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The Stories of Scott D. Southard

  • In Jerry’s Corner
  • A Jane Austen Daydream
  • Permanent Spring Showers
  • Megan
  • Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare
  • The Dante 3
  • Me Stuff
  • Man Behind the Curtain
  • August 29, 2012

    Falling Out of Step: A High School Marching Band Farewell

    Last night I had a dream that my yard and driveway were taken over by a marching band. I can’t explain how it happened and why they chose my little house to park in front of and warm up their instruments by but there they were and they were everywhere; the sounds of the horns and percussion seemed to engulf every room.

    I went to my front porch, now fully aware that I was in a dream, and watched transfixed as these high schoolers acted as if it was perfectly natural for the drum line to practice by my tree, the saxophones to tune each other on my sidewalk, the flutes to gossip while sitting on the edge of my porch, their feet dangling and kicking over the precipice. Even the color guard was there, stretching and practicing their throws and catches on the street in block formation.

    In the dream I walked through the crowd of kids, feeling very much the adult, and found a surprised parent, I’m not certain why she was surprised, she just was. I asked what school is this? Why are they here? She didn’t answer my question, only asking a little hesitantly if it was okay.

    I smiled and said it was great. And then I woke up. (more…)

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  • August 27, 2012

    MEGAN is now available as an eBook! (Only $9.99). The link to purchase, samples, and a new introduction in this post…

    I am proud to announce that my novel MEGAN is now available as an eBook!

    It is being sold via Google Books for only $9.99 and it can be used on any eBook reader (Kindle, etc.) or iPad or iPhone. Here is the link to my novel, MEGAN.

    I hope you will check it out and share it with your friends.

    If you would like a sample of the work first, they are available as well via Google Books, or you can find a previous sample I have shared on my site here.

    If you would rather not deal with an eBook, it is, of course, still available via amazon. You can find the paperback here for $15.95.

    Here is the amazon description of the book: Megan Wane is caught in a life of dull dreariness. She goes to work in a dead end job with a boss she can’t stand, and comes home to a silent apartment with only a standoffish cat for company. She can only get away through her imagination. And there, in her thoughts, there exists a fairy-tale kingdom with wizards and dragons. A place called Prosperity, where she is both a princess and a hero. On this day, both Megan’s external reality and her interior world will suffer tragedy that will turn her life upside down and shake her to the foundation. Can Megan turn disaster into deliverance?

    Below is a new introduction to the book and my experience writing it.

    I hope you will check out the eBook of my novel, MEGAN. I am really proud of the book and I think you will like it as well. (more…)

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  • August 22, 2012

    My Online Literary Experiment: Passing the 20% Mark

    Updates, updates, who wants an update?

    Calling From the Future…

    So somehow, without my realizing it, I got a chapter ahead.

    I know, I know this sounds impossible but it really did happen and I didn’t plan it in the least. It was all a nice little surprise or present or whatever you want to call it.

    See, one of my goals in creating the book was to force my creativity to keep up to the demands I had put upon it. Put myself to the test, as it were. So the table of contents I created before I did the first chapter were done on a whim after a quick glance at the screenplay plot which is interestingly disappearing as the book charges forward, more on that in a bit.

    Anyway, I wrote this really long chapter with two major points of action happening, it was only when I was about to share the chapter online that I realized I had made a mistake. Chapter 4 is the first part of that initial draft of the chapter, The second half was supposed to be a bulk of Chapter 5! So because of that little glitch in the Scott brain, Chapter 5 and 6 are almost done and Chapter 5 is scheduled for this Friday. (more…)

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  • August 21, 2012

    My Solo Dad Tricks

    I’m on solo dad time for the next few days.

    This is not a big deal really, I keep an eye on my two little kids without the wife around all the time, but I do admit my son has been known to call the evenings when it is just the three of us (and the mom is away) “silly nights.”

    Yup, silly nights.

    That is the dad I am in many ways. You could call me the “prop comic” of fathers, always coming up with new games and new ways to play with toys. I think I average about two to three a day, but don’t expect me to remember any. I usually forget them the minute after we have moved on to the next activity.

    I’m not the kind of parent who feels comfortable with the television and movies for helping pass the time. I don’t want that crutch. I want the parental interaction, but after eight hours I can get… well, silly.

    Pesonally, I don’t know how teachers and at-home parents do it. I would go a little stir crazy if I couldn’t find things to challenge myself mentally with during the day. I love being a dad, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about my super kids; this is all about me and it is true in most things I do. I always need my mind to be working to be happy. Anyway, I have three fallbacks I pull out if I need to keep my mind in the game. (more…)

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  • August 20, 2012

    My Wife Hates Steely Dan

    So often when you speak to married couples you hear of the sacrifices that they have given for the sake of the marriage. Bad habits disappear, strange heirlooms from the past go into storage.

