Writing Short Stories

Sometimes when I get writer's block and can't start another novel, I go back to short stories. I've had a couple published in Zephyr, but since then haven't been able to place one. I've read a few at an open mic night a million years ago, but other than that, there are folders upon folders on my computer that just..sit there. I do like these stories, but it's usually something to just get me writing again, something to keep me going.

I took out my Pocket Muse 2 yesterday, and found an awesome prompt. What came then, was a 6 page short story, which I hand wrote, edited quickly, typed up, then started calling people to read it  out loud to them. I did this for two reasons:
1) I hate reading out loud
2) We have the Open Mic Blog Hop coming up
Everyone I read to told me it was unGodly depressing, because it was. And I loved it.

I can always feel the length of what I'm writing when I start the first sentence. If I can see the end right away, I assume it'll only be a few pages long. But if I can only get to the middle, and I get tired writing, and find it's 2a.m. and I'm nowhere near stopping, I assume it'll probably become a novel.

I don't start anything with the intention of boundaries, I let my pen go, my mind wander. I write crappily because that's how I like first drafts. I mis-spell stuff because I suck at spelling.

And then last night, as I was reading to people, one person who I've never read to before. As I read to him, I was shaking because he's never heard any of my work before. But when I said, "Okay, the end," I remembered, I love writing short stories.