words are made to be heard

It’s always interesting to hear someone else read what I’ve written. Novelwritingfestival.com runs a recurring competition for novels and short stories. The short stories are actually short-short stories—under 400 words. Xera Rondlings, festival director at the Monthly Novel Writing Festival in Beverly Hills, sent me a message on LinkedIn to invite me to submit something.

At first I thought that I didn’t have anything that qualified. But then I remembered my new work in progress, Sparkles on the Inlet, which is a collection of memoir sketches from my earliest childhood. Perhaps one of them would fit the bill.

I wound up choosing “Moving Day,” just 315 words. The good people at the festival selected it for production, and created a video of the story, read by actress Val Cole. Take a look (it’s under 2 minutes long) and see what you think.

As for the book, that will be appearing before long. How far back in your own life do you remember? And how do you feel about those earliest memories? To me, all memories have a bittersweet flavor; but the memories I’ll be presenting in my book are basically good. Watch this space.

The post words are made to be heard appeared first on Paul Vitols.