I love short stories. When well done, they contain perfect gems of wisdom. When not perfectly done, they can also be a lot of fun. I was a member of an on-line writing group called Boot Camp back in the nineties. It was our goal to write a short story a week. Imagine that. Mostly we succeeded; sometimes we didn't measure up but what wonderful experience it was to produce at that rate. We became writing fools. And when the stories were written we would critique them. Maybe I learned more from the critiquing than I did from the actual writing.
I admit none of these stories are perfect gems but they contain some wisdom; often wisdom I didn't even know I had. It's fun to see what was on my mind back in the day when I wrote them. It was fun to imagine Edencrest, Ohio, and how generations of people lived there. Edencrest was a "typical" small town where what happened to past generations colored the lives of later generations.
My hometown is small. I like the feel of that, the same way I like the feel of Edencrest. There is an intimacy in knowing the history of people we see every day, in the grocery store, on the street and in church. It has a happy side and a sad side depending on how your past generations have fared. I guess if my family history limited me, I'd move. We all have that choice. A lot of us exercise that choice. It's only fair.
I learned more than one important lesson in the long-ago Boot Camp. One of the big ones is "write what you know." I'd be lost in the city. I couldn't find my way home in the city. I don't know city life. I'd be a fool to try writing about it. But I do know small towns, where you could be challenged to "fish naked" or "join the circus". Anything can happen. I hope you find something to enjoy and reflect on in this collection.
Sincerely,
Diana Hannon Forrester
2018
