11.27.15 ‘Our eyes can be just the right size’

Far too long, my friends!

Oscar season has been keeping me busy. As you can probably tell from some recent stories published in my Freelance section, I’ve been hanging out with Actors You Don’t Know … Yet (like Michael Stuhlbarg and Bel Powley) while talking to more behind-the-scenes folks about the big movies that are just now being released, like Concussion, The Danish Girl and Trumbo. The thing about those articles is there is always so much more that could be said but I ran out of assigned room. So in the coming weeks, stay tuned for the Writer’s Cut: What didn’t make it to print, but sure should have.

Meanwhile, it’s the day after Thanksgiving and by now we all have been reminded about several things:

  1. Our eyes truly are bigger than our bellies.
  2. Everyone’s family takes lovely Thanksgiving pictures which, just around the edges, keep snarling pits of vipers at bay.
  3. We’re gonna do it all again, exactly the same way, next year.
  4. Because our eyes are not only bigger than our bellies, they are bigger than our hearts.

But for now, I’m working out of Austin for a few days and getting writing done: a short story that will probably break your heart just with its first sentence, and a comparative edit of the novel, which I did some light paring down on for a submission before realizing it would never, ever be 90,000 words long. But it did go on a bit of a diet and took off a few thousand words and now looks and feels more streamlined. So I’m making sure I didn’t get rid of anything Super Duper Important and then establishing this new, trimmer version as the final cut. See, sometimes the Writer’s cut isn’t the longer one. Our eyes can be just the right size.

Meanwhile, since we are now on that steep snowbank of holiday season, careening at gathering speed from Thanksgiving to Hanukkah to Christmas to Kwanzaa to Festivus to New Years to Oh Lord Another Year Has Passed, I offer up my annual tradition: My short story, “Home for the Holidays,” which combines a feud, holiday lights, and … murder. You’ll never see decorations the same way again. It originally appeared in the podcast Well-Told Tales, and a print version can be purchased in my short story collection by the same name, just go here. Price reduced (and free for Kindle readers)! Perfect stocking-stuffer!

“Home for the Holidays” on MP3:

So enjoy, and if you think of it, tell me in the comments: What are your eyes are too big for, anyway?

xo,

R