The Power of the Short Story

I have been writing short stories since I can remember, and always I looked down on myself for writing ‘just’ short stories.

It was similar to one of those situations where those that cannot do, teach, in my case it was those that cannot write a book (novel), write short stories.

Somehow, I never valued my short stories, they were a quick fix, easy to shape out of the fog of a thought, they did not require planning, complex threads that I needed to remember to weave together in hundreds of pages.

They were something I could do, and therefore I did not value them.

I never valued what I could do, I always only gave power to my faults and my weaknesses.

What happened over the years though is fascinating. I started to enjoy short stories tremendously, and I am so happy when I find a book of short stories written by a writer a enjoy.

I was under the impression that anyone can (and does) write short stories, but it is not so, and I have come to understand that, short stories hold their own kind of power, and they are indeed quite valuable.

I love some of my short stories, some could still benefit of some work, but what Substack has done for me, is that it has forced me to muddle through my crippling self doubt and push on. After all, a short story, anyone can write one, even flawed, little, old me.

And by adhering to my Substack promise to publish, I did force myself to write even in those moments when, my mind went blank and the little annoying voice in my head was like:

Whatcha doin’? Wasting time writing? Useless.

As this yearning to write cannot be stopped, and as my self doubt sabotages me from doing ‘something major’, I stuck to my short stories and I am so happy I did, as from all this muddling through, I think some really good ones have come out.

Sometimes, I read through them and I cannot believe it was me that wrote them, and this gives me a bit of confidence that, maybe, if I just push through, I can write my book also.

For the longest time I was so annoyed by this yearning to write, and the conflict it created inside me, when it confronted my inability to get over the abysmal neurological programming of my youth to which, as a good girl, I always try to comply, even when it causes the greatest pain and suffering.

Now though, I see it as a golden thread of survival of the self through all the challenges of life, for sure it helped me cope with some of the more difficult times in my life, and it has brought me joy and hope with every story, and little gem I could forge out of the charcoal dust covering my soul.

I love short stories, and now when my book seems closer to me than ever, I know that I will never give them up, because they are born from the power within.