Hello again, another quick explanation post to explain everything here on launch day!

    The Original Short Stories Podcast is now available on iTunes! What is it? Well, simply put, it is a short podcast that features a very short audiobook production of one of my short stories, in the pilot episode i have used the shortest story in my current collection to give you a quick snippet of what will be coming up in the future.

    Each time a new episode is uploaded, the written version of the story will be added to the blog and linked from the “writing” page on the site for easy future reference, the episode will also be added to the “audio” page as a file for direct download.

    You can find the series in iTunes by searching for “Original Short Stories” or by simply clicking here: iTunes: Original Short Stories (The link will open iTunes!) or you can add the podcast feed directly using this xml: http://www.invertedhourglass.com/invertedhourglass/Original_Short_Stories/rss.xml

Right then, on with episode 1!

This is a very short piece i wrote on my recent trip to Scotland, like i say it is the shortest piece in the epic dan brown collection.

Writers Block

By Daniel .M. Brown

    Stretched across the tent, looking at the sea, pen in hand and paper in front of him he waited for inspiration. The tent rattled round him in the wind yet the brisk breeze outside did not cool him as the invisible sun in the deceptively calm looking light blue sky sent its awkward heat to linger in his tent.

    In this frustrated position he found his thoughts invaded by regret, nothing terrible, but regret all the same. Why? He thought, did he buy a tunnel tent and not a dome tent? The fact that he could not sit upright in a sheltered place was a vexation unforeseen to him back in the shop.

    A seagull swooped down rapidly into the calm sea. The disturbance in the water also disturbed the tent dwellers thoughts. He looked in the general direction of the rippling sea waiting patiently for the gull to surface. A few seconds passed, then up into the sky it rose again, no fish though, looking at the spectacle it seemed to the tent dweller almost wrong that it could perform such incredible feats of flight and aquabatics and still not be rewarded with a basic meal.

    What an idilic scene though, he thought. Grassy banks, calm seas, blue skies, bright sunlight, stones surrounding the patch of grass that was soon to become the campfire and the pile of driftwood ready to provide some warmth when the sun went down and the moon and its reflection on the cold sea replaced it. All the things you could ask for, he thought. Well, all except for getting some words written down on the mockingly empty sheet of paper he had in front of him. The suns insistence on shining so brightly also had its drawbacks other than the heat, it proved an irritation once again as now not only could he not think of anything to write, but also the sun shone directly onto his paper making it difficult to focus on the bright rectangle to see exactly how much he had not yet written.

    So it was in this state of slight annoyance, sprawled across the tent, pen in hand, paper in front of him and with watering eyes from the glare, he wandered what an unusual sight he would have looked to anyone who might happen to wander by.

So at last he had his inspiration.

The End.

Thank you for reading, i hope you will join me again soon,

look after yourself and have fun,

dan