My Cardboard Balcony

Kind of think the obstacles in my life are biting into me pretty hard right now. First, my money situation is far from ideal. Second, applying for teaching credentials is nerve wracking because a) I'm not sure how I can pay for more school, b) I'm not sure how I can travel to said school, and c) I'm not sure if I'll even get a good teaching job from getting a credential. Third, my writing projects haven't exactly gone anywhere and I'm doing abysmally in terms of finding anyone willing to look at my stuff, let alone publish my stuff. Add the unholy trinity to a big cauldron of little annoyances, and bam - you have a very confusing, mind-warping day. So I got frazzled at work and went home with my head spinning, and yes, I actually began to doubt things I either had never doubted before or things I hadn't doubted in a long time. Namely, the idea that my girlfriend will stay in love with me. My sister has recently been going through some heartbreak, and I thi...

"Caramel Kisses" is an unfinished novel I began to write back in 2009 and stopped working on in 2010. The two main characters - Adriana Maguire Reynard and Emma Burking - would ultimately be revised for my later completed novella, "The Liffey Is Half-Asleep," in 2011. Several elements of "Liffey" can be found in their original forms in "Caramel Kisses," such as the characters' names, the haiku scene, and Adriana's penchant for writing. Because of its influence on my later writing, I figured that this story, though incomplete, was worth sharing. Caramel Kisses: Chapter Ten by Belinda Roddie My play was accepted for an original drama festival in San Francisco, to be held in October. It was a standard original work celebration, rife with pieces too erotic or graphic to be put on by any mainstream theater company, but in my burst of pride and disbelief I pictured it all done like a Shakespeare festival, with tambourines and flutes being ...

Stretching the taffy against his molars, Nicky chewed the candy vigorously, his sticky hands glued to the inside of his pockets as he trudged toward the train station. Beside him, a woman pushing a grocery cart looked like she made a living selling sleeping bags. Across the rails, a dog with no collar could be seen scratching at the root of a bending tree, as if desperate to find a lost bone.