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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
  • January 19, 2014

    Poisoning the Genius

    poison-symbol1I want to say this at the start and I want it be clear to all who read this that I had no intention of killing my professor.

    However, I’m certain if things had turned out worse that fateful night, some of my fellow students would have sold me down the river. I can picture them even today, accusingly pointing their finger across the courtroom at me. “There he is! That is the man who did it! That is the monster!”

    The funny thing is there is actually a precedence for poisoning teachers in my family. Back when my grandmother was a principal at monthly meetings one of the heavier set teachers used to eat all of the snacks before the other teachers had a chance. My grandmother, being my grandmother, decided that she was going to send a “subtle” message to that teacher.

    At the next full staff meeting, my grandmother brought in “special” brownies. Oh, they were fine. Perfectly fine… except for the biggest piece which was filled to the brim with laxatives.

    That teacher called in sick the next day.

    “But that is my grandmother!” I would say to the judge. “She is not me! And I had no idea that I was technically poisoning the guy. I throw myself on the mercy of the court.” (more…)

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  • January 17, 2014

    My Lost Years in Trucking (Part 2)

    full moonThis is part 2, part 1 can be found here.

    We were the shadow people.

    The lost boys and girls. The six of us who worked third shift were not invited to meetings or parties. No one sung Happy Birthday to us or bought us a cake. We were the forgotten souls that haunted the trucking halls after everyone went home. Yes, I know what it is like to be a ghost.

    There was a certain level of mad freedom that came with working this late shift. For all of the rules were nonexistent for us. They disappeared in a poof of smoke once the day people left to continue their real lives.

    • No internet? Sure (until the boss left).
    • No music? Of course (until the last car drove away).
    • Scheduled breaks and lunches? Yes (whatever).

    Before I began this job I used to consider myself a good worker, trustworthy. But when thrown in an occupation I had no interest in, I seemed to be a lot more questionable than I ever imagined myself to be. It seems I am somewhat a rebel. James Dean. Marlon Brando. Go figure.

    We did have a supervisor, but we rarely saw him. There was a good reason for this actually. He was having an affair at the time and checking in with us was one of his excuses for meeting up with his mistress. I never had to answer a call and make an excuse to his wife (who, by the way, was home with a baby), but other employees did. If I did ever get his wife on the phone, I am almost a hundred percent sure I would have told her.

    The mistress was a secretary from the day shift, and oddly in that office this affair was not too surprising for me the longer I was there. Right from the first day sitting with Marian I could sense the amount of flirting going on around. In many ways it was like an uninhibited high school. No teachers or parents here to tell you no! And we night owls knew everyone’s secrets. (more…)

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  • January 6, 2014

    The Mad Man I Stole From (Part 2)

    White Piano

    This is part 2 of a rememberance I began in Part 1 here.

    So for two months, I worked for the mad man, and strangely I saw him very rarely while doing it. I was supposedly restarting his car company, chasing his dreams, but I was doing it mainly solo. The working arrangement went something like this:

    • When I could get away from my own writing, I would leave him a voicemail saying I was going to the office with the white Elvis piano. (I would never receive a response to the message.)
    • If it was the right guard at the front desk (which was only occasionally, sometimes if another guard was on duty when I left later they would have some questions on where I was coming from), I would sneak into the building and up to my own little office.
    • After playing a few chords on the piano (Who wouldn’t?), I would then go to my spot in the back, turn on the computer, write for a few hours, and print up whatever I wrote for his review.

    The strange thing is he never reviewed what I wrote! Not even a word. The most I would hear from him was the weekly small check by the computer waiting for me and an occasional assignment.

    Usually, those assignments involved me having to drop off a check someplace or making a phone call for him. On one occasion, I had to drop off a check at a government office, I was informed exactly which worker to meet with and a script of what to say. That experience took over four hours with nothing but old magazines in a waiting room for entertainment.

    After the specific worker took the check from me (after listening to my excuse from Mr. W that the rest of the money would be in soon), he looked me up and down and asked, “What are you doing working for him?”

    It was a great question. “I have no idea,” I responded. And I didn’t. (more…)

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  • December 23, 2013

    “Bad Christmas Songs, Grinches, and Accordions!” My Christmas Blogposts

    It Looks So Innocent...So last night my wife and I were woken up by a bright light and then a bang. Then there was silence and darkness…

    Yup, we are one of the lucky people who lost their power in the big ice storm of ’13. The rest of our evening was spent huddled in our living room listening to branches falling from the giant tree outside our house. To emphasize the lack of power one of the branches decided to take out the wire as well connecting our home to the grid. Merry Christmas!

    Anyway, I’ve snuck onto a computer to share some of my holiday posts. Writing about the holidays is always one of the things I get a kick out of doing on the site, and I do everything from comedy to serious topics. For me, fighting the cold, it’s nice to know people are still checking out my writing while I am living the life of a hermit… in my own freaking cold home.

