Writing and running

In the sport of running, I’ve always been biased in favor of the marathon, because it’s long, hard and truly represents the suffering and the survival of the fittest; yet, in analyzing it against the sprint, it offers more chances to redress a mistake, make up for lost time or affords a change in strategy as the race goes on. The one-hundred meter dash, on the other hand, requires absolute perfection from beginning to end. The start needs to be flawless and both the concentration and the available power must be one-hundred percent. In thinking about it, the sprint is much harder. Writing is the same; a long story can be good, will have its ups and downs, but can survive with less than perfect prose. The short story has to embody perfection; it must make sense in a tight space, be well crafted and tell itself in very few precious words. All other things being equal, a short story will stick into someone’s mind more vividly than a very long tale. I like short stories…