Tall And True Short Reads

Lagermind

Episode 35 (5 October 2021)

“Ladies and gentlemen, though I use that term loosely,” the pub laughed, and the MC smiled. Laughter signalled the crowd was well lubricated. The publican would be happy.

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Lagermind

Show Notes

Season Two: Episode 35 (5 October 2021)

Lagermind is a short story from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the story: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/short-stories/lagermind

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Story Insight

Lagermind was my entry for the July 2021 Furious Fiction run by the Australian Writers’ Centre. The brief for July was that each story had to:

  • Take place at some kind of contest.
  • Include a character who forgets something.
  • And contain the words PRESS, FLING and GROUND — longer variations were acceptable as long as they retained the original spelling.

A book lover and writer friend from the ABC Book Club on Facebook also challenged me to include us in my short story. Her nickname for me is “Moley” because I once admitted my early twenty-something diary entries sound like something from “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole“. And as her name is Carolyn, I rib her back when she calls me “Moley” by calling her “Caro”.

The only similarities between Carolyn and myself with the characters in the story are our nicknames and that we have children — she has three daughters and I have a son.  And we loved reading the Adrian Mole Diaries to our children. This was judged to meet the challenge by “Caro”.

The contest in the criteria was a boozy version of Mastermind — I love watching the nonalcoholic one on TV. The glow of the evening in the pub helps “Moley” momentarily forget his divorce. FLING fitted nicely as the final word of the story. And I appreciated being allowed to use longer variations of PRESSED and GROUND – did you catch the words?

In a blog post on my first Furious Fiction entry (in April 2020), I commented how its 55-hour deadline doesn’t afford writers time to reflect on their writing. And when I revisited my first short story, I found ways to improve it. It’s been the same with every one of my Furious Fictions, including Lagermind. However, the edits still respect the competition brief and its 500-word limit.

Thanks for listening to Lagermind — I hope it didn’t leave you with a sore head. You can read my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle and Kobo online bookstores.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will appear in your podcast feed shortly. In the meantime, don’t forget to check your feed or the Tall And True Short Reads website for earlier episodes from Seasons One and Two. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite listening app. Doing so helps other listeners find my writing.

And finally, please support this podcast by telling your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity. Thanks to Josh (VoiceOverMaster) Meyer for Audacity recording tips and tricks.

Podcast recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the land of the traditional custodians of the Eora Nation.

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