Welcome to the nineth instalment of my short story collection I have titled, "Stories I Tell on Myself."  We have a single story this week that I think you will enjoy!

Story 14, 15, 16 and 17 are a group of stories that explain, from an ancestral viewpoint, how Jackie came to be on that hotel balcony that night in L.A. (from the mid-1700s) when I proposed to her without a first kiss; it explains how I came to be there (from 1754); it tells you what happened on the balcony (October 1976) and how I found out in 1994 that we were related BEFORE I asked her the little questions. Yes, you heard right. And tell me God doesn’t have a plan for us all!! It is a real love story. 

I also provide an interlude with a collection called “Just for a Change in Pace” --- they are one to three line love poems I wrote to her over the years that separate each of the four stories. Great Valentine thoughts ---but for me they were year-round. So, get yourself a glass of wine, relax, listen to the poems and let your mind go to places where only you can go.

Then listen to the four parts with poems in the middle entitled Myron Had it Right You’ll meet Myron in the second part.  We continue with part 2, story 15 today.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voice mail at 1 206 339 5456.

Welcome to the eigth instalment of my short story collection I have titled, "Stories I Tell on Myself."  We have a single story this week that I think you will enjoy!

Story 14, 15, 16 and 17 are a group of stories that explain, from an ancestral viewpoint, how Jackie came to be on that hotel balcony that night in L.A. (from the mid-1700s) when I proposed to her without a first kiss; it explains how I came to be there (from 1754); it tells you what happened on the balcony (October 1976) and how I found out in 1994 that we were related BEFORE I asked her the little questions. Yes, you heard right. And tell me God doesn’t have a plan for us all!! It is a real love story. 

I also provide an interlude with a collection called “Just for a Change in Pace” --- they are one to three line love poems I wrote to her over the years that separate each of the four stories. Great Valentine thoughts ---but for me they were year-round. So, get yourself a glass of wine, relax, listen to the poems and let your mind go to places where only you can go.

Then listen to the four parts with poems in the middle entitled Myron Had it Right You’ll meet Myron in the second part.  We begin part one (story 14) today.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456

Welecome to the Tales by Tom.  Today we have a Christmas Special featuring a letter Christ on the matter of his birth. 

Two itemsFirst, Tales By Tom is closing in on an anniversay.  Do you have any storys (PG at worst) you want to tell on my father?  Let me know and we will arrange a recording session.  Don't tell him I would like to surprise him!

I am still looking for people that might want to  read the intro for a future Tales by Tom installment.  All you have to do is to drop me a line at [email protected] and I will contact you to work out the details (think over the phone).  In the internet age EVERYONE can be a radio star.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Welecome to the seventh instalment of my short story collection I have titled, "Stories I Tell on Myself."  We have a single story this week that I think you will enjoy!

Story 13 is titled "We Were All Merchants."   If you ever lived in the an area was served by Goudchaux's/Maison Blanche or were in the department store industry,  this story will help you understand the phenomenon that was Goudchaux's.

By the way the book noted in the podcast We Were Merchants by Hans J Sternberg (with James E. Shelledy) can be found at: http://bit.ly/eXbM8h

I have an exiting offer for Tales By Tom listeners . . . if you would like to read the intro for a future Tales by Tom installment.  All you have to do is to drop me a line at [email protected] and I will contact you to work out the details (think over the phone).  In the internet age EVERYONE can be a radio star.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Welecome to the sixth instalment of my short story collection I have titled, "Stories I Tell on Myself."  We have two stories this week that I think you will enjoy!

Story 11 Trying to Find Work. Lots of people change jobs, more so today than yesterday, either to stay inside their careers or to leave it entirely. What is the best way to find and connect with that “next step?” Until I moved back to Baton Rouge in 2002, I’d changed cities nine times. I made those moves always using the same technique or formula. It worked for me. Doesn’t have to be the right way for all.

Story 12 Dream of Divorce. Per se, I don’t believe that some of  the copious amounts dreams I have had are the “stuff of the future.” At the same time, some are very hard to ignore. Many things have happened that correlate with dreams dreamt, some voices heard, some advice given. In the mid-‘70s, in search of a solution, I had a dream which I reacted to the next day. It affected my whole family and worked out for the best. Like the song, is a dream a wish your heart makes?

