Erik Goldsmith’s story “Sharpington’s Coffers – Current Score 49.8” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 8 December 2017.
I wanted to write something about an unknown author (like myself) and how frustrating the publishing world can be. I don’t know about other people, but sometimes I get this gnawing feeling. rejection after rejection, that I’m not creative enough to be published, objectively speaking; that it’s not the story’s fault, but my own lack of ingenuity and the editors can sense it… It’s not a good feeling, but it did make me ask the question, what if publications could calculate an author’s creativity? What if they could objectively measure how good one author was compared to another? However, as I developed this idea, I also began to realize the pettiness of it all compared to real life, and that’s when it all came together. Why do we need other people’s eyes to validate our thoughts, feelings, and stories; our lives? What drives this insecurity and need to be seen? So, I wrapped it within a story about someone losing their memories to put the need for appreciation in perspective. How different is life from a story and why do some people mix up the two? Ironically, the biggest issue I had with the story was why these words were being written at all. I think this is something that every author, famous or not, has to contend with if they write in the first person: Why is my character writing this? And consequently, why am I? Who am I talking to?
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