    • Book Review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (This is the review I did of the book on WKAR last week. I’m really proud of this one, I hope you check it out)A Christmas Carol
    • Losing the Grinch: When I Became a Who
    • Neil Diamond’s “A Cherry Cherry Christmas” is the Worst Christmas Song Ever! A Holiday Musical Rant.
    • The Christmas Accordion: Holiday 2012 Thoughts
    • Why The Littlest Angel is the worst holiday story… ever
    • The New Kid in the Audience: A Holiday Confessional

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  • December 19, 2013

    “…a thought and a giggle” A new interview about A Jane Austen Daydream

    From Pride and PrejudiceToday, there is a new interview about my novel A Jane Austen Daydream and  my life as a writer for you to check out. This time I am being interviewed by author and blogger Meglena Ivanova (that name is just made for the main character in a novel, isn’t it?).  It was a really fun interview and it was a thrill to do it.

    Here is an excerpt from the interview (which you can read here).  This is my answer to “What comes first? The character’s story or the idea for the novel?”

    I pity anyone who attempts to read my yellow notepads. Because I usually get a few ideas at a time when I am working on a story and things mesh together on the page. I write sideways, upside down, I use squiggly lines to link ideas as they arrive. So, in a way, I am saying that once I have latched onto an idea everything comes together quickly. Kind of like an accident in a snowstorm. It starts with one car sliding and soon there is this pileup.

    Many of my ideas come from images to start with or an absent thought that grows. My most recent novel A Jane Austen Daydream started as a thought and a giggle. The thought was the idea of doing something for Jane, give her something that might make her laugh. The giggle part is the twist in the book, and I don’t want to ruin it here. I’ve done some research after writing this book, and there is a very good chance it might be the first time such a twist was attempted.

    You can read the rest of the interview here.  Thanks Meglena!

    A Jane Austen DaydreamA Jane Austen Daydream can be purchased in print ($13.46) or as an eBook for the outrageously low price of $3.99 for Kindle. You can find it on Amazon here (http://amzn.com/B00CH3HQUU).

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  • December 3, 2013

    My 6 Favorite Blogposts of 2013

    ChampagneEvery year, I like to stop and take a look at my life and the year that just was. And one of the great things about having a blog is it makes it quite easy to do just that! I get all of the highs and the lows, they are all there in easy to read formatting… sometimes even with cute pictures.

    How did I feel about being a parent or on a child’s birthday, it is there. It’s like a personal photo album, but it is available for all to share. I just hope I am not that annoying friend who is showing you slides of their last family outing. That is the blogger nightmare, I guess.

    Looking back, 2013 has been a great year for me. I finished writing a new novel (Permanent Spring Showers), I had two very well-reviewed books published (A Jane Austen Daydream and Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare), and I continued to watch this blog and my writing grow. Over the course of the year, my blog gained 600 new subscribers (now having over 1000) and my digits are higher on all of my other social media platforms.  It all almost calls for champagne.

    Okay, I don’t like champagne. Seriously, I’m a light drinker. It is almost embarrassing. It makes my patient wife laugh how little I can handle. And when I do order drinks they come with funny straws and too much chocolate. I’m not James Bond, but I wish I was. I also threw up once in college after drinking goldschalger. You remember a moment like that, trust me. I kept drunkenly thinking, “There is gold everywhere! Look at all the money!”

    For those new to my blog, or those who are catching up, here are my six favorite posts from the last year. If you have already read the articles, I have included a new afterthought to each. Something for everyone… about me. Enjoy! (more…)

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  • November 25, 2013

    Ho Ho Ho! To celebrate 1000 blog followers I wrote a Christmas song!

    Linus and the treeThis weekend, we put up our Christmas tree. We called it our “retro-tree” and used color lights and gold garland. Very 70’s. While we were doing this important activity, we listened to a holiday music station via our AT&T Uverse account. And, yes, while all of the classics were there, there were also a lot of bad Christmas songs on it.

    A lot, a lot of bad Christmas songs…

    Christmas donkeys, Suzy Snowflake, Alvin and the Chipmunks… It almost made me wonder if the person who planned the setlist had a hidden agenda. An agenda of holiday pain and bitterness. What did Santa do to them?

    The fact is there is a trick to writing a good Christmas song (which I can tell you if you want), yet we still get horrendous new holiday songs each year (I wrote this post last year on the worst one I ever heard). Most bad holiday songs are around love and heartbreak and done by struggling pop artists. So to celebrate the fact that I’ve now REACHED 1000 BLOG FOLLOWERS, I’ve decided to enter the financial holiday gravy train.

