Episode 65 - Fruitcake

[00:00:00] What's up everyone and welcome to episode 65 of the Promptly Written Podcast.

[00:00:21] Every month we take a writing prompt provided by you, write stories based on it, and break

[00:00:25] them down for you.

[00:00:26] My name is Matt Sugerik and with me as always, Ian Lewis.

[00:00:29] What's up Ian?

[00:00:30] Hey, what's up Matt?

[00:00:31] Not much man.

[00:00:33] I feel like the holidays are just kind of creeping.

[00:00:36] I feel like we're in full gear.

[00:00:37] Thanksgiving is past now.

[00:00:40] We got Christmas stuff up and all over the house already.

[00:00:43] Did you guys do that?

[00:00:44] Oh yeah, day after Thanksgiving it's go time.

[00:00:47] Gotcha.

[00:00:48] It was kind of the same for us.

[00:00:49] I almost wanted to wait till December 1st or something like that, but the family does

[00:00:54] its thing and when the family's happy, I'm happy.

[00:00:58] There's worse things than having Christmas decorations up.

[00:01:02] Here's my theory though, to me the Christmas season is actually more fun than actual Christmas

[00:01:09] day.

[00:01:10] Christmas day is almost anticlimactic and so the second Christmas day is over I'm like

[00:01:14] all right, I'm done and I want to take everything down immediately.

[00:01:18] Gotcha.

[00:01:19] To have it up is somewhat early but not too early so you can kind of enjoy the Christmas

[00:01:24] thing is sort of my angle I guess.

[00:01:27] Yeah, like sometimes see our hangs around for a little bit.

[00:01:31] I know my mom she usually takes her well actually this year was the first year my mom

[00:01:36] has like my entire life.

[00:01:38] My mom has talked about like keeping the Christmas tree up all year round and just decorating

[00:01:42] it like in theme for whatever holidays next up or whatever but she never did it and this

[00:01:48] year she like got a new tree so she did it so like her trees been up all year but it's

[00:01:53] been like different themes for whatever so there was like Easter shit on it and like

[00:02:00] Fourth of July shit on it and you know whatever so interesting.

[00:02:05] Used to go like she used to take it down I think right around her birthday which is like

[00:02:09] mid-January and sometimes it would even stay up until like my birthday which is February

[00:02:14] so the Christmas decorations have always stayed up like a lot longer than I thought they should

[00:02:21] in the Shigerr household but like I said there's worse things than Christmas decorations.

[00:02:28] Wow, I just had like a complete like moment I don't know I guess that's it for the small

[00:02:35] talking tree you got like you got like you planted some time off of work or anything

[00:02:40] like that.

[00:02:41] Yeah I'm I got the end of the year off looking forward to that.

[00:02:44] Yeah I'm trying to I think I got it wrapped up where I'll have almost like two weeks

[00:02:48] like just shorted two weeks off at the end of the year which I'm kind of excited about.

[00:02:53] The school years wrapping up I have like one regular week left in the semester and then

[00:02:57] finals week and then I get like a month off.

[00:03:01] Oh nice yeah I miss that having that month off around Christmas and college that was the

[00:03:05] best.

[00:03:06] So I mean I have a month where I don't need to be there but like I picked up that English

[00:03:12] class for the spring semester right so I'm probably going to spend a lot of time during

[00:03:17] that month like prepping the English class because it's all online and I have like

[00:03:21] guidelines that you know the state like there's things that I need to teach which is a

[00:03:28] little different from the photo.

[00:03:29] I have a little more flexibility in the photography class or whatever but I need to go in

[00:03:33] and get everything set up so that way like once the class starts I don't have to deal with

[00:03:38] all of the like administrative crap it's just going to be all ready to go.

[00:03:42] Right.

[00:03:43] So anyways I guess we just start rolling through some stuff.

[00:03:45] We got a bunch of like little mini topics today and I'm hoping just to like just you know

[00:03:49] like just kind of dive right into the stories as soon as we can.

[00:03:52] So like the first bit of follow up we have is my son Josh and I we took part in extra

[00:03:59] life early November we talked about it we were I think we were just about to getting ready

[00:04:03] to leave before we recorded the last episode which is part of the reason that it took me

[00:04:08] so long to edit the last episode so thanks everybody for dealing with that and you know

[00:04:14] like sometimes it's not so bad because like you got an episode two weeks ago and you're

[00:04:17] about to get another episode.

[00:04:18] So like usually you guys have to listen like wait a month between episodes and like hearing

[00:04:24] our sultry voices in your ears or whatever and now it's just two weeks it's like a Christmas

[00:04:28] gift if you will.

[00:04:31] But this year like we did really good raising money for actual life part of it was Josh

[00:04:36] has this friend of his that just kind of went apeshit and just donated a ton of money

[00:04:41] and like I felt bad because you know he was like a teenager and he donated a considerable

[00:04:46] amount of money.

[00:04:47] But you know it's a worthy cause so like while I felt bad that he was doing it it was kind

[00:04:52] of awesome that you know this 18 year old at a time of year or even at a time in his life

[00:04:59] when he's like making money living at home or whatever and he's just kind of like he's

[00:05:02] donating it to a children's hospital as opposed to you know the multitudes of things that

[00:05:07] you know his money could go to so it was great.

[00:05:09] And I raised personally $781 Josh raised over a thousand.

[00:05:15] Oh wow.

[00:05:16] And we have a we were part of the World Gone Geek team which is which includes Jeff and

[00:05:21] Utah and one of our other friends and World Gone Geek all of us in total raised $4,655

[00:05:29] nice for rainbow babies in children's hospital so I think it was really a successful year.

[00:05:36] I want to thank everybody that donated and if you didn't just is just like kind of my

[00:05:41] last little push donations can come in until the end of the year and count towards this

[00:05:46] years campaign.

[00:05:47] So for the like the links in the show notes if anybody out there has a little extra cash

[00:05:52] it doesn't make even five bucks and you want to you know help out the kids at the hospital

[00:05:57] hit up the link in the show notes and you'll find all the information you need there.

[00:06:02] Rollin' to the next bit of follow up November was also nano-rimo.

[00:06:05] We talked a little bit about it last month and I had mentioned that in prepping for nano-rimo

[00:06:10] it kind of rejuvenated like a story idea for me.

[00:06:14] I did not have the opportunity to spend as much time on that story over the past month

[00:06:19] as I wanted to.

[00:06:21] I'm hoping that December will be a little bit different like the first week of the month

[00:06:25] is always crazy with extra life and driving up and back and forth and I don't know it's

[00:06:30] always hard for like I feel like if you're going to do something like nano-rimo where you're

[00:06:34] writing like a significant amount of words every single day if you don't get like a good

[00:06:40] start you're screwed and you know with extra life it's always at the beginning of the

[00:06:46] month and it always just kind of messes up everything.

[00:06:49] In a good way because we raised money for kids but nano-rimo is just not for me.

[00:06:52] But to those of you out there if you're listening and you put in those 50,000 words and

[00:06:59] you can declare yourself a winner congratulations I hope your story is great.

[00:07:04] That's pretty much all I got to say about that.

[00:07:07] You got anything to add?

[00:07:09] I don't want to review too hard.

[00:07:12] Yeah no it's fine.

[00:07:15] Before we get into the next topic I also do want to publicly apologize to you.

[00:07:21] I made it a point on the last episode of being like I'm going to set reminders in my phone

[00:07:25] and I'm going to do one manuscript today and we're going to knock this damn book out so

[00:07:29] that we can put it into the hands of the tens of people that are waiting to read it.

[00:07:34] And I didn't do it.

[00:07:37] Like I think I put one manuscript I really do have the best intentions.

[00:07:42] I'm going to get them done and this year I've decided that I'm going to do something

[00:07:46] while this season I should say I'm going to knock these out first but like every time

[00:07:52] we record like we'll record and I'll spend the next couple of days editing right?

[00:07:57] And then I put the episode out there and like it goes out into the world.

[00:08:00] And then what I should probably do is just knock out that manuscript within the first

[00:08:05] week of the episode going out and then I don't have any problems.

[00:08:07] And then by the time we get to the end of the season they're all just there.

[00:08:11] And I don't have to worry about this every year.

[00:08:13] So I'm going to try to implement that.

[00:08:15] It's just like maybe even make it part of my editing process.

[00:08:19] You know I usually edit and then send it to you and you give it a listen just to make

[00:08:24] sure that you know I didn't miss anything stupid or whatever.

[00:08:28] You listen to give me the okay that you know like we're both okay on it and everything

[00:08:31] and then I put it out there as soon as you say like hey good to go which is usually

[00:08:36] the three words I get from you.

[00:08:39] As soon as I see the good to go what I should do is just listen back edit my manuscript

[00:08:43] throw it out there call today.

[00:08:45] So I'm going to give that a try once I get caught up from the backlog of the previous

[00:08:50] year but you know we'll keep that going.

[00:08:51] So Ian I apologize.

[00:08:53] I'm going to do it I promise.

[00:08:55] We're ready.

[00:08:56] So this is kind of like this is kind of looming now.

[00:09:00] We announced.

[00:09:02] We announced last month that we were taking part in the NYC midnight 250 word microfiction

[00:09:06] challenge.

[00:09:07] That's right right micro fiction.

[00:09:09] Yes okay so as of today we're like eight days away from getting our prompts and how

[00:09:19] are you feeling about this because I'm on I'm honestly a little bit nervous about this

[00:09:22] one.

[00:09:23] I was saying I'm feeling foolishly excited and by that I mean I'm looking forward to it

[00:09:31] in the sense that like you know the challenge and just you know trying to create something

[00:09:35] new but I would say foolishly because of you know my you know less than an optimal experience

[00:09:42] last year.

