated.