163 and 164

I've been my usual lax self here. Forgot to mention I finished a flash piece in July called Outvasion (that's 163) and a 5,000 word short story in October called Stars so Sharp They Pierce the Skin (that's 164).

I've had very little time for writing the last month, between two jobs and life outside of those. I've mostly been working on Mango scripts for the Patreon and a little bit on "Hive Five."

My netbook, which has been pretty good to me for the more than seven years I've had it, is now causing me enough problems that I went and ordered a refurbished desktop, just so I can write and podcast without wanting to kill things and smash objects. I should be getting the other machine in a couple of days. I really hope it works and doesn't crap out on me.

Good News For Me

I never got a degree. I hated school, although I was good at it (when I wanted to be). I recently started a part-time library job and it's pretty cool. I'm hungry for full-time now, and the better full-time jobs require a degree. I'm applying at the local college at 48 years old with the short term aim of an AA in English.

The good news is they seem to be counting classes I took in the mid-2000s as still valid, so I'm nearly a third of the way there, right out of the gate. Yay!

Read The Wardrobe Online

My latest story, The Wardrobe (story 136 of the One-Thousand), has been published in issue #3 of See the Elephant magazine and is available for you to read for free online. Check it out here: http://www.metaphysicalcircus.com/the-wardrobe-fiction-by-matthew-sanborn-smith/

I'm On Patreon!

I've got a Patreon going! The eventual goal is to replace the need for a second job so that I'll have more time to write. In return for your pledges, you get stories and podcasts from me!

If you loved the defunct Beware the Hairy Mango podcast, you'll definitely want to get in on this, because, for just a dollar a month, you'll get to listen to it's latest iteration, Beware the Patronizing Mango. You also get weekly writing updates by me and the occasional sneak preview of things I've got coming out before the public gets them.

Kick in more and you'll get more goodies, like an episode a month of the old subscription show, Beware the Elitist Mango, flash fiction, and short stories. Take a look at the site and if this isn't the time for you to commit, do me a favor and tell your friends about it through social media, or old-fashioned human being talking. Thanks a bunch!

https://www.patreon.com/matthewsanbornsmith

162

I finished story 162 of the One-Thousand a couple of days ago and sent it out. It's a piece of flash fiction called Six Columns. Not much more to say about it really!

161

Catching up. Story 161 of the One-Thousand was completed and shipped out a month ago. It's called, An Unwanted Distribution of Souls. A Mall in Las Cruces, and it came about when Cerberus was tossing around thoughts for a magazine submission. For one reason or another, things didn't turn out the way we planned (which could be said about all lives everywhere). The mandate from Grant Stone was to do a mash-up of Michael Moorcock and Hunter S. Thompson. Unwanted Distribution was my initial contribution to the project (which may still happen, but later than planned). With the okay of the other two heads of Cerberus, I pulled mine out, made a few tweaks and fired it off.

Forty-Eight And 160

I'm nearly a month late on the first half of this title subject. Part of tracking The One-Thousand is tracking my age. I hit forty-eight overripe smelly years old on April 24th. I'm not uptight about aging. The only thing I'm really uptight about is having spent nearly thirty years working retail. That'll make you go out and buy a bullet. But creatively, I'm really enjoying myself.

Which leads us to the second half of the title subject, which is only two days late. Story 160 of The One-Thousand was completed a couple of days ago. It's called And the Midwives Their Faces Abloom. I was listening to episode 352 of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast a few weeks ago. Hosts Chad Fifer and Chris Lackey talked about E.F. Benson's story, And the Dead Spake. Chad couldn't figure out why anyone would begin a story with the word "and," so I decided my story needed to be "And" something.

Every Best Cinematography Winner. Ever.

159

Story 159 was completed and kicked out the door to fend for itself a few days ago. It's called "The Algebraic Woman." I have high hopes for it.

More Limitations, More Strengths

If you liked the stories of limitations steering art in my post, Your Limitations Are Your Strengths, check out the latest episode of the Cracked Podcast,  "Mistakes That Created the Best Art of the Last 100 Years"  http://www.cracked.com/podcast/accidents-that-created-best-art-20th-century/

There are plenty of accidents in there, but also lots of limitation workarounds concerning Monet, Indiana Jones, Jaws and more.