Sold a Story

Sold a story. Can you believe it? Kinda fun.

I wrote the damn thing on August 2, 2012. Thirteen years ago. It has gotten more attention than anything else I wrote. Because, I think, I just wrote it - let it flow, you know? Tapped directly into my diseased imagination and wrote something that surprised even me. 

I have tried to sell it over the years here and there, but I didn't put too much effort into it. Guess I prefer working menial, low-paying jobs to achieving massive literary success.

What?

You know how it goes....................shit, man I should really be doing this or that, it feeds my soul - it is who I really am etc etc. Hell, maybe if I put some effort into this I would not have a boss that I wanted to stretch out on the rack while I rubbed motor oil into his hair.

What?

Water under the bridge, baby. I sold it. To a publication in France - can you believe that? They paid me 100 euros up front and another 20 euros in royalties so far. Totals about $140.

Suddenly I love the French. As soon as Carol kicks me out, I'm gonna move over there, drink fine wine, wear a beret at a jaunty angle, hang out in cafes with the literati, and eat Boeuf Bourguignon.

The story is called The Brick House. I'm kind of proud of it. I like it.

The timing is perfect because I'm searching for a happy ending that will re-write my epitaph.

If my epitaph were written today, my corpse would rise up and sponge away the writing on my headstone in embarrassment and desperation, apologize to all those in attendance for my failures, grab the bottle of whiskey my friend Phil is hiding in the inside pocket of his jacket, take a healthy swig, and crawl back into my grave.

Listen, it makes me feel good. People in France are reading my story. 

Actually it's more than that. It's published on their website. But it's also available in kiosks that these people have all over the place. Including America. In universities, public libraries, airports, transportation hubs, retail centers, cafes, hospitals, schools. 

At least twenty or thirty states in this country. 300 dispensers around the world from Melbourne, Hong Kong, Paris, London and and and........................

They are trying to revive reading, so the  stories are available in places where people wait, or pass through, or have to be, or study, or eat, or buy stuff. I love this idea - people don't read anymore. I guess you choose a story, push a button, and it prints it out - they are all short stories designed to take up five minutes of your time or less. And they are free.

So that's it. I'm a published author. 

Put that on my gravestone.