Whitestone author tops Amazon

Whitestone resident Barbara Arnstein’s career has recently taken her into the world of creative writing, with one of her short stories topping the lists on Amazon.com.
“I’ve always been interested in writing,” said Arnstein, who was born in Manhattan but moved to Whitestone with her family when she was about seven.
Arnstein attended Queens College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in writing and literature and a master’s degree in English and secondary education. While there, she started writing for the college newspaper. At one point, she was sent to write a review about a production of the play “Friends,” which featured a young Jerry Seinfeld as one of the actors.
“I was the first person to ever review him I guess,” Arnstein said.
Following graduation, Arnstein worked for NBC. In 1985, she began writing for local Queens newspapers, including The Queens Courier. Some of her memorable experiences from those times included being asked to be a judge for a Queens playwriting contest and being assigned to follow then-Mayor David Dinkins.
“I’ll never forget that. It was so intense,” she said. “From morning ’til night for a week I followed him in this exhausting schedule. That’s an unforgettable experience - to just see basically everything that the mayor saw for a week.”
Arnstein went on to work for Gallery, a national magazine, where she did a column called “Just for Laughs.” For two of its installments, she interviewed the casts of “The Simpsons” and a man who did voice overs and voices of cartoon characters.
Among other people that Arnstein has interviewed during her career are Frank and Malachy McCourt, author Ray Bradbury, choreographers Edward Villella and Paul Taylor and comedians Rich Hall and Brett Butler. She said that she has written more than 1,000 pieces for various newspapers and magazines.
While at Queens College, Arnstein had written a short story called “When the Cat’s Away” that was published in a newspaper there. However, she said that it was only recently that she began to have more creative works published.
On October 31, 2007, her short story You May Grow Up to Be a Fish came out on Amazon shorts. In order to submit works to it, a person must already have a book available through Amazon.com.
Arnstein explained that the short falls into several different categories, such as romance and fantasy. During the last couple of months, she said that she has been happy to see it has ranked high on several of the lists.
“You May Grow Up to Be a Fish,” which was inspired by the question of if a person could be any kind of animal what kind they would be, is about a woman who is a reporter and a man who is a publisher. The couple has differing points of views.
“It’s a fantasy about an invention that can solve a lot of problems in the world,” Arnstein said.
Arnstein recently submitted a second piece to Amazon Shorts, “A Feast to See and Hear,” that she hopes will be up some time in February. It is set in the future and focuses on a man who works for the “food police” and a woman who is a restaurant reviewer. Arnstein described “A Feast to See and Hear” as being one of the best pieces that she has written.
A future goal of Arnstein’s is to have her stories made into audio books. If that happens, she said she would like to record one of the voices herself.
“You May Grow Up to Be a Fish” can be downloaded for $.49 at amazon.com in their Amazon Shorts section. You can also find out more about Arnstein by visiting her blog at thewriteryouread@blogspot.com.