[00:09:43] Well and you know I was thinking about our experience last year and you know it was

[00:09:46] the first time we did anything by this this organization or whatever and you know to

[00:09:51] be fair there's a lot of people I think I saw an email within the past week or so because

[00:09:56] I think they sent out like an interview with the winner right from last year and I think

[00:10:01] it she also won a couple of the screenwriting ones if I'm remembering that correctly.

[00:10:06] I don't know and it included the winning story and it said something like the winner out

[00:10:11] of like 5400 people I mean that is like a lot of people and we're looking at like you

[00:10:18] know judges who have to you know rank 30 different stories and you know that sure that could

[00:10:23] be hard and so I think this year like don't get me wrong.

[00:10:28] I really want to make it to the next round or whatever but instead of focusing on getting

[00:10:33] to the next round I'm just going to spend that weekend trying to put together the 250 best

[00:10:39] words that I possibly can and I'm going to put it out there and if it if it warrants

[00:10:43] me moving to the next round great if not no harm no foul I just I have a 250 word story

[00:10:49] that I could do something with you know what I mean because just like you know and I

[00:10:54] mean even just with last year even the prompts we got were like kind of crazy.

[00:10:59] Yeah never brutal so it's just like I just I'm just going to kind of just kind my plan

[00:11:04] is to go with the flow see what happens I got a really busy weekend that weekend.

[00:11:08] So I'm going to have limited time like pretty much all day Saturday I'm booked and remind

[00:11:13] me that I need to talk to you about that offline when we're done recording.

[00:11:19] Okay I'm actually just I'm just going to make a note right here okay I got a big bold

[00:11:26] reminder there for me but yeah that whole Saturday like well I shouldn't say the whole

[00:11:30] Saturday but like the majority of that Saturday it I'm like busy so I probably will be

[00:11:38] I'll be able to think about it but I probably won't be able to do any actual writing until

[00:11:41] like Saturday night.

[00:11:44] So we'll see how that goes I mean I have until Sunday at midnight so I should be fine

[00:11:48] with 250 words but if I learned anything over the past 65 episodes like I I'm pretty

[00:11:55] long-winded.

[00:11:56] Well you were you worked best under pressure though too so well that I mean that's fair but

[00:12:01] I do have a tendency to have a hard time like raining shit in.

[00:12:06] So 250 words to tell an entire story is going to be interesting it'll be fun yeah but

[00:12:12] I think I'm with you I'm excited as well we'll see how it goes and I look forward to

[00:12:19] you know the first episode of 2024 when we can kind of actually give feedback about

[00:12:24] how it went.

[00:12:25] So I think it's all I got for NYC Mid-Under you good there yeah I'm good look at this we

[00:12:31] are like just cranking topics out like left and right today alright so you put this next

[00:12:37] one in the show notes so why don't you go ahead introduce it and we'll go from there.

[00:12:44] This just stems from a little um little frustrating experience I had.

[00:12:49] I don't know that you've had this experience yet because you haven't you haven't put

[00:12:54] you know outside of the podcast stories you haven't really put anything out in the world

[00:12:57] so right right.

[00:12:59] I had went through a review service we talked about review services a couple episodes

[00:13:03] back and I put the Camero murders through this particular one where you get pretty decent

[00:13:10] feedback and one of the things that they give you is whether they found any typos in

[00:13:16] the uh boy in the manuscript and they claim they had found two and they they noted where

[00:13:23] they were and I was yeah and so that was that was helpful but like the one I went and

[00:13:30] looked up and I'm like well technically that's not a typo it was it was a piece of dialogue

[00:13:35] you know what not it wasn't dialogue was monologue so the characters thinking in the way

[00:13:38] they speak and so instead of saying all I can think of he's like all I can think of kind

[00:13:43] of you know I mean like yeah so that's not a typo that's it's a that's not a typo right

[00:13:48] right but but the other one was a legit typo and what was frustrating to me is that it's

[00:13:55] been in the book literally forever because this this came out of the edit that the um

[00:14:04] the publisher did when I was when I had the book with a publisher so that's when you were

[00:14:07] with untreated yeah so like obviously it's my fault that the typo is there but like I really

[00:14:16] never looked super closely at the manuscript ever again because it had been edited you know

[00:14:21] what I mean so I put a lot of confidence in that and this was just one small thing that

[00:14:25] they miss and it was just like it was just annoying to me that like that typo has been

[00:14:30] in the book for how many years now I mean when did you really think of arrow murders I think

[00:14:36] it was first published like maybe 2018 2019 or I'm looking up on Amazon right now that's not

[00:14:45] I mean Amazon Amazon is not even the right date because I re-released it on Amazon's right back

[00:14:50] and I want to say it was like maybe it was even 2009 it's that far back what you know what

[00:14:56] I could do is I can hear we're going to do this live I can go to my YouTube page which should

[00:15:03] have the book trailer so at least we can we can see when we did the book trailer for that and I

[00:15:11] don't even know if I want to watch the book trailer because my video process has changed so much since

[00:15:16] then well that I don't know I don't know if it holds up you were also trying to you know you were

[00:15:24] being directed by my vision in some sense but oh did I post this oh I might have posted this on a

[00:15:32] different account let me see or did you know what I might have given you the video and you might

[00:15:38] have posted it all right so I think it was around 2019 thereabouts maybe well okay so wait six

[00:15:48] years ago is when this was posted because I got my manuscripts back in like 20 oh no I have it

[00:15:57] up now I'm watching it okay so I'm just gonna go ahead and I'm gonna put this in the show notes

[00:16:02] since we're talking about it and you guys can go watch the um what what song did you use for this

[00:16:10] 2017 it was a Jesse sprinkle track that's right are my daughters in this she is so little yeah

[00:16:18] she was tiny oh my god she was a trooper though that day she was cold I think it was cold

[00:16:25] I'm gonna go ahead and put this trailer in these show notes I feel like I started writing this

[00:16:33] 2007 what I feel like and then it could be I think was it might have been published as way back as

[00:16:42] 2009 really yeah because it's telling me that the trailer was put out there six years ago which

[00:16:49] would be what 17 but that that actually feels late to me unless did we do did we not do the trailer

[00:16:57] for that we didn't do it right away I remember we had to read we had to redo it because when I got my

[00:17:03] rights back we had to swap the covers oh that's probably why so we probably pulled off the old trailer

[00:17:11] and replaced it with a new one so that it had the new image because the document I have that has

[00:17:15] the edits yeah is marks 2017 for when they gave me everything back I think okay I'm not okay

[00:17:23] I'm gonna go back and in really search because I feel like I feel like the book is

[00:17:28] is pretty old now but oh well we got sidetracked I just I just sent that link to my family so

[00:17:35] that they could see how little my daughter was because she was tiny that's too funny I'm gonna

[00:17:39] have to I'm gonna watch it in its entirety later but I remember that song being really cool

[00:17:43] yeah that's a good one yeah so I'm gonna yeah I'm gonna have to go back and visit that so

[00:17:48] everybody go watch that trailer that's like that's Matt when he really I mean I think I was

[00:17:54] really like pretty new to the video production world at that time so you were but that last shot

[00:18:01] with a car though it was really sweet yeah I think we didn't we drove it over a GoPro right

[00:18:05] yeah yeah and I was so scared because the GoPro didn't belong to me

[00:18:09] and the guy who was driving the car because he drove it right he didn't yeah we didn't drive

[00:18:15] yeah and he really like kind of let loose and I was like oh my god he's gonna

[00:18:19] disturb my camera oh my god he's gonna disturb my camera but but he didn't and we got the shot

[00:18:24] and it was worth it so oh man that's fun blast from the past so anyway so you found

[00:18:31] the reviewer found this typo yeah and then I went back and confirmed that it was in the

[00:18:36] original proofed manuscript that the publisher had done for me and so and it was yeah and it

[00:18:42] was in there so like they didn't catch it either so it was one of those things were like

[00:18:46] you know again it's my it's it's my fault that the type was there but I was I was annoyed that like

[00:18:52] I had given it it a higher degree of confidence and never went back and read it another time

[00:18:57] because it was like oh they edited it right like yeah but I mean like it's good it's one of those

[00:19:01] things though where like you've been like even when you were writing it like you were staring at

[00:19:06] that manuscript so much that sometimes like the punctuation and grammar and stuff can kind of

[00:19:11] like get blurred because like you're so familiar with it that I think that sometimes when you're

[00:19:16] reading you're even skipping words because you know what's coming right so like even like

[00:19:21] with my story this month you know I always send it to my wife to have her proof read it because I

[00:19:27] missed shit like that and I went over this four times probably within the past 48 hours I

[00:19:32] read it out loud twice to make sure that like because I like I hate it when she comes back

[00:19:36] in me and she's like it's something stupid you know what I mean like two thousand a row or some

[00:19:40] shit like that and I was all confident and I was like she's not gonna find anything she found two

[00:19:44] things so sometimes it's like a different pair of eyes but I mean I think anytime a human is doing

[00:19:49] something there's always going to be a chance for error you know what I mean oh sure so let me

[00:19:54] ask you the thing that I kind of was curious about is can you go and easily update like the ebook

[00:20:04] yeah yeah so and that was a thing like because I've caught typos in my other books that I've had

[00:20:09] to edit on my own right but like generally I catch those pretty quick and then I fix them and

[00:20:15] generally they don't they're not even out and they're out in the world but no one's like you know

[00:20:19] purchased it yet before I get the fix in or something like that but this is like the entire life

[00:20:24] of the book every copy that's ever been out there and it's in libraries and like you know like

[00:20:29] every single copy has that really obvious typo in it so the print books are a little harder because

[00:20:34] if somebody bought a print book I mean that's obviously not gonna magically change now can you

