Getting it Right

Getting it Right, Ron Gephart Blog at Holly Street Memphis

June 22, 2019

I always start a new story at the Voices of the South Writers' Cabaret. Whatever prompt I choose, I forget about any work in progress and take off with a new idea. I usually work in shards of glass somewhere so I can use it in my shard story collection. For instance, when the prompt was “a toy from your childhood,” I wrote “Cucumber Bicycle Seat” at the top of my page and took off with it. It was some childhood friend who referred to his green banana bicycle seat as his “cucumber seat,” but in my story, I attributed it to my mother-in-law who once told me about her 8-year-old son's tragic death on his bicycle in 1967. I read the story aloud 3 times during the Voices in the South Fringe Festival, and after several rewrites, I'm starting to shop it around.

Two other stories I wrote during the writers’ Cabaret had several rewrites after posting video podcasts at the Holly Street Memphis website. One got an honorable mention in the Glimmer Train journal family matters contest, and another is a finalist in the Tulip Tree Journal New Writers competition. I need deadlines, my feet held to the fire, and minimal distractions when I write. Join a group and turn the heat up.