Mary's other blog

I’d like to say that when I’m standing in line behind someone at a grocery store that I’m not analyzing everything that comes out of their cart. But I am. It’s not that I’m judging them. I’m simply trying to imagine their lives outside of the store.

If they’re buying granola, soy milk and apples on a Friday night, I might envision them calling it an early evening so they can go jogging at a ridiculously hour in the morning. Coke, chips and popcorn could mean the kids are having a sleepover. Cleaning products, cat food, pinot grigio and a magazine are the making of a multi-tasking woman’s Friday night.

In reality, none of these things might be true. Granola lady could be dropping that stuff to her elderly neighbor before heading out to meet friends for big sloppy burgers and pitchers of beer. The woman buying tampons, dark chocolate and a nice bottle of pinot noir might NOT be PMSing. But reality has never stopped me from filling in the gaps. Sometimes in doing so, a story begins to emerge, the kind that is just a little too big for a tile. I have several that I've been writing off and on for years.

Mostly it’s the same four or five stories. Sometimes I go back into that place where my

stories live in my computer and I work on them. With some stories, I’m just tinkering … with others I might tear the guts out, throw the rest away and start over. They’re all in various stages. Sometimes it reminds me of a garden, except stories won’t die if you neglect them for months.

But lately I’ve been thinking that some might be ready to share … well, one for starters. It’s about what started out as a very perfunctory sort of morning in the life of ad salesman Cormack McKeever.

I figured if I created a little space for these stories, then I’d eventually send them all there, when they’re ready. The blog where I’m posting occasional short stories is Marytilermore.blogspot.com. I'll put a link on the right later tonight.

Tilefortlauderdale will continue to be home to the tinier tile stories, which will likely continue its mission at some ridiculously early hour in the morning ('cause after that I have to do some real work).

So here it goes, I'm going over to my other blog now to bravely hit that Publish Post button and send my first fictional short story out there into the blogosphere ... then I'm outta here.