Open Letter to WSS

Hey, everybody. I’m writing tonight because I want you all to know that writing stories for the WSS has been tons of fun and I wouldn’t take any of it back. The warm and fuzzy feedback was always appreciated. Not only did I learn a lot about my own stories, but I was encouraged to keep going with every passing week. Over the course of my membership, I’ve written 23 stories altogether. Lots of good memories come from those stories.

You’ve read this far into my open letter and are probably wondering if any of this lip service is coming with a caveat. It is. As of tonight, I’m no longer writing short stories for this group. I’ll still be here in other capacities (critiquing, reading, games, my folder, etc.), just not in the weekly contests.

I don’t want you all to feel like my decision is your fault. On the contrary, you guys have been wonderful. I made lots of friends here and I’ve gotten great advice on my work. The real contributors to my lack of participation can be counted on three fingers: mental exhaustion, too many creative projects, and an awkward date with my girlfriend.

Mental exhaustion has been a concern for me for a long, long time. I would often go for days or even whole weeks without writing anything and it would be because I was simply “too tired to write”. I would be so exhausted from my mental illnesses and general boredom around my house that I didn’t have the energy to write a full sentence without slumping over in defeat. Mental tiredness is very real for me and shouldn’t be confused with laziness.

I also have so many creative projects of my own going on that I can’t find the time to work on them all. I have a blog to maintain, books to read, chapters to write, etc. I have to cut back on some of these projects so that I’m not overwhelmed and unfortunately, I’m making the decision to cut back on these short stories. If I have one project that takes precedence over everything else, it’s editing the short stories I’ve already written so that I can put them in a modern drama anthology called American Darkness. Writing new short stories is fun, but what do I do with them? I can’t in all good conscience let them just sit there in my folder with no literary home to go to. Editing is my number one priority as of now.

And finally, probably the biggest contributor to my current bout of mental exhaustion is sadness over a bad date with my girlfriend Brianna. It was just supposed to be the two of us going to dinner and then a Pink Floyd tribute show in Bremerton. Instead, it started off with Brianna getting into a political argument with my mom (my mom is a hardcore liberal like me and Brianna has a strong dislike for Obama). When Brianna and I ate dinner together, there was awkward silence between us. When the Pink Floyd tribute show happened, she wasn’t her usual affectionate self (very little hand-holding and resting her head on my shoulder). To top off this weird night, Brianna requested that my mom and I drop her off at the grocery store instead of her apartment so that she can “meet somebody there”. Ever since this night, we haven’t talked to each other over Face Book or even the phone. She could be angry with me and my mom over that political argument, or maybe she’s mad at me because I didn’t do anything to break the awkward tension.

The last of the three contributors can be overcome with time healing my wounds. But even with my broken heart mended together again, I would still be mentally exhausted and I would still have too many creative projects to tend to. So once again, I’m saying thank you to everyone here for the wonderful feedback on my 23 stories. I’m closing the door on my contest participation, but I’m not closing the door on this group. I’ll always be a jolly pirate on this massive ship. Besides, how could I possibly leave a place that has so many cute mice onboard? Hehe!


Love and Friendship Always,
Garrison D. Haines-Temons aka Garrison Kelly