[00:20:38] update the manuscript for the the print on demand ones yeah I can update both yeah and that just

[00:20:43] kind of will take you like it will just kind of swap out with what's there and anybody who buys one

[00:20:48] that date forward would be fine and I remember when you updated the covers for this series

[00:20:56] I remember them popping up like back into my homepage on my Kindle library and I was like wait

[00:21:02] what happened because like I like I bought these years ago and I think it was because there was

[00:21:06] a new version available so I think anybody who owns it automatically just kind of gets the update

[00:21:11] oh interesting so that could be good so if you do update the Kindle version and throw it out

[00:21:17] there I think anybody who owns it already will automatically just be updated to the latest version

[00:21:22] of the book like they don't have to buy it again so that's kind of nice I updated the Kindle

[00:21:27] version but then I was having problems with the formatting on the print version when I was

[00:21:34] working online so I'm gonna need to fire up the desktop and use the real version word to correct

[00:21:39] that there's something right in the ones like I have section breaks so that I kind of headers

[00:21:44] in part of the document and not in the other and some things wonky with that and I can't manage

[00:21:49] the section breaks properly in the online version of word yeah I don't I don't want to go off on

[00:21:53] too big of a tangent about word right now but I think just office products in general I've been having

[00:21:59] issues with the web versions yeah um they're just not as full featured as the desktop versions and

[00:22:06] that's frustrating because they charge a subscription for it right what's what's up now well

[00:22:12] that there's there's free versions right so like the version I use online is free it's just in one

[00:22:16] drive okay um whereas what I have on my desktop is the the 365 subscription okay but honestly

[00:22:23] the only thing I need the desktop for is to be able to do like the section breaks and the table content

[00:22:29] stuff gotcha gotcha like if I could do all of that and also actually I think um styling I don't

[00:22:35] think they let you edit styles yet still I could be wrong but it used to be you couldn't edit styles

[00:22:40] you can apply styles if they're already there got it but I don't think you can edit styles yet and so

[00:22:45] like those handful of things if I could do that online I wouldn't even need to have the desktop

[00:22:50] anymore because I can save everything to pdf when I'm ready for like a you know like the print

[00:22:56] ready pdf copy of it for the paperback and yeah I don't know I don't know I kind of keep hoping

[00:23:01] that they're gonna update it and make it a little more full featured because I like I got really

[00:23:05] pissed off I was sitting in school uh a class one day and I made a PowerPoint for a lecture right

[00:23:12] and it wasn't like a crazy like intense PowerPoint I mean we're talking like 12 slides but the way

[00:23:18] that I did it I had bullet points that I wanted to be able to click to come up one at a time you know

[00:23:23] what I mean right and I messed up I did it on my Mac at home but I don't take my my laptop to

[00:23:29] school I've run everything off my iPad so the iPad apps the iPad Microsoft apps as far as I can tell

[00:23:36] are just it's just it's just launches like the web app essentially yeah none of the animation

[00:23:41] probably works so it would let me pick a paragraph and bring it in as a bullet point but I couldn't

[00:23:50] break that paragraph into two separate bullet points and I thought I was going insane I was like

[00:23:54] I don't know what's going on and then as soon as I went home and did it on my Mac it like work

[00:23:58] perfectly so it's just like it's just like there's weird little crap like that where they just don't

[00:24:02] match up and that should be something that I should be able to do in the web version right that's not

[00:24:06] crazy intense you know what I mean that's not super complex PowerPoint it's a it's bringing up a

[00:24:11] bullet point but whatever so anyways I don't want to go off on on Word or whatever it's necessary for

[00:24:18] our lives and we have to deal with it I guess but yeah so have you have you had any other problems

[00:24:28] with this before is anybody ever came back and been like oh you have a typo and you should fix

[00:24:32] it or whatever no no one's ever well I mean it could be readers that I know might might have

[00:24:40] mentioned something or notice something at some point along the way but but no generally I don't

[00:24:43] get that kind of kind of feedback well I mean that's good in in that sense that that other people

[00:24:48] aren't finding it you know like and you said like I haven't put in any long form stuff out in the world

[00:24:53] but I will like I've seen it in school before like I've done posts where I'm typing just like a

[00:24:58] little message out like sending an announcement out to students or whatever and then like I'll look

[00:25:02] at it on my phone and be like oh god I got to go edit it for somebody who's not on an idiot like

[00:25:07] so I see it all the time I've never seen it like in this capacity or whatever but yeah it's

[00:25:12] frustrating when you think that you're putting flawless work out there and then like two seconds

[00:25:17] like you're like oh yeah that was dumb so but I will say that it is kind of nice with the way

[00:25:29] that Amazon is works is when you do find that like you can't do anything for the people who bought

[00:25:35] print books before but you could fix it for the people going forward which is cool because I don't

[00:25:39] know what a publisher would do like if you were traditionally published and then they went

[00:25:45] through all their editors like say you were still with the the other publisher that used to be with

[00:25:50] and you went back do you think like I don't know what they would do they they might be like oh yeah

[00:25:54] we'll fix it or they may be like you know what it might not be worth our time to go update that

[00:25:59] there might just be yeah I don't know what their I don't know what they would be but I mean

[00:26:02] I'm even reading like in the in the Hemingway book I'm reading right now like I think I found a

[00:26:07] typo you know what I mean like the typos are in yeah it's out there everywhere you don't

[00:26:12] mean yeah so because you don't try to beat yourself up about too much what I will say is I think

[00:26:18] it's I think it's kind of stand up that in addition in instead of the reviewer just being like

[00:26:22] hey found two typos they actually told you where they were yeah they were it was helpful yeah that's

[00:26:27] that's helpful so frustrating but at the same time like now your book has one less typo and

[00:26:32] hopefully then nobody will find any more you know what I mean right all right well we're approaching

[00:26:38] the half hour mark but I wanted to get this in there real quick so like I don't want to do too much

[00:26:43] talking about this but I figured since it's the Christmas season and I'm assuming by the title of

[00:26:47] your story and I'm just gonna tell you that minds of Christmas kind of story we're all feeling the

[00:26:52] season here so do you have like let's let's go like top three favorite Christmas stories they could

[00:26:56] be books movies TV whatever just kind of roll them out there no particular order what do you got

[00:27:04] it's a good question I mean there's some more obscure ones probably that I like but

[00:27:10] you know the ones that that people know about I mean like you know homelones good neck I think

[00:27:14] for sure I always like trapped in paradise which is kind of an obscure one trapped in paradise

[00:27:20] I don't know if I know that it's like Nick Cage Dana Carvey and John Loveitz oh my god you just

[00:27:28] said John Loveitz it's a good one I think you'd enjoy it all right so that I'm gonna put that

[00:27:32] link in the show notes I'm gonna check that out for sure but as far as like more recent stuff I

[00:27:39] find myself kind of gravitating towards four Christmas's I love four Christmas is it's not a perfect

[00:27:46] movie and there's there's some of it that like doesn't work as well but like they're there's some

[00:27:50] genuinely funny stuff in it and I find that the more I see the more I like it oh dude it gets

[00:27:55] better every single time like um we really started watching that one in our house within the past

[00:28:02] couple of years like I'm looking it up right now because I don't know what year it came out I want

[00:28:08] to say it's two so 2008 it came out but dude I mean I like Vince Vaughn quite a bit so Vince Vaughn's

[00:28:16] awesome but John Favreau in this movie is awesome yeah he is funny he is awesome like he totally

[00:28:22] reminds me of my brother sometimes not not the way he looks but like you know you come in and he

[00:28:28] just wants to like wrestle you it's like dude like we're grown up like just chill out you know yeah so

[00:28:34] like I actually I'm gonna call you tall out right now because I know that I talked to him about

[00:28:39] four Christmas's last year and I bet you that he hasn't watched it yet and I'm hoping that now that

[00:28:43] he's heard the e and Lewis say that he should watch four Christmas's that he should watch four

[00:28:48] Christmas's because that is a sleeper like I can't believe how many people I talk to they haven't

[00:28:53] seen that movie it's so good Vince Vaughn's so I'm talking people they don't like it that much I

[00:28:56] I thought there's some you know genuinely funny parts oh I think there's great stuff throughout

[00:29:01] that entire movie and I don't I don't want to talk too much about it because I feel like I don't

[00:29:06] want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it but like if if you like Vince Vaughn and you like

[00:29:12] holiday comedies comedies I mean it's Reese Witherspoon too like I mean this is like it's really

[00:29:17] kind of like an all-star cast like don't sleep on this one go watch four Christmas's I want to say

[00:29:22] that it's on either Netflix or Max right now they play it on TV quite a bit to at least they have

[00:29:28] the past couple years yeah I'm looking it's gonna I'm just gonna

[00:29:32] did it for Christmas's is on Hulu and Max so there you go I'm gonna check out this trapped

[00:29:42] in paradise I'm really excited about that you'll like it it's like it's from the 90s I mean

[00:29:46] you like it does John Lovets have like a prominent role oh yeah yeah oh I'm so in because you know

[00:29:52] what I really want to watch and this is going to take us off on a little tangent I want to see

[00:29:55] if the critic is out there anywhere do you remember that I'm not familiar with that no it's the cartoon

[00:30:00] that John Lovets did and it was like this wonky looking dude who was like a movie critic or whatever

[00:30:05] and he'd be like it stinks like I don't know I don't know I'll put a link to the critic I'll see if

[00:30:12] I can find like a good clip or I'll just throw it to the IMDb or whatever in my house like so my

[00:30:18] favorite Christmas movie ever is a Christmas story like hands down yeah I know you like that one

[00:30:24] a lot a Christmas story and that was based on a book which I have yet to read and I am just kind

