I just had a story come out in an online magazine called Untied Shoelaces of the Mind. The story, although only a thousand words long, took me ten years to get right. I wrote the beginning of it while I was still in college, but every attempt I made to finish the story disappointed me until last summer. Then, I was watching my daughter play with My Little Ponies and thinking about how much easier it was for me to play with and enjoy ponies when I was her age. Children have such strong imaginations. At least... she does. And I did. I have to work harder at it now. That gave me the idea I needed to finally get the end right.
Anyway, it's free to read, and they're planning to post an audio version of it sometime in the next few weeks. So, here's "Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn":
http://www.untiedshoelacesofthemind.com/Issue6/unicorn.php