Writings – Page 4 – Of Miles Rausch

February 19, 2014March 14, 2014

Nearly Nine on Mash Stories WON!

“Nearly Nine” is a short story I wrote for a contest on MashStories.com. I was fortunate enough to get short listed, and I was even more fortunate to win!

A big thank you, and much credit, has to go to the people who shared, commented, and voted on my story. The feedback was encouraging, and it was fun to hear people’s reactions. The win is encouraging for my future creative writing endeavors.

If you’re interested, you can read “Nearly Nine” on MashStories.com. Second place went to “Lost Balls” by Ross Baxter, and third place was awarded to Carrie Guss for “Tina, Trapped and Released”. Excellent stories, all.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to buy $100 worth of hipster writing glasses and typewriters. I’ve arrived, baby!

February 18, 2014February 17, 2014

Road Closed to Pedestrians: A Review

The show began before it began.

A small crowd of us gathered before the Belbas Theatre doors in the Washington Pavilion. Children dashed around clumps of adults from all generations. I was there with my family, eagerly awaiting “Road Closed to Pedestrians”, a mime and dance performance by Cie Macadâmes.

My interest in the show, beyond a general appreciation for art, stemmed from my relation to one of the producers, Jenny Brass. This stop was the penultimate stop on a cross-country tour for Make Theatre Company that had begun in Arizona and would culminate in the Twin Cities.

As the hour grew, ticket holders shifted from foot to foot; they looked around the room at the staff; they checked their watches and cellphones. Then a door marked “Employees only beyond this point” opened and a dark-haired woman, dressed in the bohemian rags of a stylized urchin, peered out. She crept into our midst, tightly clutching a large, beige piece of luggage. This Traveler, played by Clément Chaboche, stared at us with wide, dark eyes and cautiously plotted her way through the space.

Behind her followed a man with similar wardrobe and a bass clarinet slung around his neck. His manner was easy and casual, the opposite of the anxiety of his predecessor. He followed her as she wove through the crowd. The onlookers rearranged, like quicksilver, pooling around the ever-shifting focus.

The show had begun.

Continue reading “Road Closed to Pedestrians: A Review”

February 8, 2014

How not to cook stir fry

This January I started taking an online course offered by Stanford University (ever heard of it??) called Child Nutrition and Cooking 2.0, taught by Maya Adam. The course is presented through a series of videos, surveys and quizzes, and the videos cover nutrition concepts, cooking lessons and terrifying, paralyzing, nightmare-inducing statistics about child nutrition.

Inspired by one of the cooking lessons, I decided I would learn to make stir fry. Being rather new to cooking in general, and stir fry in specific, I knew I’d need a practice run. One night, after the kids were asleep, I set to making my first batch of stir fry with plum sauce.

It did not go according to plan.

Continue reading “How not to cook stir fry”

January 27, 2014July 22, 2014

“Nearly Nine” on Mash Stories

Update: Nearly Nine on Mash Stories WON!

“Nearly Nine” is a short story I wrote for a contest on MashStories.com. I was fortunate enough to get short listed. This means my story is up on their website for (literally) dozens of people to read. Make sure you’re one of them.

If you’re interested, you can find the story here: http://mashstories.com/nearly-nine/

Feel free to vote for it. (The voting buttons are at the bottom of the page.) Votes factor into the judging process. If you know anyone who’d like the story, share the link or this post with them.

Together we can make this depressing story about a plane crash into a slightly less depressing story about a plane crash because at least those people died for something important.

January 24, 2014March 14, 2014

Visually Repaired

Not all of my Christmas gifts for Holli were ready by Christmas. It’s not entirely my fault; I had to make an awesome 2013 Christmas Card first. The final gift to arrive was a desktop calendar made up of photos from the past year of Holli, the kids, and myself. When it arrived, we gathered around as Ian announced every person in every photo. I stood, looking on with pride, holding Ainsley. Suddenly, she grew restless.

Automatically, I bent to set her down. Who am I to deny a young child the adventures of her fancy? In the process of being noble, however, I hadn’t noticed just how close I was to the furniture. I smashed my face into the back of Holli’s chair, bruising my nose, shattering my ego, and breaking my glasses.

We’ve all been there.

Continue reading “Visually Repaired”

January 14, 2014January 14, 2014

Scheming on a Thing, That’s Exercise Sabotage!

If you perused our 2013 Christmas Card, then you might have noticed I mentioned losing over thirty pounds this past year. One of the largest factors in that accomplishment is the four nights a week I put in at a gym we joined this spring.

The decision, far from being motivated by the altruistic endeavors of better health and greater wellness, was instead predicated on a really good discount we could get through our insurance.

“Light body, heavy wallet,” I always say.

Continue reading “Scheming on a Thing, That’s Exercise Sabotage!”

January 7, 2014January 6, 2014

Welcome, 2014.

There’s something about a beginning that gives people hope. A fresh year brings with it fresh goals for the future. I suppose it’s something innate to the birth/re-birth cycle that such a boundary illicits a desire to transform oneself. Across cultures and centuries, there has been worship of the dawn, whether that corresponding to arbitrary milestones from our trip around the sun, to agricultural events like harvest, or to natural events like the solstices.

I am no less susceptible to this hopeful worship. Caught within the ephemeral energy of genesis, I, too, compiled an ambitious and naive list of goals for 2014, one of which you’re currently being subjected to. I will blog more this year. Gone are the days of wholesale social interaction via weblog, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still serve the purpose of self-regulated, personal publication.

The posting will be weekly. The posting will be myriad. I anticipate the posting will be less journalistic and more editorial than in its history. And, if this is any example, the posting will be pompous and highfalutin.

Just what the Internet needs.

October 30, 2013November 1, 2013

NaNoWriMo 2013

Every year, on my birthday, I make a new year’s resolution. Rather than using the arbitrary January 1st, I use the day that marks the beginning of my very existence to choose to start something anew.

This year, I’ve dedicated myself to writing. While I don’t have anything I can really show people yet, I’m developing a habit of getting words out of my head. Another step in that direction is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

I last participated in 2006 (and last wrote about it in 2004), so it’s been a long hiatus, but I’m really going for it this year. Novel or bust! Who’s with me??

If you use Lift, you can follow my NaNoWriMo Lift Plan to hopefully arrive at a full-blown novel on November 30th.

September 3, 2012