[00:30:32] of going crazy right now trying to find the links to put an Amazon but it's called it's by Gene

[00:30:39] Shepherd I know that and it's called oh crap see the problem is as they've labeled it as

[00:30:49] a Christmas story now but I want to say it was like oh yeah I had a different name

[00:30:55] and God we trust all others pay cash is what it was called so I'm gonna put that link in the show

[00:31:05] notes as well um we're a big national lampoons family so that's my number two that was pretty

[00:31:13] funny I would throw out white Christmas and it's a wonderful life see those two see white

[00:31:20] Christmas I'm okay with it's a wonderful life I don't I do not want to get sidetracked here

[00:31:26] I'm gonna I'm just gonna state it out loud but I feel like didn't we watch it's a wonderful

[00:31:30] life for this for this podcast one year no we didn't hmm nope okay it's one of those movies where

[00:31:38] I could argue that it isn't really a Christmas movie oh sure like I watch on her

[00:31:43] managing secret service every Christmas Eve but it's not technically a Christmas movie

[00:31:48] nor is die hard technically a Christmas movie now you see see we're gonna go off out

[00:31:54] and tangent here and it's not what I wanted to do but but it's nothing to do with Christmas

[00:32:00] I have a dream Christmas would not have happened if that was if there was not a Christmas party

[00:32:04] like none of those it's a Christmas themed action film but it's not about Christmas

[00:32:10] it's I mean that's fair but it's none of those Christmas the criminals wouldn't be there if it

[00:32:17] wasn't Christmas Eve and nobody else was in the building Bruce Willis wouldn't have been out to

[00:32:22] visit his wife if it wasn't Christmas Eve like if Chris if it wasn't Christmas none of that could

[00:32:26] have happened at all it's it's it's our it's debatable either way okay okay

[00:32:31] fair enough so we're gonna move on because I'm gonna go off out of tangent because I'm gonna

[00:32:34] talk about how home alone gets to the same fucking way but yes it's a wonderful life

[00:32:38] I would agree in some sense is not I was bummed out man it's a bummer like it's a wonderful

[00:32:45] life is a bummer hands on a very good note well I mean yeah but I guess but the whole rest of the

[00:32:51] movie is just like oh like I know a lot of yeah I guess depends on your perspective but okay I can

[00:32:59] kind of see that a lot of people love that movie and I watched it and I was just kind of like

[00:33:04] I don't know so I'm gonna put one other one out there and I'm gonna ask you not to make

[00:33:10] fun of me we've probably talked about this before it's a hallmark movie it came out

[00:33:19] I'm not sure when it came out it's a couple years old it's called the Christmas train

[00:33:23] I've probably talked about it here before I am not ashamed to say that I absolutely love

[00:33:30] this Christmas movie I think you've talked about it it sounds familiar

[00:33:34] it was based on a book by David uh David Baldacci I believe is how you pronounce his name

[00:33:41] it came out in 2017 it stars Dermott Moroni Danny Glover Joan Qsack like there's big names

[00:33:49] in this movie um it is oh yeah I think I think I've seen it it's so good it's so good I've

[00:33:56] already watched it once this year I have no shame if you haven't seen the Christmas train go watch

[00:34:02] the Christmas train it's so much fun and it really made me just want to ride a train across the country

[00:34:08] in rightful way and I was yeah I you know what I do remember it now I totally remember it

[00:34:12] and I was so bummed out because I did like a little research because I was like you know if there's

[00:34:17] a train like this that exists like to this level of luxury I like I don't need to do it now but

[00:34:25] at some point in my life I want to take a trip on a train like this with just the intent to write

[00:34:34] and I was so bummed by train would be awesome and I was so bummed when I found out that they built

[00:34:39] a set and it wasn't like like it wasn't I mean obviously they built a set to do all the film

[00:34:46] you're whatever but I don't think it was even based off of like a real train it was just like this big

[00:34:50] luxury thing that doesn't fucking exist in the real world and then when I started looking up like

[00:34:56] actual like trains to travel on um not even close to as close to this like it's almost like like

[00:35:03] you're gonna pay like the the tickets that are reasonable it's almost like a bus seat right if

[00:35:10] you want like a sleeper car I mean you're either approaching flight prices or exceeding them

[00:35:20] and I and I guess that's fine based on the experience that you want to have or whatever but for me

[00:35:25] right now like not in the cards for right now but if I can find a luxury train that'll that'll

[00:35:32] take me from here to like the west coast I want to do it so it's a goal if you will but yeah so those

[00:35:38] are my three I think we're good we can get into the stories we're gonna spread some Christmas cheer I

[00:35:44] think well I believe you might try I don't see I don't know if I'm gonna but um yeah so let's see

[00:35:53] what who you know our prompt this month is fruitcake but do you remember who gave it to us

[00:35:58] bednar maybe let me oh that does sound familiar hold on I'm scrolling through the page

[00:36:03] and

[00:36:06] and

[00:36:06] then

[00:36:07] then

[00:36:07] uh

[00:36:09] fruitcake

[00:36:09] Chris bednar thank you Chris bednar

[00:36:12] he's an extremely good friend of the show

[00:36:14] and um

[00:36:16] I like to this little one word prompt

[00:36:19] yeah it's versatile yeah we could really do whatever the hell we wanted with it so um

[00:36:25] I don't know you want to kick us off

[00:36:27] yeah um all right I did a 249 word story no shit

[00:36:33] in practice for uh next month or while this month when this episode drops right I had a feeling

[00:36:40] that you were gonna do this but I I actually asked you not to tell me if you did because I wanted to

[00:36:46] be surprised when you told me and I'm so excited to see what you were able to do

[00:36:52] in 250 words so you said you're right on 249 249 so can I ask you a question before you start

[00:36:58] reading this because we're gonna have a little bit of extra time here how long did it take you to

[00:37:03] do this like did you not long I got it done in a night I mean I really had a vision and um

[00:37:12] I don't know if we talked about it last time but I was kind of researching what these microfiction

[00:37:17] stories would look like as I was trying to understand how to craft you know what what

[00:37:21] passes for a plot but I but I what I came to realize of the few stories that looked at is

[00:37:26] you're not really writing plot so much as I just think like a slice of life or like an impression

[00:37:33] like an experience it's you know what I mean there's no real end-to-end continuity per se but

[00:37:39] I think the the the part that I think is gonna be difficult is you try to want to like you kind

[00:37:48] of want to try to evoke some sort of emotion in the reader or something yes you know what I mean

[00:37:52] right and yeah 250 words is not a lot of time to do that and I think that's what scares me like

[00:37:58] I think if I get like three words or whatever I'll be able to work them into like you know

[00:38:02] a few paragraphs of text or whatever but like am I gonna be able to write something that like

[00:38:09] I don't know people can feel I think you need to be economical with certain details

[00:38:16] of the story and maybe that'll make more sense after I read it because I tried to convey a very

[00:38:21] specific type of Christmas experience that made sense in my head maybe it'll fall flat I don't know

[00:38:28] I it never falls flat not here at least well I didn't want it to be incongruous um

[00:38:37] okay okay you the word this less intellectual people know what does incongruous mean we're gonna

[00:38:44] show no one incongruous means I see now you're making me feel bad because I was in comic connection

[00:38:49] I'm sorry I am not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings yeah it's like something doesn't fit

[00:38:56] okay something doesn't fit like it just like mismatched it seems out of place okay okay that makes

[00:39:01] sense look at word of the day like a like a disparity between things I'm gonna leave this tab up

[00:39:06] but I'm giving myself a bonus word of the day to write down later there you go yeah all right man

[00:39:13] so why don't you read us your 249 words what what'd you call this guy my title is tinsel

[00:39:22] so here we go Christmas at dad's place blue lights everywhere carols on the radio and the TV

[00:39:31] going at the same time he's got an activity on the table but the wise men are clear across the room

[00:39:38] and he still puts gobs of tinsel on the tree my girlfriend Jesse is with me she's got a

[00:39:44] boo soaked fruitcake in one hand a big old rum and bourbon saturated loaf her mom makes them

[00:39:51] she gives dad hug and I give him a handshake dad's wearing a headly jeans and slippers

[00:39:57] he's got two days of scruff on his chin what's up with the wise men I ask they didn't show up till

[00:40:03] Christ was two it's not historically accurate to have them at the manger hey come on and have

[00:40:09] a seat and watch Charlie Brown Christmas with me I laugh come on dad I thought we were going to order

[00:40:15] food we always watch it he says ever since you were little come on and have a beer and we'll watch

[00:40:22] it he opens the mini fridge and hands me a mico lobe light his idea of heaven is a 12 of

[00:40:28] genesis but he buys mico lobe when I show up and in that moment i'm kind of frozen torn between

[00:40:36] nostalgia and things worn out and being tired in the sense of holy and wondering what i'm doing with

[00:40:41] my life then Jesse giggles dad grins and there's all that tinsel the beer hits my lips and I decide

[00:40:50] it's all okay the end look at you man like that's exactly what you gave us was that little slice of

[00:41:00] life and there was like little things in there that really kind of paid at the picture like I typed

[00:41:06] up i was trying not to type too much because I knew that I was only going to have 250 words that

[00:41:09] I was trying really hard to listen but like when right at the beginning when you said that the

[00:41:15] radio and TV were going at the same time like that evoked Christmas to me like just all the kind

[00:41:21] of shit going on and I kind of gave me anxiety because that kind of said drives me nuts like if I can

[00:41:27] hear like two or three different sources of audio or something like even if i'm not like able to see

[00:41:32] like it drives me insane like I can't but no that felt like Christmas to me you have yeah it

[00:41:39] I don't know go ahead now I was just get I was just like like every little thing about it was just like

