Song Parody

Play the video at the end of the story and sing along!

She dreamed of being a movie star, but didn’t get very far.

Baking in the morning sun
I’ll be tanning ’til I’m overdone
Burning my hips and shins
Then I watch them wrinkle up again, yeah

I’m putting on the Oil Of Olay
Hoping the lines go away, ooh
I’m just putting on Oil Of Olay
Moisture time

I left my home, Alaska
Headed for a sunny place
‘Cause I was white as a fridge door
And looks would never ever come my way

So I’m putting on…

Writing

Many of us get them. Newsletters full of links to stories and promos for books and related merchandise. Frankly, these newsletters are usually boring and (I suspect) mostly ignored.

They require a lot of time and effort to produce. Why do writers keep sending them? Because that is what writing professionals have told them to do for years. But are they working?

Imagine if a favorite writer sent you an email with an actual story in it? [Not a link.] You would read it, wouldn’t you? It seems so obvious, but it rarely happens.

Instead of hoping readers will pursue…

Humorous Microfiction

I was sitting at my desk at Big City News, enjoying my morning donut, when the Boss busted out of his office and bellowed, “Max, there’s been a murder at The Pasta Conglomerate. Get down there, on the double.”

“On my way, Boss,” I said.

I stuck the half-eaten donut in my desk drawer for later and beat feet down the stairs to get a cab.

The Pasta Conglomerate is a pasta factory, but everyone in the know knows it is also a front for The Mob. I would need to tread lightly. I’m not a fan of cement shoes.

…

Creativity

Legacy is a peculiar thing. Some people are deeply concerned with their legacy and try to control it. Others never give it a second thought.

Legacy is a common theme in sports, and many athletes take their legacy seriously. From the moment they start competing professionally, athletes’ statistics are tracked. Every sport has its own Hall of Fame to preserve the legacy of top athletes. Some athletes are so concerned with how they are remembered that they retire “at the top of their game” to assure their eventual decline in ability doesn’t diminish their legacy.

Should those in creative fields…

Writing

Buckle up readers, we are about to take a ride on the Starlin Time Machine, back to the early 1980s.

Like many people, I have long thought it would be cool to write a novel. As a young man in my early 20s, I decided I would do just that. Considering that the only real hope of getting a book published in the 1980s was taking the traditional publishing route, and I skated through English class with only the most basic grasp of grammar, writing a novel wasn’t the brightest idea I had.

But I have never been one to…

Reading Recommendations

Humor and ghosts seems to be the dominant theme for this edition of My Favorite Reads. None of the ghost stories are scary, but they are all very clever. Don’t worry, the humor stories are all funny. And there are a few other things for good measure.

Now, onto the boilerplate introduction.

Here are some stories I enjoyed reading on Medium recently. I like to keep the list to around a dozen, like a box of tasty donuts. Enjoy!

The Ghosts in Our Clothes by Terrye Turpin

You may get more than just a bargain at the thrift store.

Roommate’s Phone Interview for a Vet Tech Position by Rick Post

The labor pool is getting weirder.

The Last Man Standing by Betsy Denson

A delightful little…