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Welecome to the 5th instalment of my short story collection I have titled, "Stories I Tell on Myself."  We have two stories this week that I think you will enjoy!

Story 9 Letter to a Doctor. Forms are an important part of our everyday life--- and were before we were old enough to understand. This particular form, very au courant, which is the basis for the story is a letter to a real doctor to be signed by a real patient when email activated. It is an incredible piece of paper that one day could end up in my file ---or even---. I hope it never gets activated. What do you think?

Story 10 There are Rocks and There are Rocks. All I did was take two relatively small pieces of marble from the Vermont countryside, in search of something indigenous to the territory, small enough to put in our station wagon and cart the 700 miles back home. As part of my career moves after that, we let Mayflower Moving Company have the honor.

They are at rest now, perfectly positioned on our patio to be seen and admired every day. They’re part of the family. Listen and find out why I think that’s important and amazing. Hard to imagine!! Almost.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Welecome to the 4rd instalment of my short story collection I have titled, "Stories I Tell on Myself."  We have two stories this week that I think you will enjoy!

Story 7 The Old Man and the See. Is it easy to write in a faux-Hemingway style? A lot of people thought so and entered a contest to show their best. I did, too, and was among the number who lost. Using the novella that won Mr. Hemingway both the Nobel and Pulitzer prize, I took Santiago from a battle with a Big Fish in the Gulf to a battle securing the favor and affection of another big fish, Julia Roberts, as she rehearsed Ocean’s Eleven in St. Petersburg.

Story 8 An Extra in All the King’s Men.  My “movie” family and I were positioned perfectly to be front and center in the important scene on the steps of the Capitol as they carried Willie’s body down the steps. It would be a slam dunk and I anxiously awaited the special showing arranged for all extras in the new Rave theatre complex in Baton Rouge.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Tales By Tom - Stories I Tell On Myself 003

Installment #3!  Stories I tell On Myself is all about stories they I have experienced . . .directly.  These might be a bit edgier, embarrassing, emotional or even funny.   It is time for the stories!           # 5 Living a dreamOddly enough, it took “OUR” comparing the attitude toward Youth in Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea with Joseph Conrad’s in Heart of Darkness to free my wife, Jackie, from the chains that bound and release her into a career she has been with ever since. And successfully, too, I might add.

# 6 Santa Fe. I didn’t see Georgia O’Keefe herself while we were in Santa Fe, but her presence was everywhere. So was that of St. Francis, and I bought a one-of-a-kind bronze statue of him that, when lighted from above, is unparalleled in all the world.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Tales By Tom - Stories I Tell On Myself 002

Here is the second installment of mynew series!  Stories I tell On Myself is all about stories they I have experienced . . .directly.  These might be a bit edgier, embarrassing, emotional or even funny.            3. A Rising Tide       The tide comes in, your boat rises with it. The minimum wage goes up, and if you’re not that terribly far above it as you hire on, your boat should go up, too, right? I thought so, too and campaigned for that for me over several months, late in my career. When it happened, I didn’t feel good about and did something I’d never done before.

# 4 Oh, the nasty       The brutal reality has to come to every thinking and inquisitive child at some point in time. My epiphany came in a brilliant burst of insight while I was mowing the lawn, I had to stop. I had to stop!

Editorial comment from TC Jr . . . The nasty?  Just how many kids did you have?  Emotionally scared?  I think not! :)

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.

Tales By Tom - Stories I Tell On Myself 001

A new series!  Stories I tell On Myself is all about stories they I have experienced . . .directly.  These might be a bit edgier, embarrassing, emotional or even funny.  We start with two stories!           1. December 17, 1953.       I said goodbye to him as I left Notre Dame, hitch-hiking to Minneapolis. I didn’t know until the next day when I was almost out of the downtown Chicago area that the day before had been but one day in the youth of my lifetime but for my friend, the last person I’d seen leaving campus, it had been his last.

2. Dog the Bounty Hunter, a Personal Version.      Prior to this day, every time I was in an airport I dismissed the announcement about seeing any unattended luggage. If I saw any, it caught my eye but didn’t hold my attention for long. This time, an oddity that bothered my sensitivities, one I could not explain, turned into a big time arrest “as I supervised,”. The song, “Another one bites the dust,” comes to mind.

I encourage you to provide feedback on this story or any of the earlier shorts by email at [email protected] or by voicemail at 1 206 339 5456.