In October 2017 I came across an internet blog challenge for a story written in two sentences. I wrote a story. Liking the format, I did another one. Another one. And another.
Quite a few stories later, I had enough for a book. Not only did I have stories, but I had written a short poem and created a brush and India ink illustration for each one as well.
The result was Minuscule, published in 2018. I’m now going to show you the book illustrations as an ongoing feature on this blog, once a week. I’ll link back to the story (they have been published one by one on my poetry blog).
If you want to hold the entire book in your hand, the print version is available on Amazon.
“Cruising” is the name of the story…
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
I like that emphatic NO. Has power gone to his head (or hand perhaps)? (K)
Many years ago I worked for a bank and at one time I supervised a department of about 50 people whose job was to review commercial loan documents for all loans made by the bank, this was important because in the law, documents are everything and details count. Anyway I had one supervisory employee who was very dedicated and knew her job well, better than the loan officers as far as paperwork went, and it drove her nuts the mistakes they would make (me too, this job was perfect for me, I am interested in details all right!). Fed up she asked me one time if she could get a stamp made up that said REJECTED to apply to the copies of the incorrect documents we returned to the loan officer so he/she could get them redone and re-signed. (We had to keep originals until we rec’d correct ones.) Naturally no one ever wanted to go back to a customer and admit mistakes, so my employee’s job was full of strife and getting yelled at (for their mistakes). She was quite serious about the stamp. I had to convince her that this idea would not lead to more cooperation though I admitted personally I was all for it. Anyway, that is where this story came from. NO is what we so often wanted to scream. NOOOOO !!!
Just like office life everywhere I’m afraid. I worked for several small family businesses and the owner’s sons…
I love the expression on the face as he stamps that emphatic NO, a stamp he has to use with such frequency that the drama of it has worn off a long time ago by the look of things. Part of me wishes I could travel through life stamping an emphatic NO at various people’s requests.