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Click the icon to play the story:<br />
Social Handicap<br />
by<br />
Millard Johnson<br />
read by<br />
Tony Oteri<br />
Iam the moderator of The Writers of the Villages critique<br />
group, which meets every Tuesday morning in The Villages,<br />
Florida. Our group is always a joy to attend. People come<br />
and go. The dynamic is in constant flux. And although we have<br />
been meeting for years, I never fail to learn something or relearn<br />
something I have forgotten.<br />
In 2002, our meeting was on February 14th, Valentine's Day.<br />
In honor of the day, I pulled out a love story written years ago and<br />
polished it up. While it was not a particularly remarkable love<br />
story, reading it on Valentine's Day had a kind of magic. The next<br />
year, as Valentine's Day approached, I challenged everyone to put<br />
aside their novel, or whatever they were working on and write a<br />
sappy love story. They did. Our critique day was like a kids’ party!<br />
It was so successful that I took the idea of the Love Story<br />
Public Reading to the Writers League, and it has been Valentine's<br />
staple ever since. The Valentine’s evening is filled with sugary<br />
hearts, ice cream sundaes, and maybe a tear or two.<br />
In Social Handicap, read by Toni Oteri, I wanted to write a<br />
story of love between everyday people, people like you and me.<br />
Only not as beautiful and sophisticated as we are.
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