"The Befuddled Entrepreneur" by Valerie Macon

 – “What else could go wrong today?”

Promising pet owners peace of mind was a doggone shame.

Valerie Macon calls Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, home. Her poetry has appeared in Kakalak, Whispers, Vision & Voice, Red Clay Review, Visions International, Clockhouse Review, Poetry in Plain Sight, as well as numerous anthologies. She has authored the following books of poetry: Shelf Life, Sleeping Rough, A String of Black Pearls, The Shape of Today, and Page Turner. She writes for Suburban Living Magazine.   

Author’s Talk

Valerie Macon

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing something. In fact, true confession, the most likely reason I’m math-challenged is that I would often write poetry during math class, passing poems on small slips of paper. Later on, when several of my roommates and I shared sleeping quarters in a tiny apartment, I heard one of them reading my poems to her boyfriend in the wee hours of the morning when she thought we were all asleep. Even though she took credit for writing them, I was excited to hear my poetry shared. I have a fine-tuned sense of my environment, and I love to capture the humor and meaning of experience into vivid, living words. I have published five books of poetry and have short stories and poetry in numerous anthologies, magazines and collections, as well as in collaborative story books. I also write for a magazine and enjoy interviewing people and telling their stories. The Befuddled Entrepreneur, my story included in Twists and Turns, is about my then-teenage son’s first attempt at starting a business. He has gone on to become a brilliant, successful entrepreneur. Having recorded his beginnings makes me smile, as do all of my writings, which capture the good and not-so-good experiences of life.  valeriemaconpoetry.com  —Valerie Macon