[00:41:45] I don't know you meet you made me feel like I was in the living room with them like observing

[00:41:53] and I think that's exactly what you probably need to do with this kind of word restraint right

[00:41:58] is you made you you you invoked Christmas day for me in 250 words yeah I think you have to you try

[00:42:07] you try to like you know conjure an emotion or something you have to leave an impression rather than

[00:42:15] you know tell us tell a proper story I guess right and because you were using you were using like

[00:42:22] plot points or whatever that that feel normal that ever like everybody knows Charlie Brown's Christmas

[00:42:27] and even if you don't know it like you've heard of it you know who Charlie know of it you know what

[00:42:31] I mean so it's just like it's just like little things like that that just kind of like they don't

[00:42:35] need explanation and I think that's probably going to be the difficulty when we go into the other

[00:42:40] one is trying to figure out what we can use that are just going to hit people and they like just

[00:42:46] what people know so you don't have to spend time on description yeah I was I was pretty happy with

[00:42:53] with what I came up with and I was I was like oh man like I wish I could have used this for

[00:42:58] for the competition you know what I mean but it just came it came together so easily and I was

[00:43:03] really happy with it I'm like it's not gonna be this easy at the next time you know what I mean

[00:43:07] yeah and I liked it the beginning you were like I don't know if they were just like short sentences

[00:43:11] or sentence fragments but it was just like dads house you know this and it was just like that

[00:43:16] that's a great way to approach something like this I think well that that's how you you I don't

[00:43:21] say we're cheat but like that's how you cheat on on the words you you can cut down on your

[00:43:27] your word count by using more like the clips kind of phrasing but then that

[00:43:33] that does paint you into corner with regard to like your character's voice in a sense but

[00:43:38] you know instead of saying there are blue lights everywhere there were carols on the radio it's like

[00:43:42] you can drop off four words off those two sentences right because it was just blue lights

[00:43:46] the blue lights everywhere around on the radio right yeah man good stuff little things like that now

[00:43:52] now quick question about the wiseman thing yeah they really didn't show up until he was two

[00:43:57] yeah correct yeah in the in the uh in the biblical record yeah they are not at the

[00:44:04] at the manger huh so all those nativity scenes that we see everywhere just bullshit

[00:44:11] the three wise men are in all of them they're in all them yeah yeah it's just like a package deal

[00:44:16] it's just sort of like yeah even in the life ones you've seen those where people like stand there

[00:44:21] and just like stand still I've never seen one in person but like I know what you're talking about

[00:44:24] can you imagine if like there was a live one and I just walked up to like the three wise men

[00:44:28] and be like get the fuck out of here he's not too go like can you stand off in the corner

[00:44:32] like you're traveling still take your smelly shit over there it's a child man he doesn't need to know

[00:44:37] what mer smells like I guarantee all that shit smells like hell there's a I think I can't

[00:44:44] what it was frankincense frankincense mermer and what was the gold I think gold I think it's gold

[00:44:50] okay so gold's fine yeah can you ever anybody's gonna love gold you bring me gold I'm

[00:44:54] gonna be a happy guy right I mean I'm probably gonna have to take it somewhere and sell it for cash

[00:44:58] because I don't want to give a shit about gold but some people do I'll sell to somebody who wants

[00:45:03] the gold and I'll take the cash that's a great gift now my mom is really into essential oils

[00:45:08] and I'm okay saying this because I know she doesn't listen because she's scared of my stories

[00:45:11] she she listened to the first podcast that was the wrong one to listen to

[00:45:17] and she won't read anymore of my stories now probably your whole first season was the wrong one

[00:45:22] listen to so so so I'm pretty comfortable saying this but like she sells essential oils and she's

[00:45:28] like really one of those like people who are into essential oils but yeah like there's a frankincense

[00:45:35] one and that shit is gross like it's great I never smelled it I don't know what I'm gonna try

[00:45:41] to find it I will steal it from her because I cannot imagine her using this for anything because

[00:45:47] it is right man like it's a little bit because long it's straight stinks like why anybody thinks

[00:45:54] that this is a gift for a child what does it smell better than like like rank B.O. or death like

[00:46:00] so it's probably what those things were used for us to like no man like I feel like I feel like

[00:46:05] I feel like it's one of those things where like if you had rank B.O. and you tried to cover it

[00:46:11] up with frankincense you know what I mean you would then smell that's what they used before I think

[00:46:15] I think they used it in burial type scenarios but it might cover up the smell of death I don't know

[00:46:22] or you might just smell death plus frankincense I prefer not to find out because I really I don't

[00:46:30] know what death smells like yeah so interestingly enough I was trying to research that a bit for

[00:46:36] part of the book that I'm writing you know like decay and like yeah I guess it's pretty horrific

[00:46:41] and it's something that once you smell apparently you never forget well so like I can't imagine

[00:46:46] that we have very many older listeners with the content that comes out but like you know how like

[00:46:53] and I'm not I'm not saying this to be mean so like everybody just relax but like

[00:46:59] once you reach a certain age I feel like like older people develop like a unique odor and I have

[00:47:07] so wonder if it's like early composition it so some so do yeah I don't know what it is but yeah

[00:47:15] I know it's so it's just like so if that is in fact what early decomposition smells like then I

[00:47:21] guess I know what death smells like in a sense I'm sure it's worse than that it's probably worse than

[00:47:27] that but like I've never been around anything like dead long enough that would make it not even a pet

[00:47:33] like they're usually you know is hate as much as I hate to say like we like like you get the the

[00:47:41] the dead pet out of the house right you like you don't wait for them to decompose so I don't know

[00:47:48] what were we talking about how do we get here frankincense frankincense yeah that was weird we went

[00:47:55] from the wise men to frankincense to death very Christmas folks who's feeling who's feeling the

[00:48:05] spirit of Christmas no no I think that was really good and I think that I I kind of wish that I

[00:48:10] would have taken the same approach and kind of practiced yeah it was nice to have the practice I think

[00:48:16] yeah but really really well done I think that one is I mean what are you gonna do if on next Friday

[00:48:24] night at midnight you get an email and one of your words is tinsel well legally I can't use this

[00:48:33] story I have to write it that we mean that's true because we are publishing this right so we can't

[00:48:39] use it yeah yeah that sucks well hopefully you don't get the word tinsel well I just hope I get something

[00:48:45] that's not as yeah abstract is last year yeah last year was something else and that's why I'm

[00:48:52] just at least I know like I'm expecting ridiculous if I get if I don't get ridiculous it'll be a

[00:48:59] pleasant surprise but I'm expecting to get like you know just like three things that have no business

[00:49:04] going together and then having to wrangle 250 words out to make them go together I think that's

[00:49:10] my biggest fear of this whole thing is just like at least before we had a good number of words so

[00:49:16] all the ridiculous shit we got like we had time to try to weave them in right this we got no time

[00:49:22] if there's three ridiculous things like I don't know like we'll see what happens all right well my

[00:49:28] story is a little longer so we might should we get to it yeah literate all right so I definitely

[00:49:37] didn't go into this like trying to hit 250 words but like I think I told you before we started

[00:49:42] recording that like when I sat down to write this I was like I don't think this is gonna be a long

[00:49:46] story and I think I'm probably gonna be able to knock it out in a thousand words or so so I wasn't

[00:49:52] too stressed and I'm typing away and I'm typing away and then I look up and I'm like oh god I'm

[00:49:55] already at 1600 words and then I'm typing away and I'm typing away and I'm like oh shit I'm

[00:49:59] already at 2400 words and then I'm like I'm almost done though and I think let's see I wrapped up

[00:50:05] at 2642 so it's still within my range as of late but it ended up being a little longer

[00:50:15] than I wanted it to be but I'm really happy with this one like last month I was a little

[00:50:22] iffy on it I wish I could have taken a little more time to kind of work that story out

[00:50:26] this one I'm pretty happy with so what I got for you is a story that I called feeding the stereotype

[00:50:34] all right Christmas is a sentimental time of year for me well not just for me for everyone I imagine

[00:50:44] I've never been able to put a finger on it but there's something about the season that brings

[00:50:47] on a period of reflection often find myself lost in thoughts of memories past which lets whatever

[00:50:53] current stressors I'm being plagued by whether born-of-work family or otherwise simply melt away

[00:51:00] there's one Christmas memory that I return to more often than others it could be said that my

[00:51:05] entire life's trajectory began with this particular event and believe it or not it all started

[00:51:10] with a fruitcake I was eight years old I already know what you're thinking how could it be possible

[00:51:17] that anything of real meaning could have happened to me at such an early age it bodes well to

[00:51:21] remember that the years of adolescence are very formative and children are impressionable people

[00:51:27] spend their lives either following the examples set by the events of their youth or running from them

[00:51:33] look at me I'm already getting off track let's get back to the fruitcake again I was eight years old

[00:51:39] I was already past all the Santa bruja but my mom continued to put presents under the tree on Christmas

[00:51:44] morning so I played along it made her happy this was Christmas Eve though and that was when we

[00:51:50] usually did our big family gathering and uncles cousins etc leaving Christmas day a more

[00:51:56] intimate experience people are already gathering and just kind of mingling with one another while

[00:52:01] waiting for the call to dinner the smell of turkey and sweet potatoes filled the air and

[00:52:06] the more prominent the aroma became the more restless the adults got I could care less all I wanted

[00:52:13] was the pot of macaroni and cheese with cut-up hot dogs that I knew my mom had waiting for me say what you

[00:52:18] will but that's the food of the gods I'll destroy a pot of that to this day when the food was ready

[00:52:24] we gathered in the dining room my dad stood carving the turkey at the head of the table

[00:52:29] and my mom and I sat on his right hand side she placed my bowl in front of me

