Sunday Dutro Couch

Behind the Scenes: Community Overrun

My latest Sunday’s Snapshots article came out online with The Sanders County Ledger today and I’m anxious about the reaction. I know I’m not supposed to care, but I do. I don’t like being a person who says “there’s a problem! Someone should fix it!” I am very aware that I am someone and that pointing fingers without presenting solutions is unhelpful at best. Still…I did it. I said, here’s this thing that’s happening that makes me anxious, that I see as a problem, and I don’t have any answers. It’s all very doom and gloom. I even asked my editor if maybe we shouldn’t run it, if maybe I should whip up something else. Obviously it went to print, and here we are.

The majority of my community won’t read this until tomorrow, when the paper editions are delivered, and I am therefore living in a limboed anxiety of my own creating. Interesting.

Anyhow, what are your thoughts? Too doom and gloom? Read the article here.

Writing Prompt Winner: Fiona Walker

February 2024: Fiona Walker

“an accumulation of small shifts”

Jackie looked around despairingly at the remaining inventory. September already and she was left with an accumulation of small shifts. She desperately needed them to all sell so she could afford to restock for the new season. But fashion proved unpredictable and it was the larger sizes of the simple shaped shifts that had flown out the door.

She looked up in time to see Dorothy – a definite Size 20 – float gracefully by her shop window in a blue and green shift she’d bought early in the summer.

Where are all the small women, she pondered; didn’t they like the simple styling of shifts?

Fiona is a recovering workaholic who loves to twist the turn of a phrase into a pretzel. She is currently working on a survival guide for dementia caregivers. She lives in NW Montana with her husband, cat, and way too many ideas for future projects.