I’m published again! It took a long time to get this story out, but my short personal essay “The Guy Who Hated Running” was just published by Talking Writing as part of their 10th Anniversary celebration!
One thing that this experience really drove home was how much value a good editor can add. The original version of this story was several hundred words shorter, but also a lot more rambling in nature (kind of like some of these blog posts). The ace editors at Talking Writing provided me with a lot of feedback and helped to trim a lot of the verbal fat in the piece.
“It was the puking runner who really pushed me over the edge. I was 35, five laps into a six-lap, mile-and-a-half fitness test. One lap prior, I felt slightly better about my general lack of fitness when I passed the guy who needed to step off the track to empty his stomach. Then, on the next lap, he caught up and passed me, leaving me to finish dead last in the group of hopeful volunteers.”
That’s just the first paragraph. Read the rest here, at Talking Writing.