I love this. So good. Beautiful, immaculate writing as always. Somehow the sincerity, power, honesty, and empathy that shines through in your storytelling skills never fails to make me cry and laugh simultaneously. Experiencing empathy, tears in the typing pool, and the genuine joy of laughter has got to be the highest form of a compliment in my book. Seriously I love reading your tender, truthful, brilliant short fiction stories. I’m grateful that I came across your excellently crafted, unmatched and original, one of a kind short stories here. Thank you my friend for sharing your new story with me <3
your comments always make my day, Jessica. i’m happy as always to hear that this one moved you, it’s a gift to know that and to have you as a reader. thank you thank you thank you<3
editing is definitely a kind of donation to a story lol (I can wordsmith it that way, at least). I appreciate your kind words, Caroline, and especially the feedback!! I’ll always accept a push to better my writing. really glad this one connected with you and thanks for the comment(:
It was highly resonant. I'm in my 60s; my kids are in their 20s. Their age-group are hitting that moment where they suddenly feel like maybe they won't be able to pursue every path that's open, or have every experience and relationship they'd like to try: narrowing choices and agonising about which ones to make. I'm in the age-group where we can, if we choose, indulge sometimes in looking back and wondering “what-if” (a Troubled thought I usually kick away by the ‘in my next lifetime’ self-promise trick). To write a story that resonates across age groups is difficult and very clever work. You're a bloody little gem of a talent, alright!
My adult kids recently started getting curious about who I'd been in my 20s and what adventures and loves I'd moved through. This story absolutely catches that possibility of intergenerational connection through buried stories being dug up. My only note (you didn't ask for one, forgive me for giving it?) The phrase 'unseasonably' - I know you can wordsmith original phrases more skillfully than that; I tripped over it as I read. Outside that tiny titchy quibble, you've donated a beautiful editing job on this absolutely relatable moment. Aieeeee, the loss and longing and what-if is eternal and universal.
Phew, that is a vast scope of story for such a little thing! Two-whole-lives-worth, took me unawares that it was gonna be on such a scale, though the words at the beginning were there to clue me in and I was inattentive.
Salute you for your grandeur of ambition to craft a supercondensed novel into a short story. Very happy to read such fine work...
this is masterful and devastating
I love this. So good. Beautiful, immaculate writing as always. Somehow the sincerity, power, honesty, and empathy that shines through in your storytelling skills never fails to make me cry and laugh simultaneously. Experiencing empathy, tears in the typing pool, and the genuine joy of laughter has got to be the highest form of a compliment in my book. Seriously I love reading your tender, truthful, brilliant short fiction stories. I’m grateful that I came across your excellently crafted, unmatched and original, one of a kind short stories here. Thank you my friend for sharing your new story with me <3
your comments always make my day, Jessica. i’m happy as always to hear that this one moved you, it’s a gift to know that and to have you as a reader. thank you thank you thank you<3
This hurt good.
Just beautiful.
*Hats off*
Donated?? Done. Sod you, predictive text. And thanks for a reflective lunch break read. 🌹
editing is definitely a kind of donation to a story lol (I can wordsmith it that way, at least). I appreciate your kind words, Caroline, and especially the feedback!! I’ll always accept a push to better my writing. really glad this one connected with you and thanks for the comment(:
It was highly resonant. I'm in my 60s; my kids are in their 20s. Their age-group are hitting that moment where they suddenly feel like maybe they won't be able to pursue every path that's open, or have every experience and relationship they'd like to try: narrowing choices and agonising about which ones to make. I'm in the age-group where we can, if we choose, indulge sometimes in looking back and wondering “what-if” (a Troubled thought I usually kick away by the ‘in my next lifetime’ self-promise trick). To write a story that resonates across age groups is difficult and very clever work. You're a bloody little gem of a talent, alright!
My adult kids recently started getting curious about who I'd been in my 20s and what adventures and loves I'd moved through. This story absolutely catches that possibility of intergenerational connection through buried stories being dug up. My only note (you didn't ask for one, forgive me for giving it?) The phrase 'unseasonably' - I know you can wordsmith original phrases more skillfully than that; I tripped over it as I read. Outside that tiny titchy quibble, you've donated a beautiful editing job on this absolutely relatable moment. Aieeeee, the loss and longing and what-if is eternal and universal.
i really liked this one, it felt complete in a way i enjoyed and spoke to something very true. i think it’ll stick with me a while
This is simply stunning. Please never stop writing.
A friend of mine has just gone through heartbreak, and I ended up writing them this letter. Sharing it with you in the hopes that it resonates even just a little: https://open.substack.com/pub/idontknowwhoneedstohearthis/p/why-do-i-feel-like-im-only-whole?r=4qmokz&utm_medium=ios
Phew, that is a vast scope of story for such a little thing! Two-whole-lives-worth, took me unawares that it was gonna be on such a scale, though the words at the beginning were there to clue me in and I was inattentive.
Salute you for your grandeur of ambition to craft a supercondensed novel into a short story. Very happy to read such fine work...