Tag Archives: Audio Commentary

Audio commentary: Just (A Morality Tale)

October 16, 2013 6:22 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

All audio commentary is actually written. Haha.The audio commentary for the story Just includes a brief trip to the past. When I was in college, I took a class on medieval literature and we studied morality plays. At the end of the semester, I re-worked a script of Mankind and we performed it live. (Oh good, Dr. Koster still has a link to the script here.) Working on Mankind was a very different experience for me as a writer — the demons in the play get the audience to participate in a dirty song with them and the audience helps shape the outcome of the play. In today’s performances, such audience participation is frowned upon. But working with that concept – of the audience determining the outcome — made me want to try that in my own writing.

I was also a huge fan of those choose your own adventure books when I was younger, (seriously, who wasn’t?) even though most of the choices I made caused the death of the protagonist. Oh well.

For additional audio commentary on the podcast’s stories, visit us here.

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Audio commentary: His Wife’s Secret Admirer

October 11, 2013 4:45 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Here is some audio commentary that you can read about.Here’s something I would only admit as part of an audio commentary exclusive: This story came out much longer than I had expected it to. I think it took me longer to get through Daniel’s day (even with the inclusion of the golf game) than I thought it would.

I don’t write many stories with male lead characters, but there was this beautiful (and long) article in Esquire a few years ago about studying love. It fascinated me. The writer, A.J. Jacobs becomes a guinea pig to scientists who are studying the effects of love on the brain. The catch is that he is the only long-term married guy in the study. And it turns out beautifully.

Love is crazy complicated. It’s messy. And, sometimes, it lasts beyond all the doubters.

For additional audio commentary on the podcast’s stories, visit us here.

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Audio commentary: Afternoons in the Park

October 4, 2013 5:22 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

If it is audio commentary, then why do I have to read it?Reading audio commentary makes about as much sense as smelling rainbows, but here we go.

Go to any crowded park with lots of playground equipment and inevitably, you’ll hear an adult talk about what type of injury-producing playground equipment they loved when they were children. It’s like all of us who suffered broken wrists from climbing geo-domes or skinned knees from flying off merry-go-rounds or burns from metal slides cooking in the summer sun, grew up to become responsible adults who didn’t want their children harmed. But still, we hold onto the past.

Sometimes we try to hold onto our childhood friends, too, but that doesn’t always work out. This story lives between the two realms of childhood and parenthood.

For additional audio commentary on the podcast’s stories, visit us here.

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Audio commentary: Her Mother’s Last Words

September 26, 2013 2:06 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

All audio commentary is actually written. Haha.Today’s audio commentary is a little personal. You see, I write my son letters. Sometimes it is hard, because I don’t know if he will ever want to read them. Other times, I fear what he will think of me when he does read them. But, I write them anyway, in the hopes he will understand how much I truly love him.

One day, while writing him, I started to wonder what it would be like if these letters were the only interaction he ever had with me and how that would affect him. Boom — story time.

For additional audio commentary on the podcast’s stories, visit us here.

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Audio Commentary: The Weight of Our Objects

September 20, 2013 1:59 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Here is some audio commentary that you can read about.In today’s audio commentary on the podcast, I am going to make a confession: I watch a lot of those home cleaning television shows. Some of them intrigue me. Others (like Hoarders), scare me. They frighten me into getting rid of excess stuff and challenge my reasons for holding onto things that I don’t need anymore. I guess that is a good thing.

What scares me more than the people who hoard their stuff, is the people who enable them. Why does that happen? Is it love? Devotion? Passive-aggressive acceptance? Shouldn’t we challenge the ones we love when they display behaviors that aren’t typical – even when it is hard to do?

So now it is your turn to confess: What are you still holding onto?

Note to my husband: Please don’t let me hold onto things I don’t need.

For additional audio commentary on the podcast’s stories, visit us here.

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