The Fourth Wall + Padded Cell

You can finally read one of my short stories (and an accompanying flash fiction story) for free online!

It's called "The Fourth Wall" and I've actually been blogging about it for a while (click that link to see all of my blog posts labeled "The Fourth Wall"). The first draft was written ‎February ‎19, ‎2012 for a project for my fiction writing night class, wherein we were to write and share a short story with the class. The professor said that the stories didn't need to be edited or even complete, but I decided that I needed to get the most out of the class and be taken seriously in the process, so I made it my own personal quest to write the best short story out of the entire class. (In my opinion, it was a tie between myself and a friend I made in that very class)

I took an old idea I had about a main character who know's he's the main character, and decided to write a story that was one huge inside joke to English students and my class in particular (including a scene that took place in a night class). The story became about a man who admits himself into a mental health center (referred to as a "nut house") because he was convinced he was the main character of a story that was plot-driven, and he wanted to control his own destiny.

It's a short story with incredible depth to it. There are three or four levels to the story's reality, depending on your interpretation, and it's written to be comedic and lighthearted while still exploring themes such as fate, love, and the philosophy of solipsism (a word I only learned just now).

The accompanying flash fiction story (one page long) is a sequel/summary of The Fourth Wall called "Padded Cell" which I wrote for my college literary and arts magazine simply so I could guarantee that I got published in the magazine (yes I know that sounds egotistical, but it worked).

In the end, these are two stories that have been very well-received, and will only take a short moment of your time to read.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to my GoodReads collection of self-published work and read them for yourself! Please leave comments/reviews on GoodReads or in this post, and share with your bookworm friends! I'd love to hear what you think and it's a great help to spread the words!

Enjoy! And I'm sorry it took so long!
-Ryan

Plans to Plant a Tree

Remember my previous post in which I said that I went apple picking with my fiancée?

Well, I was eating one such apple the other day, and two of the seeds fell out. I immediately decided that I'm going to plant an apple tree.

I collected all the seeds from that apple, and they are currently germinating in my refrigerator. Some light research tells me that I'll need to keep them in there for six weeks before I can plant them in a pot, so I plan on updating you all with the progress of that little project via this blog (notice the label "apple tree" attached to this post, all the updates will have that label so you can easily find them all).

The apple in question was a Golden Delicious, which are probably my favorite to eat on their own. My fiancée, on the other hand, loves McIntosh because she loves to bake with them, so I also grabbed a few of those seeds so we can try to grow a McIntosh tree as well!

If I'm going to plant any trees, they're going to be ones that give me more than shade.
-Ryan

Autumn has Arrived!

I'm sorry that I haven't blogged yet this month, but I've been incredibly busy with work during the week and with having an amazing time with my fiancée on the weekends.

In fact, here's a photo of me holding a basket full of 12 lbs of apples we picked this past weekend!

I absolutely LOVE Autumn! It's the best season out of all four in the year (five if you count both winters, chronologically speaking). So apple-picking was a fantastic way to start off my favorite season!

Unfortunately I don't have any awesome and long blog post ready quite yet, but in the meantime check out my short stories, now on GoodReads!

-Ryan