Paul Pence
Bio
A true renaissance man in the traditional sense of the term, Paul leads a life too full to summarize in a bio. Arts, sciences, philosophy, politics, humor, history, languages... just about everything catches his attention.
Stories (32/0)
Atilla's Box
The humans do strange things sometimes. Atilla sniffed the box suspiciously. It didn't smell like anything alive. It didn't smell like food. It smelled like the newspapers and books and delivery boxes and so many other things made of paper and cardboard that his humans drag into his home. He had no idea why a paper-wrapped box would be in the middle of his kitchen floor, but he was certain that it was something that the humans did.
By Paul Pence10 months ago in Petlife
The Cleaner
The dusty box, wrapped in brittle brown paper and tied with string, long-hidden under the floorboards of the house was mysterious enough, but inside was pile of hundred dollar bills and a well-stuffed envelope. Written across the front of the envelope were the words "If you found this, you're a dead man. Read this to know why."
By Paul Pence10 months ago in Fiction
Big Al's Cake
Sometimes a gift isn't a good thing “Haven’t I already done enough for you people?” Seth’s hand shook as he held the coffee close to his lips, spilling a little over the brim of the mug, but wincing a little as the hot fluid splashed on his thumb. He took a slip, but kept the mug in front of his face to hide that he was talking to the two men sitting behind him in the next booth.
By Paul Pence10 months ago in Fiction
Hex
The old barn held more than memories Grandma had insisted for years that we don't tear down the old barn, but after it finally collapsed in the storm, there was nothing to do but salvage the fallen lumber. Dark lines of grain, emphasized by age, told the story of the oak beams and planks hardened by season after season of sun and cold and ice and rain, and my contacts in the city paid good money for it, enough to pay for a modern steel barn.
By Paul Pence11 months ago in Fiction
Finally Memorize that Social Security Number
A long series of numbers, whether your social security number, your credit card number that you have to enter repeatedly when you shop online, or that critical piece of data you need to hold in your brain to impress your boss, can be difficult for most of us to hold onto. Here is a memory method you can use to finally memorize that number and be able to recall it perfectly over and over again.
By Paul Pence11 months ago in Lifehack
She's Not From Texas
One from the archives I hope you'll enjoy.... I brought my Yankee fiancée home to Texas to meet the family. Austin’s airport had relocated since I moved to Rhode Island. No more Robert Mueller Airport. I can’t show her where my family and I waited for my dad to step off the airplane from Vietnam, all six of us kids fighting over who gets to hold the cardboard sign we made in case he didn’t recognize us. I wished I could have shown her, because that was part of what made me… well… me.
By Paul Pence11 months ago in Families
52 Small Things to Change Your Life
It doesn't take much to change your life. Mostly, it is just doing new, that opens a new way of looking at your life and your possibilities. Here is a list of 52 little things that can change your life. That's one for each week of the year. Some will just take a few minutes, some you'll want to work on for more than a week, but any one of them can open new doors and new possibilities.
By Paul Pence11 months ago in Humans
Fortune Favors the Bold
😜 I don't have a motto, but this one might suffice. "Fortune Favors the Bold". Of course, the bold may very well fail spectacularly, but at the very least we can get a good story out of it. They can tell it at my funeral. Presuming they ever find my body. "Can you believe that he actually TRIED that?"
By Paul Pence11 months ago in Humans
The Modern Short Story Format
Part 1 of "How to Write Short Stories" ========================================= Let's get this out of the way: there is no one correct way to write a successful short story. Highly acclaimed short stories exist that ignore every single direction you will see in this series of how-to articles. Short story writing is an art, not a science, and definitely not something that should become a simple cookie-cutter task.
By Paul Pence11 months ago in Journal