    Luckily, for me my wife really married me for who I was and didn’t expect me to change…

    Oh wait…

    She did want one thing.

    My wife hates the music of Steely Dan.

    “Reelin’ in the Years”

    I grew up on the music of Steely Dan. My dad loves this band, I can’t remember a time really when Countdown to Ecstasy or Pretzel Logic wasn’t playing while he was working in the lawn or around the house.

    Over a decade ago I actually got him tickets to see the band live. And when he injured his leg, I gave him copies of their entire discography to help pass the time. They have always been a go-to possibility around my dad and presents… Other than Steely Dan and the work of Kurt Vonnegut, he is difficult to shop for, to be honest. (more…)

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  • August 16, 2012

    Hey Cool! My site was mentioned in the new GraphicAudio podcast!

    Kind of had a neat moment a minute ago. My site and my writing was mentioned in the latest GraphicAudio podcast… and they pronounced my last name right too!

    I’ve written two articles on GraphicAudio (here and here). Check them out, they do some spectacular radio work.

    You can hear the audio podcast here: http://soundcloud.com/graphicaudio/all-in-your-mind-2. I’m discussed about a minute and a half in or so.

    I have to say though it was a little weird to hear my name said by the narrator of their DC Comics series. Sadly, I didn’t get super powers afterwards.

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  • August 16, 2012

    Really? Wow! What?!: Dealing With Negative Comments on a Blog

    This morning I woke up to a stranger calling me a moron.

    See, I have an iPhone app for my WordPress blog, and I get notifications when a comment comes in. It rarely happens that I get a comment in the late evening, so I haven’t bothered to change my settings out of sheer laziness. Well, this morning I did get a comment waking me up; actually two came in but they were from the same person, so I think of them as one. The first said what I had written was “bullshit” and the second called me a “moron.”

    Do you like irony? The piece that he was commenting on (here) was about how Bruce Wayne has anger issues and could do more with his billions of dollars to help people if he really wanted to do than becoming Batman; so the fact that someone with the screen name of “Bruce Wayne” called me a moron and swore at me, kind of proved my point… Okay, maybe it’s not that funny a point but I think it is at least a little interesting to note, right? (more…)

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  • August 15, 2012

    The Nat King Cole Inside My Head

    I am obsessed with The Beatles, I adore Belle and Sebastian, I’ve seen They Might Be Giants five times in concert, and I can’t stop playing the new Fiona Apple CD… but Nat King Cole is the musical comfort food for my soul.

    I have read a few biographies about him over the years, and as amazing of a life he had, it’s always hard for me to connect him to his voice. Frankly, his voice is so engrained into my own life, it is hard to think that it once even belonged to someone else, as strangely as that sounds. I don’t feel his struggles against racism in his career and his growth from jazz pianist to just a singer fronting a band in a studio, lost in the business of just singing singles hoping for a hit, when I listen to his music.

    I hear my own life in his voice, in his performing, making each recording I adore something akin to a special gift. (more…)

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  • August 13, 2012

    The publisher of MEGAN and MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS likes my blog!

    The publisher of My Problem With Doors and Megan likes this writing blog and what I am doing on it. Neat! She just wrote an article on the publisher’s site, including excerpts she liked and links to some of my pieces.  You can check it out here:

    http://www.ipublishpress.com/ippblog/scott-southard-is-writing-up-a-storm/

    And thanks a lot Terry and Michelle and the iPublish Press crew! (When can we work together again?)

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  • August 13, 2012

    Biggby, I am sorry

    Biggby, I am sorry.

    I know, I know, I broke our little relationship up.

    It’s my fault that our Sunday morning writing ritual disappeared, I understand that. Please hear me and try—try please—to remember that during those magical years, you were my favorite writing spot. That will always be true and it will never change.  I promise that. It meant something to me. What we had was real. I swear it was real for me.

    I looked forward to our little Sunday meetings. Me arriving at 7 or so, shaking the rain or snow off of my coat, joking with your staff, playing your trivia game, ordering my breakfast, going to my favorite spot, setting up my computer and writing for two to three hours. It was so very special to me, and I like to think it was special to you too.

    Biggby, you generated creativity. And for a writer, there is nothing that means more than that. You allowed me to breath there and relax, allow my writing to work at its own speed, not kicking me out, not rushing me…. and it all meant a lot to me.

    Seriously, a lot. (more…)

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