[00:52:35] she'd sat uncle Roy far enough away so I would be the victim of constant ridicule for my choice

[00:52:39] of entrees but not so far that I couldn't hear him snicker when the bowl hit the table as far

[00:52:44] as I was concerned it was his loss the meal was pretty standard as far as family gatherings go

[00:52:51] there were some playful banter between the adults everyone laughed and smiled as they ate

[00:52:56] at one point it did seem like things were escalating between uncle Roy and my father

[00:53:00] was something about my cousin Ricky whose absence hadn't been addressed up until this point

[00:53:06] I don't think my uncle appreciated a few things that were said about his son

[00:53:09] and just before things could get out of control my mom intervened and calmed them down

[00:53:14] she had a gift for getting people to see reason

[00:53:18] we're all full but still sat around the table

[00:53:21] I'm not sure if others do this but we wouldn't leave the table between dinner and dessert

[00:53:25] we needed some time to recover and prepare for Rosietta to come

[00:53:29] so people switched chairs and caught up with each other if they had an

[00:53:31] ed chance to already and the conversations would continue until someone would break the ice and ask

[00:53:36] for something sweet that year it was my anfinesse usually the first person to bring it up would be

[00:53:42] ridiculed for being a glutton but she had lost over 50 pounds that year and was very self-conscious

[00:53:47] about the remaining few she wanted to lose so people kept to themselves as she and my mom

[00:53:51] went together the goodies my favorite were the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's kisses

[00:53:55] in the center not especially Christmasy yet they still seem to come around only during the holidays

[00:54:02] that's a mystery I still haven't been able to figure out it seems like they could easily be an

[00:54:06] all-season type of cookie as per usual that plate got passed to me last as I had built a reputation

[00:54:12] for hoarding them I had just taken my first glorious bite when we heard the front door open and close

[00:54:18] followed by the sounds of someone stomping the snow out of their boots I looked around at the

[00:54:23] table trying to figure out who was missing and came up short wasn't alone is everyone seem to be

[00:54:28] looking for the same answer my dad looked up and gasped when he saw who had just turned the corner

[00:54:33] into the dining room it was my cousin Ricky my anfinesse and an uncle Roy jumped out of their

[00:54:39] chairs to greet their son while my mom and dad exchanged a worried glance I didn't understand

[00:54:44] the latter I loved my cousin he was about 20 and probably the coolest person I knew he wore a leather

[00:54:50] jacket smoked cigarettes and listened to heavy metal he even had earrings and tattoos what wasn't

[00:54:56] alike he held a small white box in his hand which he sat down at the end of the table I know I

[00:55:03] wasn't invited he said but I thought that maybe I could drop by for dessert he looked over at me

[00:55:10] what's up little man I grin back and he watches my eyes felt or whatever the mystery

[00:55:14] confection was that he brought with him he opened the box revealing a weird mystery caker bread type

[00:55:20] thing wasn't really sure what it was but it had a decently thick layer of icing covering it and

[00:55:25] that was good enough for me my interest must have been obvious so he began walking around the table

[00:55:30] and just as it was about to hit my hands my aunt swiped it away Ricky she asked him you didn't

[00:55:36] make this yourself did you with your special butter he just laughed mom are you serious like I would

[00:55:44] do that here look for yourself this came from Calvin's across town picked it up on the way she

[00:55:51] inspected the box closely even giving the cake a little sniff before conceding and letting it fall

[00:55:56] into my hands I dropped it on the table and my mom helped me cut off a piece the icing was

[00:56:02] draw worthy but the rest of it did look a little sketchy I looked up at my cousin for reassurance

[00:56:09] it's just a fruitcake little man I know it looks gross but trust me it'll change your life

[00:56:16] I took a bite and it was good he was really good I closed my eyes and savored every morsel as I

[00:56:22] let it roll around in my mouth making sure that not a moment of this was wasted I finished it slowly

[00:56:28] taking the same care with each bite when I finally opened my eyes I was shocked to find the entire

[00:56:34] room staring at me in amusement I blushed and went to grab another piece Ricky was the one to

[00:56:40] snatch it away from me this time I know it's good but small cake and based on what we just saw

[00:56:47] I think that everyone should get to have a little bit no I sighed and nodded an agreement but he pushed

[00:56:53] the tray a peanut butter cookies back in front of me and always forgotten the fruitcake made its way

[00:56:58] around the table and seemed to be received well by all it's not surprising it was from Calvin's

[00:57:03] and his shit was legit I asked to be excused when my mom started serving coffee I knew the adults would

[00:57:10] keep talking for a little while which gave me time to go snoop around the tree I'd shake boxes

[00:57:15] and try to guess what the contents were I then shift them around so the ones I wanted to open

[00:57:20] first were in the front and they'll ask them to back I was just about done doing this when I started

[00:57:25] to feel a bit funny not bad funny dizzy might be a good way to describe it kind of

[00:57:32] then I got really happy and the dizziness started to creep down into my arms and legs

[00:57:37] it was kind of scary at first but when I got used to it I became calm and relaxed

[00:57:43] I looked at the package in my hand and couldn't remember what I wanted to do with it

[00:57:47] then I got tired and couldn't think about anything else but sleep so I tossed the package aside

[00:57:52] curled up into a little ball and drifted off into a dreamless slumber

[00:57:57] the sirens woke me up I yond and set up to look around

[00:58:02] it was already dark outside and no one else was in the living room which was weird to me

[00:58:07] I was also the thirstiest I think I'd ever been in my life so I got up to go into the kitchen for

[00:58:12] some water I walked past the dining room then stopped I turned back and walked into where I just

[00:58:18] had the best dessert of my life my family was still seated around the table but the scene in front of

[00:58:24] me was like something out of movies I wasn't allowed to watch yet everyone's head was hanging

[00:58:29] backwards much further than it should have been able to go and blood was streaked down the front

[00:58:34] of them all pulling at their feet the embroidered Santa Claus on the front of Anfinesse sweater was

[00:58:39] bathed in crimson a nice lady scooped me up and took me into the living room while they cleaned

[00:58:45] everything up I don't remember her name every once in a while I would get a glimpse of a body on

[00:58:50] a cart being rolled out the front door but the nice lady would kindly guide my attention away and

[00:58:55] try to get me thinking of other things I knew I should be sad and scared but for some reason I couldn't

[00:59:01] feel those things I just listened to the nice lady my cousin Ricky went to jail and I went to a foster

[00:59:08] home we kept in touch over the years writing letters back and forth through each other he asked

[00:59:13] me how my new family was and I told them they were fine I asked how he was doing and he said that

[00:59:18] he was fine it was good that we were both fine but I had a feeling that he was lying what's weird is

[00:59:24] that I wasn't when I turned 18 I was able to go visit Ricky in jail I think he was surprised to see

[00:59:31] me the first time I went but I didn't understand why we were family I continued to show up often

[00:59:37] going no longer than a month between visits Ricky said that I reminded him of himself when he was

[00:59:43] younger I asked if it was because of the leather jacket earrings and tattoos he said yes but it

[00:59:49] was also something else he changed his subject though and never brought it up again after a while

[00:59:56] I made my own family I married but had no kids I never told anyone about my childhood tragedy

[01:00:02] I didn't want any unnecessary sympathy from anyone I had everything I wanted around the

[01:00:08] holidays last year Ricky got sick I started visiting him more often and when things were looking

[01:00:13] especially bad he asked me why I continued to visit him all these years I don't know I shrugged

[01:00:19] you were the only family I had left I was the reason you had no family I thought about that for a

[01:00:26] while I knew the reason that he was in jail I wasn't stupid but I think that there was a part of

[01:00:32] me that never wanted to believe that he actually did it he never brought it up so I returned the

[01:00:37] favor now that it was out in the open I really only had one question for him why'd you do it

[01:00:45] he let out a string of mucus filled coughs and blew something green into a tissue before he began

[01:00:49] to speak they thought I was evil so I guess I decided to live up to the stereotype

[01:00:56] that was disappointing to me feeding a stereotype was about the weakest excuse he could have

[01:01:00] mustard really that's the reason I grew up in a house full of strangers I wanted to leave but

[01:01:07] there's a question that I still need an answer to why didn't you kill me you're just a little dude

[01:01:15] and the only one who truly saw me for who I was you were and are the type of person that the

[01:01:20] world needs more of the rest of them would have just held you back I would have liked to have been

[01:01:26] part of that decision with that I turned to walk away forever before I can make it out of the room

[01:01:32] he had one last thing for me I almost couldn't do it but when I felt the knife break the surface

[01:01:38] of the skin for the first time I felt the power that was unimaginable after that it was all a blur

[01:01:45] until I found myself being processed at the station he paused for another round of coughs and took

[01:01:51] a few deep weasening breaths before continuing when you first started visiting me I said that you

[01:01:57] reminded me of myself it wasn't just your appearance to what you will with that I left without

[01:02:05] another word and never returned earlier this year I caught word of his passing he was buried

[01:02:11] as property of the state and that was that went to visit his grave once and he's laid to rest

[01:02:17] beneath a small plain stone bearing his name that one visit was more than enough

[01:02:23] things were as normal as they could be and then the holidays came upon us

[01:02:28] during my annual period of reflection I started to think about the power that my cousin Ricky had

[01:02:32] spoken of he described it as unimaginable which is funny because I found myself able to imagine

[01:02:39] it then it consumed me the events that followed lead us to today were the first time in over

[01:02:46] 40 years I've spoken about the most tragic event of my life a life that I've worked to erase

[01:02:53] yet couldn't seem to escape only a fool would ask for mercy at this point

[01:02:59] I sat down next to my state provided defense team and avoided eye contact with anyone

[01:03:04] there were murmurs amongst the jury in the gallery which grew in volume until silenced by

[01:03:08] the judge with three short wraps of his gaville I will have order in this court he directed his

[01:03:14] attention to me you have no doubt lived through tragedy and I want to sympathize with your situation

[01:03:21] however your statement has gone on record as an admission of guilt am I mistaken?

