Hey, folks.

As some of you may recall, at the end of last summer I did a marathon posting of “Past Imperfect” entries that had never been revised and shared here at Bonnwood. (My Past Imperfect stories, for the most part, all start out on one of my other blogs, “Crusty Pie”. That blog is my testing ground to see how folks react to both the image and the micro-story that hints at where the bigger story might lead. I use the comments over there to guide me in developing the fleshed-out version, which I then share on Bonnywood.)

The purpose of that late-summer marathon was to highlight a batch of Imperfects that had me stymied, unable to find the inspiration for the flesh-out. The hope of the marathon was that you, dear reader, would offer suggestions on where to take the story or advise of a different take entirely. As it turned out, I had a tremendous amount of fun reading all of your comments, so I’ve decided to kick off another run of neglected Crusty Pie slices that are still languishing on “that other blog”.

So, throughout the month of March, I will be sharing 30 more micro-stories that just need some love, that little push that transforms the caterpillar into a butterfly. Or at least into a moth, banging against a porchlight, on a journey to something better. (I do plan to sprinkle in posts that are not Imperfects, lest the boredom of repetition overwhelm us all.)

Your mission, as with the original marathon, dear reader, is to proffer story ideas based on what you see in the photo. Where would you take the narrative? What would you do? What trigger do you see in the image that I may have missed? (And, on the flip side, feel free to say “you know what, this works. Leave it alone.” There’s a contingent of long-time Bonnywood guests who prefer the micro-stories, just as they are.) In any case, all comments will be greatly appreciated. After all, that’s the main reason why I’ve kept this blog alive for so long, the comments and suggestions and the simple but powerful joy of interacting with fellow writers.

Caveat: Many of these neglected Crusty Pie slices are not the greatest micro-stories, which is a main factor in why I haven’t been able to expand them to feature length. (My original inspiration may have seemed clever to me at the time, but we all have bad-hair days where things just didn’t work out.) You might sigh in dissatisfaction and question your future visits to Bonnywood, but I trust that some of you will embrace this experiment and dazzle me with your wittiness, as you do every day.

Care to join me?

Hope so.

Cheers.