I AM SO IN. LETS FUCKING DO THIS.
I've only written two short stories, and they're both garbage. I was a socialogy major in college so i didn't read a lot of the "classics". The last year i've been trying to read a lot of staples - hemingway, fitzgerald - and lately i've moved to reading more contemporary guys. I've been told that my writing style is too verbose so i'm reading some Raymond Carver right now.
I have a series of vignettes based on fashion on my blog (
http://postmoderngentleman.com/category/fiction-2/). It's fun and it helps that its short. Interesting that actually i find the majority of fashion pics to be completely devoid of emotion. it's just pretty, skinny, young, rich people. who cares? there's no drama in them.
DEAD - i like the tempo of your writing but you're right it's basically one note. one sad guy. i actually don't know anything about how his life sucks other than him saying his life sucks. i've found with really good stories you know the characters life sucks but he never actually says it sucks or he's depressed, at least not for a little while. i dont know if that helps.
i'm very excited about this writing group