365 Days & 100 Words Later.

So exactly one year ago yesterday I was lurking on MetaFilter when I read about Name Your Tale, a creative-writing website co-founded by one of MetaFilter's members. In the tradition of microfiction, the authors on the site write 100-word short stories based on titles that are submitted by anyone via the website. It was an intriguing idea so of course I had to give it a shot. I submitted "Perpetual Mixtape" as the title for a custom short story, then promptly forgot about it.

However upon checking my email after class yesterday, I saw that my story had finally been written!

Perpetual Mixtape

We were in the kitchen when Dad reached the end. It was like watching him drop a fifty-pound sack he had been carrying our entire lives. We had never believed the story (the sounds of ‘78, the genie, the squandered wish, etc.) but when he reached the end of the Perpetual Mixtape, we saw before us a new man. He dropped the knife and looked out the window, beaming, smiling. “I’m going for a walk,” he said, to no one in particular, and when we asked if he wanted company, he shushed us, then grabbed his keys and walked out.

***
Title by: Ran Gamboa
Story by: Nick

I like it. It's amusing and light, and it was fun to see how someone else could creatively interpret the name of this blog. The fact that I'd forgotten about my submission, only to rediscover it again a year later (to the day, even) was an added surprise -- kinda like finding a little money in the pocket of a coat you'd stashed away last winter.

If you have a couple of minutes to spare, I recommend coming up with and submitting a title of your own. It's just great to see creative minds at work, and you just might be pleasantly surprised at the results.