[01:03:27] know your honor I'm guilty is charged very well that I have no choice but to punish you to the

[01:03:34] limit of the law you'll be held without bond until after the first of the year when you will return

[01:03:38] for sentencing he went on to address the room my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of

[01:03:44] the victims the state thanks to the jury for their service as for everyone else in attendance I wish

[01:03:50] a merry Christmas to all and to all good night really you really know how to make things twisted man

[01:03:59] I always know that I've successfully known there that I've successfully done what I wanted to do

[01:04:08] when all I get from you is initially

[01:04:13] like I hear like the little chuckle and I'm like yes I did it

[01:04:19] it's like um you know it was the way it was uh executed you know put together I think was done

[01:04:27] really well um you know as far as laying things out and you know just the pacing of it I guess

[01:04:34] I think worked really well but like I really wanted the narrator to be I was reading for him I wanted

[01:04:42] to be the good guy and to kind of rise above this sort of uh you know destiny for lack of a better word

[01:04:49] you know but then like at the same time you know I don't know if it's just I I just

[01:04:54] you can you know my style I expected I expected you to be you or I just couldn't think of

[01:04:59] how else you would end it you know after him receiving that information um but yeah I was

[01:05:06] rooting for him but like he did he didn't uh he didn't deliver so the ending is something that I

[01:05:12] really struggled with because originally I was gonna have him kill his own family and it was

[01:05:18] gonna be very graphic like very graphic like detailed killings and then I got to that point

[01:05:25] of the story and I just kind of stared at my screen for a while because like even though

[01:05:31] that's what I was writing up to when I got there I was very uncomfortable writing it and I don't

[01:05:38] really know why maybe because it's a Christmas story well I mean it is but it was just like I

[01:05:46] mean it sort of I mean I've written I don't know if I want to say that I've written like

[01:05:52] extremely gory stuff but I have written no I wouldn't say so I have written things that are

[01:05:57] uncomfortable to read by think maybe not so much as a blade but kind of early in the podcast like

[01:06:04] I was kind of like looking for I was almost looking for shock you know what I mean right and when I

[01:06:11] got to that point in this story I was just like I didn't want to write from the character's

[01:06:18] perspective of him killing his family it just didn't work for me so I sat there and I stared

[01:06:25] and I was like how can I make this something else and then I don't know how it happened but I

[01:06:32] was like maybe this is his final statement to a jury and then it just kind of worked and I kind

[01:06:39] rolled with it no I think it worked I did have to go back and change a couple of things earlier

[01:06:45] to make make it so that like I didn't give anything away and they were just kind of like little

[01:06:51] things like little comments to himself that that would have blown like a thing like I just wanted

[01:06:56] it to sound like he was he was telling a story just to the reader and then all of a sudden we find

[01:07:02] out that if he wasn't just talking to the reader he was talking to a jury of his peers you know

[01:07:07] and I thought that was kind of an interesting thing to do and then what I liked about it is

[01:07:15] kind of the irony in the title almost because like he was bothered by his cousins

[01:07:22] like just kind of feeding into the stereotype and that was his excuse and he thought it was weak

[01:07:26] but then right but then he kind of did the same thing by following in Ricky's footsteps I think

[01:07:34] so I don't know I had a lot of fun with this one it came pretty naturally like I did this all in

[01:07:39] one sitting now I did spend like I literally spent about a half an hour staring at my screen like

[01:07:45] what the fuck am I gonna do and then it just kind of came to me but it was all done in one sitting

[01:07:50] and you don't typically do that right no it's usually a couple usually I usually I'll kind of

[01:07:57] write out a summary and then while it's weird because like I started back in the day with my

[01:08:03] notebook and I would like write a summary of what I was thinking about and then I would draw like

[01:08:06] a hard line and then I would start writing the story and as of late like I would start writing my

[01:08:12] summary and then it slowly becomes the writing of the story so it's like half like I have to go

[01:08:17] back and write the beginning but then like the second half of my summary summary is actually the book

[01:08:21] or the actual story for this everything was done on the computer like I didn't even jot down

[01:08:28] the idea this time this was all just I sat down to a blank page and started typing which is very

[01:08:35] high did the you did the Ian way yeah this was not normal but you know what as much as I've defended

[01:08:42] my romanticism of the craft of writing in the past it worked for me and I think maybe part of

[01:08:51] some sometimes the struggles I have getting in like the writing mindset might be because like

[01:08:58] everything's not perfect like oh it's not quiet now oh I don't have my notebook with me oh this pen

[01:09:04] like I really want to use this pen but like there's no ink in this pen and I don't really

[01:09:08] want to write with this pen so I'm gonna wait like there was none of that there was no excuses it

[01:09:12] was just like my the laptops always ready to go all you have to do is start typing right

[01:09:17] um I felt weird I almost felt like I was betraying myself a little bit but I think it's just like

[01:09:25] I don't know I think it's just growing I think like the way you do things changes over time

[01:09:31] in general right like probably with anything yeah like so we're gonna see how this goes I don't

[01:09:38] like I don't plan on like tossing my notebooks and pens aside but I think what I'm starting to

[01:09:44] realize is I don't need them to do what I want to do so we're gonna see how that goes I'll let you

[01:09:51] know um I actually have been thinking a lot about my notebooks lately it tends to come up at the end

[01:09:58] of the years you're preparing to like start journals and stuff for the next year but it's like

[01:10:02] I have a little pocket journal that goes with me and that's like my personal journal with like

[01:10:06] my personal to-do's and appointments or whatever and then I have another notebook that's for work

[01:10:11] that does kind of the same thing but it's only work stuff so that my work stuff isn't mixed in

[01:10:16] with my personal stuff because I want those two pieces of my life to be separate I don't want to

[01:10:19] like go into my notebook and constantly be reminded about work when I'm not at work

[01:10:24] but then I started a new notebook for school so that it has all my school stuff in and I'm sitting

[01:10:29] there and I'm like do I really need all these notebooks like can I like so I'm thinking about maybe

[01:10:34] going back to like some sort of binder type situation where I can like have tabs and move pages

[01:10:40] around if I need to in which case I could have a whole section just dedicated to like jotting down

[01:10:45] story ideas or writing or whatever with I don't know we'll see we'll see it's hard when you jump

[01:10:51] into that stationary world you need a plan and my plan is changing and it's messing with my head

[01:10:58] and it's hard because this is the time of year when everybody's buying notebooks so like

[01:11:01] shit will go out of stock so if I decide that I want something with dated pages or something

[01:11:07] like I need to pick that now because if I wait until the end of December I'm gonna have to wait

[01:11:11] until April take to get fucking pages with dates on them so we'll see it right but yeah this was

[01:11:17] a fun one I don't know how Christmasy it was but like I started out Christmasy and then it sort

[01:11:23] of went off in Matt world but then it ended at Christmas too and it's just like what I did you

[01:11:29] write I almost um I don't know this is an interesting character for me and I don't think that

[01:11:36] I don't think this is necessarily one that I would ever consider returning to but I think there's

[01:11:41] something about the way that like I mean we don't know what he did we're assuming that he murdered

[01:11:48] his entire family right but he he took like he owned up to it like he's just like yeah I'm guilty

[01:11:56] like do what you will there's no fight there was no anything and so I think that even though

[01:12:01] he did this horrific thing I think in some way by doing that and then admitting his guilt and

[01:12:09] and doing going things going about things the way he did he's kind of free from the burden

[01:12:16] that he's carried his entire life or whatever it's weird it's dark so weird psychology yeah so if anybody

[01:12:25] isn't psychologist out there like I hope that like if I need help let me know I don't know I have

[01:12:31] I feel like I I stayed away from the dark stuff for a while you have stay away from but now it's back

[01:12:42] I don't know if that's back for good or just back here in there you know I don't know I think

[01:12:46] it just depends on the prompt and you know um I don't know like we'll talk about it here in a

[01:12:53] couple of minutes but I got no fucking idea what I'm gonna do with next month's prompt so we'll

[01:12:59] figure it out yeah I don't have any ideas either I think it's gonna take some time to think about

[01:13:06] this one but anyways before we get to that um what are you reading right now I'm still reading

[01:13:12] for whom the bell tolls by Ernest Hemingway and so you were reading that the last time we spoke

[01:13:18] which makes sense because it was only a couple weeks ago how far are you in it now like if you made

[01:13:22] more progress I mean I'm over halfway but I'm not as far as I thought I would be I um

[01:13:28] I just have been slacking on reading yeah I've been like that for a good part of this year

[01:13:34] I said a gold earlier this year of 20 books and I think I've read like nine so not not too great

[01:13:40] but um I think for whom the bell tolls is gonna make my list maybe for next year I need to read

[01:13:45] something else by Hemingway are you enjoying it still I am it's I think part of the problem I enjoyed

[01:13:52] it's got like a uh it's it's it's a pretty slow pace it's not a fast-paced book so in that sense

[01:13:57] it's got like a a coziness to it in the sense that like he's really taken his time and like you're

[01:14:05] you can put the book down and come back to it and you don't feel like like oh like where did I leave

[01:14:10] off because things are happening so fast you're just kind of like dipping back into the world and

[01:14:14] kind of getting comfortable again but the flip side of that is that because it's not like a page

[01:14:19] turner you're not like gripped by it and feel like you have to get through really fast either right

[01:14:23] right right well I'm curious to see what you what you think when when you finish it completely

[01:14:29] yeah I mean I I don't know where it's gonna go right now right so um I I can guess where it might