    “A Stocking Full of You”

    If Snowflakes are daydreams
    My lawn is covered with a thousand wishes of you-
    When I sit on Santa’s lap
    All I asked for was you in a bow-

    (Chorus) You make my sleigh bells jingle-
    You light up Rudolph’s nose-
    Jump in your sleigh and head over-
    It’s almost Christmas day-

    Jack Frost and Frosty
    Can’t freeze my longing heart-
    All the Christmas songs are in minor keys
    When they forget your smile-

    (Chorus)

    (Bridge) Santa likes his cookies-
    Reindeers like their hay-
    This year I have only one wish on my list-
    Have I been naughty?
    Have I been naughty?
    Oh!

    (Chorus)

    (Chorus)

    End

    I expect all of the country singers and boy bands to send their checks directly to me from here to eternity.

    Thanks for following my blog!

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  • November 12, 2013

    Working The Audience: A Very Useful Writing Trick

    On the StageI am a little bit of a helpless romantic.

    For those who read my novel A Jane Austen Daydream that is not at all surprising. And before I met my wife I thought of my writing as a gateway to the heart.

    I was one of those fools that bought into the lie of the romantic novels and the romantic comedy films. You see this plot twist all the time! That grand gesture that makes a person reconsider another in a different light. Oh, it is a great idea in a story, but we all know, honestly, it goes against how people are wired in the real world.

    Short stories with hidden messages (and not so hidden ones), books, and I still squirm to remember the poetry. I have admitted a lot of embarrassing stuff on this site, but this is one of those few memories I still want to crawl into a cave and live out my remaining days because of. Yup, just the hint of it makes me want to become a hermit.

    I, Scott Southard, was the creator of bad love poems. And I have sent them, strategically left them around, and even mailed them once anonymously in the hope that it would make another stop and see me as hotter (as some kind of light rock classic kicks on in the background like in a bad movie). In the end it never worked… and, by the way, the recipient of the anonymous love poems didn’t even figure out they were from me until I said something! Ouch!

    All those bad memories aside, there is something to be said for the importance of an audience. I’m not just talking about the readers all writers dream to have, I mean that more enigmatic dream of a reader. The one we hope will find our work, the one in the back of our mind that drives the creation forward. They demand the story. What many don’t realize is that dream reader can be a tool, and can help over many different steps in the creative process if used right. Just be sure to leave the poetry at home… (more…)

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  • November 5, 2013

    The Mary Jane Legacy (It’s not about what you may assume…)

    Something different on my site today, and from a different Scott Southard! My dad has his own blog where he writes on his experience working in health care and as a manager. In his most recent post he shared memories of his mom, my grandmother. It is a touching piece and I think really captures her strong personality and amazing mind. I hope you enjoy it.

    Scott Southard's avatarHealthcare Leadership: A Discourse

    This month marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of my mother, Mary Jane Southard.  She was a hard worker and a very smart woman with several graduate degrees, held a position in public education of which she was the first Michigan woman to do so, and was responsible for launching the education of innumerable children in our community.

    Grandma S. copy

    Even now, people in her town still recognize our shared last name and ask about her or have an endearing story to share of her seemingly unceasing generosity and kind heart.  It always fascinated my sons and me when out with her that people in their fifties or sixties would approach her and ask if she knew who they were.  And, like some sideshow act, she would look into these people’s eyes and without fail recognize them and call them by the name they preferred as a five-year old… and then…

    View original post 788 more words

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  • October 13, 2013

    Their Obsession With Cheetahs

    The CubbiesEvery night my children go to bed with cheetah cubbies that may be leopards.

    They are cheap stuffed toys, the kind you see at the front of lesser family restaurants. Nothing extravagant, but wherever they go in the house, they are usually in the same room, many times next to each other. And each evening, they are needed for nighttime or there might be tears.

    The cheetahs started with my son when he realized how fast they were.

    My son has always loved to run. Back when he used to go to daycare and I would pick him up, on every nice day he would be in the playground racing with his friends. The teacher would just shout “Go!” and watch the kids run around and around again, not considering it was the parents that had to deal with the kids with sweat-soaked hair that would always need a bath later.

    Now my son wasn’t always the fastest, he did good, but there were always kids a little faster since they might be older or just plan bigger. But that didn’t matter to my son, he would always tell me on the way home how he won… even when we both knew he didn’t.

    He was Dash from The Incredibles for Halloween when he was four then the year after that The Flash. Whenever either costume was put on he would get this look in his eye, scream “zoom” and take off running around our house hoping to find a bad guy some place.

    A red blur of speed!

     Last Christmas, my daughter gave her brother a giant stuffed cheetah. (Well, actually the parents did but she happily took credit for it, she was one then.) My son immediately declared it was the mommy cheetah, and they both happily agreed. The cheetah cubbies were grabbed and quickly were reunited.

    They are now a family of cheetahs. (more…)

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