#5 Life's Toys - A Commentary on WFAE, Charlotte's NPR Station

#1 Introduction to Mary's 'Maginings and Musings

90 percent of my writing is drivel—this putting pen to paper is the calisthenics I’ve been doing since I discovered the sport about 20 years ago. But here's the thing, I think some of it is really good. If I feel something when I write, isn’t there a chance someone else will too? Frost famously said no tears for the writer, no tears for the reader. But, the truth is no writing has universal appeal. My ‘maginings are stories I’ve conjured up from whole cloth…or from fairy dust. I don’t actually know where they come from. My musings are reflections on things I bump into, like my reaction to contracting for our cremations. Crazytown! I’ve also recorded a couple selections of other people’s writing, including those of my daughter and mother. Apple tree: trunk, branches, and fruit are we. Enjoy!

#2 The short short story: SLITHER

This story, entitled Slither, is the first ‘magining I’m recording for this podcast. There’s a reason for that. I wrote it in a class I took with Maureen Ryan Griffin in 2007. It was one of my earliest conjuring. When Ruth Moose, a professor of Creative Writing at UNC Chapel Hill, sponsored a Flash Fiction Contest through the Charlotte Writer’s Club in 2012, I shaped and edited Slither and submitted it. Ruth judged my story to be the first place winner. This contest spurred me to continue dreaming and writing and since then I’ve won the contest three other times, twice more as first place, once in third. (You’ll hear those other stories down the road.) Thank you Ruth for the acknowledgment, and thank you Maureen for being my writing coach and teacher for the past fifteen luscious years.

#3 My mother, Esther Struble's poem: LANDLOCKED

After my mother, Esther Struble, retired from a career in health care, she took up the hobby of writing. There certainly is some apple and tree stuff going on with this family. The photo you see of her was snapped at a book release party my brother arranged for her in Austin, Texas. I’m sure her holding the big fat book in the picture was their idea of a joke. Her book was only 54 pages long. Because she never was published, beyond this self-printed collection of her stories and poems, I’d like to include some of her writings as part of this podcast. This poem, entitled “Landlocked”, inspired the name of her collection: The Stars As My Compass. We lost her in 2008 at the age of 93. May her bright spirit live on in this release of one of her ‘maginings and musings.

#4 The short story: Flimsy

One of my favorite resources for writing prompts is the Writer’s Digest’s “Your Story” contest. Every other issue, the magazine displays a photo prompt, or sometimes a phrase, and asks for stories based on the prompt, 650 words or less. There is no entry fee, and the deadline is long allowing plenty of time for the seed to germinate, and grow into a fully formed story. This story is based on this Writer’s Digest provided photo of balloons packed into a Volkswagen, coupled with my friend Wendy’s mother’s input. She lives in this fictional retirement home along with many retired clowns – this is Sarasota after all. All this was the inspiration for the next story you’ll hear: Flimsy.

#5 Life's Toys - A Commentary on WFAE, Charlotte's NPR Station

In 2007 and before, WFAE invited writers in the community to submit opinion essays that, if accepted, the submitter would read on the air. I was very lucky to have had four of those accepted and air. These have since been broomed from the WFAE archives, but luckily my son, Brian, helped me save them on Soundcloud before they disappeared into thin air. This first one, which I call Life’s Toys, was written while I was on a writer’s retreat at Sunset Beach with Maureen Ryan Griffin. She still offers these retreats, so if you’re interested, track her down. I hope you enjoy my reflections on the importance of toys.