[01:14:35] go but I I don't know yet so it's gonna be a surprise nice yeah so I just finished a book it was called

[01:14:43] I'm gonna put it in the show notes too um it was called The Rise by Ian Rankin

[01:14:48] it was actually a short story why does that name sound familiar um he's written a bunch

[01:14:56] like a lot and I don't know if I spelled his name right there let me double check that

[01:15:03] but this was like I'm checking the the page count because it was a short story that I just got

[01:15:07] it was like one of the if you're a amazon prime member you get like free books every month

[01:15:14] and this um this was 86 pages so it was a short story but it was still like you know

[01:15:20] decently long and it was just kind of like a uh who done it that was sent set in London

[01:15:26] and what I really liked about it was like you're you know with a who done it kind of thing

[01:15:33] you're you're constantly trying to figure out who done it before the characters who did who

[01:15:36] who committed the crime before the characters figured out right because you want to be like smart

[01:15:40] of them and they did a really good job or he did a really good job I didn't realize what was going on

[01:15:49] until the lead detective knew what was going on like we like I think we like figured it out at the same

[01:15:55] time we were just like oh shit and then it all made sense so it was really good and it's a quick read

[01:16:01] like I said 86 pages that was really good um the next thing I'm starting like so I put it in

[01:16:06] the show notes here I haven't actually haven't started reading it yet but like it's next up next is

[01:16:13] the bluest eye by Tony Morrison it's the book that I chose to um teach in my English class for

[01:16:19] the spring so and I went just based off a description Tony Morrison is um a Nobel Prize winning

[01:16:27] she's still alive she is not but she grew up in Lorraine Ohio which right same as me

[01:16:35] and I've never read anything by her but um in just like I've written I've written

[01:16:39] written red I think I've read maybe some of her poetry okay it's what I recall but I don't think

[01:16:44] I've read it but um I chose this one for some reasons that I'm not going to get into like right

[01:16:50] now or anything we'll talk about it as I teach it but um it's um it's some heavy stuff I think

[01:16:58] that there's going to be some heavy content in this book and um I almost picked it for that reason

[01:17:02] it deals with like um some racial issues and it's got some other uncomfortable stuff going on in it

[01:17:07] and um it's kind of designed to make the reader uncomfortable and really think about how they treat

[01:17:13] other people so um I want to give it a go I'll probably read it again early next year when the

[01:17:19] class starts but I wanted to get one reading of it done before the semester even started because

[01:17:24] like I was like I was sitting there and I was like I signed up for this to teach this English class

[01:17:29] and like I'm really nervous and there's all these like rules that I have to follow and everything

[01:17:33] but like they're helping me out a lot and I got a lot of help to to get uh where I need to go

[01:17:39] and um I was like you know what maybe it won't run maybe it won't run maybe I won't have

[01:17:42] anybody sign up and then I check the other day in my class is full like I got 25 kids so oh wow

[01:17:48] so there's like 25 people in this class I'm gonna have to read 25 papers about this book so I figured

[01:17:52] I should probably get a little heads up and and get the my first oh yeah you want to know it pretty

[01:17:57] well yeah possibly I plan on reading it now and I'm hoping to knock it out like within a couple weeks

[01:18:03] and then I'm going to sit on it for a little bit and then when class starts I'll start reading it

[01:18:07] again so I can have at least two read-throughs done by the time I have to start they won't write

[01:18:12] this paper until towards the end of the semester so it'll give me some time but um yeah so that's

[01:18:19] what I'm reading cool I think was I supposed to watch a movie before this episode so I don't

[01:18:25] remember I think I might have been supposed to what were you reading no what was I reading last month

[01:18:32] you were reading something cherry maybe cherry yes that's right I didn't watch the movie I still

[01:18:37] need to watch that movie and that's an Apple TV plus kind of thing it did not get good reviews but

[01:18:42] the book was I really enjoyed the book yeah that's what you were saying yeah and it it went strong

[01:18:49] all the way through so um it was it was um yeah it was really good so in time Holland's a great

[01:18:56] it a great-freak connector so like did you see him in um devil devil all the time no what is

[01:19:03] what is that it's called what the devil all the time I think it's called the devil all the time

[01:19:08] that that was I think it's the only thing I've seen him in outside of spider-man and so it was

[01:19:12] just an interesting turn for him as an actor for me because I it was just something totally different

[01:19:17] than what I I was used to gotcha I'm gonna add that I'll check that one out too it's one of those

[01:19:23] films that like I can't really I can't really describe my like I can't encapsulate it in any way it's

[01:19:30] like it it seemed like it was well done and it was like you know it was captivating enough

[01:19:36] to hold your attention but at the same time you walked away from like thinking wow I would never

[01:19:41] watch that again it wasn't like hmm an amazing film but like it was well made and it was like a good

[01:19:47] it was a well-made film gotcha technically content actually like and it was it told a compelling story

[01:19:51] but like at the same time you're like wow I would just would never watch that again you know it's just

[01:19:55] I don't know there's some movies that just don't have rewatchability though you know what I mean

[01:20:01] yeah it was like a Jefferson pig with Nicholas Cage no no but I want to like it was a really

[01:20:06] really well-made film but like I would never watch it again got I'm sorry just it doesn't have

[01:20:13] that that rewatchability fact show notes are out of control this month we talked about a lot of

[01:20:19] shit yeah so yeah no I'll check that out too I've been meaning to watch that there was another

[01:20:24] Nicholas Cage thing that I wanted to watch too it was like a horror thing they came out within

[01:20:28] the past few years Mandy maybe oh my man did you watch that I did I you know there's part of

[01:20:35] me that wishes I didn't it was it was so it was so out there um you would love it it's right

[01:20:43] I'm your ally you would you will tell about it's it's very surreal and again like it was

[01:20:50] you know it was it was well-made sure you know but like the story it tells is just like it's not

[01:20:56] my cup of tea got you but you you would love it but it's is a movie that's once you watch it it

[01:21:01] kind of sticks with you you know what I mean got you okay so I got a bunch of stuff to watch before

[01:21:05] the next time we talk and I think it's like the Sentinel like what you see the Sentinel man you're

[01:21:11] like yeah you see there's a movie that I think is good that does not have rewatchability oh well

[01:21:17] I didn't think it was good but like I remember we watched that in your apartment like years

[01:21:22] yeah I was just like no oh Mrs. Griswald I'll never look at you will never look at you know

[01:21:27] you will never look at Ellen Griswald in the same way again if you watch the Sentinel my goodness

[01:21:33] my what a strange film all right well I think we you know I think we're at the end of

[01:21:40] the promptly written year which is crazy another one in the book so um well not the end of the

[01:21:45] season but the end of the year now but the end of the year so I mean next next month we'll probably

[01:21:49] be talking about like some goals and what we plan on doing for the year and you know standard

[01:21:56] start of the year stuff and you know I'm real excited about this prompt so let's get to that part

[01:22:02] you know as always we want to know what you want us to write about to do so you're gonna want to

[01:22:06] join that Facebook group it's facebook.com slash groups slash pwritten pod um we're on twitter at

[01:22:12] pwritten pod or you can email us directly at promptly written pod at gmail.com

[01:22:17] Ian where's the best place for people to go to find out more about your work

[01:22:20] you know as fiction.com and if you want to get in touch with me I'm at matcha garrick on twitter

[01:22:25] or you can go to matcha garrick.com for a bunch of other ways to reach out volumes one through four

[01:22:29] of promptly written are available on amazon and paperback and kindle format and if you're a kindle

[01:22:33] unlimited subscriber they're all included in your subscription now the reason that you don't have

[01:22:39] volume five as a possibility to buy his Christmas gift this year is all my fault so you blame me

[01:22:45] and if anybody was expecting volume five under the tree because you've given them volumes one through

[01:22:50] four under the tree for the past four years you send them to me I'll apologize to them directly

[01:22:54] I apologize we will get those manuscripts done and we'll get the book out there as soon as possible

[01:22:59] and we will let you know um via all the avenues that we can when it's available our next episode is

[01:23:06] episode 66 and it will drop on January 8th brand new year the prompt will be and this is a long one so

[01:23:13] bear with me here the prompt will be I was okay walking through the darkness but what is that smell

[01:23:19] and that was submitted by russ marty and i would like to thank you russ for being so damn

[01:23:24] specific because now i have no idea what to do i have a question about this prompt sure and this

[01:23:29] is going to be maybe even a question about rules um we have it we have a tense issue in the prompt

[01:23:35] right so we're saying i was walking through the darkness past tense but what is that smell present

[01:23:41] tense do we uh we allow ourselves to alter the tense you know for for purposes of grammar

[01:23:49] or because this was the prompt that would that one do we have to do the literal prompt because

[01:23:53] generally we do the literal prompt all right so i think that you and i just need to decide now

[01:23:59] and russ will deal with it sorry russ because it makes it even look a little bit more challenging

[01:24:05] if we take it as is because it in you know it doesn't make sense in some yeah so you know

[01:24:10] i'm good either way so like if you can figure out i think i so here's my take if we can figure

[01:24:17] out a way to do it as it was given to us i can think of what we should but it it it's certainly

[01:24:23] pigeonholes you in into into that with that way or even if you want to change it i don't think

[01:24:29] changing is to was is that big of a deal because really we have darkness i think i think the important

[01:24:37] like things that we need to focus on here is the darkness and the smell right right yeah so i think

[01:24:42] if we need to alter the tense to make it work in our story i think that should be fair game okay

[01:24:46] fair enough all right cool if you like what you hear please leave us a review on apple podcasts or

[01:24:52] wherever you listen so that we can continue to get the word out and we can get more prompters out

[01:24:56] that's it for today we'll see you next year thanks