Not About Lumberjacks

Be mighty, and keep your axes sharp!

Ideas Into Stories: Creating a Fiction Podcast

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Audio Mixer: "Ideas Into Stories - Creating a Fiction Podcast"On June 7, 2016, I gave a talk to the Podcast Dallas Meetup about podcasting fiction.

If you come here for the stories and this doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, I understand. But if you’ve wondered what all goes into creating an episode of Not About Lumberjacks, this is a little peek behind the curtain.

I’m making the talk available as an audio file for those on the go, but if you’d like to hear the talk while also looking at the accompanying slides, here it is:

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Behind the Cut – Episode 8: The Weight of the World

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Globes - Behind the Cut – Episode 8: The Weight of the WorldSometimes the weight of everyday life catches up with you and, instead of posting the story you intended to post, you end up sharing something older.

Some thoughts about twists in stories, the rush of everyday life, and how sometimes the best defense against it all is simplicity.

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Behind the Cut – Episode 7: The Other Side

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Door opening, emitting light. "The Other Side, Written and Narrated by Christopher Gronlund"This episode of Behind the Cut ranks up there with the “Horus” episode (in which I interviewed Cynthia Griffith about narrating the story and tackling the voice of a parrot).

What makes this current story and look behind the story so special to me? I interviewed Mark Hosack, Shawn Kupfer, and Rick Coste about a strange request I made to them:

I know it’s short notice, but can you read these lines of orc dialogue and then grunt and laugh like an orc for the next episode of Not About Lumberjacks?

And they did.

But I also love this episode because it wasn’t until after writing and listening to “The Other Side” that I realized I had written a story about the death of childhood — while still showing that adulthood is not without its own charm.

If you only listen to this episode to hear three good friends grunt and howl, it’s worth it, but I hope you like the interviews and commentary as well.

And if you missed “The Other Side,” it can be heard right here.

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The Other Side

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Glowing light from an opening door - The Other SideDaniel’s life was not going very well. Not only did his wife divorce him, but he was laid off from his job. With few cares about what would happen to him if caught, he breaks into his childhood home to see if something once in his bedroom closet is still there.

Content Advisory: Swearing, divorce, depression, fantasy violence, alcohol use, fantasy deaths, work/life struggles.

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Credits:

Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch

Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund

Orcs: Rick Coste, Mark Hosack, Shawn Kupfer, and Christopher Gronlund

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A Magic Life

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A Magic Life (Written by Christopher Gronlund and Narrated by Cynthia Griffith)While Not About Lumberjacks exists to share my short fiction, behind the scenes I’m always working on bigger things. I’m currently working on the second draft of a novel called A Magic Life.

A Magic Life is about a girl born in the circus in the 1920s and her rise to fame as a magician in the 40s and 50s.

Cynthia Griffith, who edited Episode 4 of Not About Lumberjacks — fan-favorite “Horus” — narrated the first chapter of A Magic Life.

To give you a taste of something bigger, I thought it would be fun to share the first chapter here.

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Rabbit Eyes

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Rabbit on the ground -- staring. Rabbit Eyes, written and narrated by Christopher GronlundThe owner of a software company becomes very uneasy when he discovers someone close to him is trying to control his mind.

Content Advisory: Swearing, manipulation, controlling relationship, deception, sex.

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Credits:

Music: Ergo Phizmiz , Chad Crouch, and Craig Kelman

Rabbit Photo: Serious Fun

Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund

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Looking for Dogs

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A green field - "Looking for Dogs" Written and Narrated by Christopher GronlundDicky Wingfeld has it all: a great job, a loving wife, and a new house. But Dicky also has a problem: a father who cannot seem to stop collecting junk.

One morning when Dicky’s father, Richie, appears at his son’s bedroom to ask if he’ll help him track down a couple Great Danes he saw running loose in a field, Dicky finally figures out why his father’s yard looks like the county dump.

Content Advisory: Swearing, smoking, depression, hoarding, loss of mother to cancer.

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Credits:

Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Kai Engel

Field and Tree Photo: John Mark Arnold

Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund

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