• Skip to main content

Jim the Writer

a literary blog

  • About me
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • El Morro
  • Essays
  • 100 Words

Main Content

Welcome to Jim’s

www.jimthewriter.net
Click to enter

The Presence

By Jim Anderson

The wind chimes were driving him nuts. “They’re pretty,” his wife said, without looking up from her book. “Pretty loud!” “Go take them down, then.” “All right, I will." He set aside his laptop, leaned forward in his chair, and then stopped. It seemed too easy. He studied his wife for a moment, sensing a trap. “Really? That would be OK with …

[Read More...] about The Presence

Timing is Everything

Fellowes, carrying orders for the 3rd Division, stood in the sandy track, clutching the dispatch case against his side like a talisman. Across the field, smoke rose from a distant blue tree-line. Small groups of men moved about the field. Fellowes started toward one group. All around him, dark …

[Read More...] about Timing is Everything

Tony’s baby

Parenthood hit Tony Lawson like a summer storm. Yes, very much like that. A sudden, unexpected stroke of fury, a violent collision of opposing fronts. "Tony, you jerk, meet your son." The sky was cloudless above the executive lot, but the air crackled around the words. Tony fumbled his iPhone, …

[Read More...] about Tony’s baby

What Else You Can’t Do

  He had no music in him, never had. In fourth grade, before the Christmas pageant, a desperate teacher ordered him to lip-sync "The Little Drummer Boy." Decades later, a grown man, it still made him sad. "You can't dance," a woman told him over the booming bass at a grad school party. "It …

[Read More...] about What Else You Can’t Do

How Nan Got Her Maple Trimmed

Nan wanted a bough or two cut off the big silver maple in our backyard. So I hired a crew. Then she was hot to put in her garden and didn't like having to wait. "It's too early to plant, anyway," I said. …

[Read More...] about How Nan Got Her Maple Trimmed

If the gods be merciful

The good people of Kal were fixing to burn another witch. The event would close the Festival of the Tyrant’s Demise. “Third one this week,” Proffer said as we watched the wood-stack grow. “They must like the smell. The evil--” “Judge not, lest you be judged,” I said hastily. And in a lower voice: …

[Read More...] about If the gods be merciful

The Day After Thanksgiving, 1977

On the day after Thanksgiving in 1977, I was alone in my apartment, writing. Nobody called it “Black Friday” then. It was just the day after Thanksgiving. I don’t know when it became the high holy day of American consumerism. …

[Read More...] about The Day After Thanksgiving, 1977

About me

As you have probably figured out, my name is Jim and I am a writer. For many years, I was a college writing teacher, too -- among many other life roles. I have another, more popular blog called Life After Carbs. It's about losing weight on a reduced carbohydrate diet. And it's about me -- my favorite …

[Read More ...] about About me

El Morro

The Desire to Leave a Mark ... El Morro (the headland) stands in western New Mexico, and is also known as Inscription Rock. At the base of El Morro is a pool of water that for centuries attracted parched travelers to the spot, many of whom carved dates, names, and messages (including petroglyphs) into the …

[Read More ...] about El Morro

Tags

100 words action aging beach creative non-fiction Culture novels death definition dialogue domestic Ernest Hemingway family fantasy favorite author historical fiction horse Iain Banks Janis Joplin Keats king lake loss love love triangle marriage micro-fiction military fiction motivation paranormal Paris personal essay philosophy publication reading relationship rock-and-roll science fiction short story summer theory Voltaire war western Woodstock writing process
© 2013–2021 James E. Anderson. All rights reserved.
A production of Anderfam Enterprises LLC.
  • Fiction
  • Non-Fiction