The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Second Bite

         Sometimes I go into spasms of pleasure when I take the first initial bite of something new. Tammy's BLT bites. Anything (and I do mean anything, from her Orgasms to her quiche to her spaghetti) made by Lynn Obermoeller. My grandmother's gravy. (Every time she made it, it was a little different but those brown, fat-laden pools never failed to make me swoon.)

      When something edible is that good, I have to take a second bite. (Or a second helping. Yikes.)

      This morning I was taking a second bite at a story idea. There are two stories I am driven to get published, to honor the people who are at the heart of the pieces.

      One slice-of-life story I am yearning to see in print is about my friend Darice's son. He is the same age as my son, and you will never meet a friendlier, more polite kid than Aaron. He is the kind of young man who could talk to a lamp post and he'd get a response. Now in his mid-twenties, he got his Master's degree, and was enrolled in chiropractic school when someone broke into his house while he was sleeping. Aaron now has a bullet in his spine as a reminder, and has been living as a paraplegic for over a year. (I've submitted a story about him to Chicken Soup, but no news is bad news, so I am going to write another story about him from a different angle.)

      The other story I'm taking another stab at (See? It started as a "bite," but now I'm getting surlier, so "stab" seems more apt.) is about a friend named Ruthie. She and her husband Jim had an unwavering optimism. Jim had Alzheimer's, and they had more than their share of obstacles, but their sunny outlook remained intact. (I submitted an absolutely fabulous story, worthy of a Pulitzer Prize second look, but no. Again, no news means no publishing agreement...)  I'm writing the story from a different perspective, will beg my critique partners-in-crime to read it ("OMG! Another Alzheimer's story?" they'll cry out in protest.) and after it's all polished up, nice and shiny, I'll send it off.

      What are you taking a second (or third) bite of?  What (or who) are you taking a second stab at?  Inquiring minds want to know...

26 comments:

  1. Right now, I can't even seem to take a first bite of anything!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm taking third and fourth bites of some things, and I've chewed some to bits.

    Had an answer for the "taking a stab at" question, but will let it go so that I don't come across as totally demented!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, and there's that whole self-incrimination thing, as well.

      Me, too. I've tried to recycle the same story idea three or four times as well.

      Delete
  3. I'm still pondering the story of Aaron. Chilling, really, how everything can change in a heartbeat. You're right to tell of his experience, Sioux.

    I've got several completed manuscripts waiting for me to take a second bite . . . they're finished but not ready for prime time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa--Manuscripts? You are so much more prolific than I am. (I'm more of a sprinter. You do marathons AND sprints, apparently.)

      Delete
  4. Writing now is not happening...feeling brain dead...surely something will crop up. Thanks for comments on my blog. Ah, that friend who makes fry bread must be good to know!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Claudia--That is because you're traveling. Drink in scenery and the people and the sights while you can...Then, when you're back home, you can write.

      Delete
  5. I have been chewing in ideas, adn there seems to be a log jam; nothing is moving. You MUST get Aaron's story out there. And you know CS takes its good old time. When you least expect it...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda--Yeah, well when the book is coming out and you haven't heard, I think it's "bad news."

      Unfortunately (for those of us who are trying to get semi-semi close to your record-breaking number) your "log jam" is short-lived, I'm sure.

      Delete
  6. I seem to never give up. . . I'm not sure if that is good or not. I'm thinking about taking a fifth or sixth stab at a picture book idea I have about a kindergartener with money burning a hole in his pocket!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margo--Your persistence pays off. The proof? Your books.

      I think that picture book idea is a great one...one that many kids could learn from, and has the potential to impart an important lesson...

      Delete
  7. I'm always dusting off, tweaking, and polishing old stories. Guess I've found yet another awesome way to excuse myself from writing any new ones.

    Pat
    Critter Alley

    ReplyDelete
  8. Whoops. For some reason Blogspot likes my posts so much it's showing them double. Sorry!!!

    Pat
    Critter Alley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pat--Everything old is new again, they say (and sing).

      Yeah, Blogspot is doing weird things to my comments, too, but in my case, they're deleting them. I guess it really, really likes you and me...not so much.

      Delete
  9. Like congenial Gracie Lou Freebush having dinner with Michael Caine, I am still too busy rolling half-masticated cow around in my wide-open trap to think about second bites. The first bites are in need of my attention at the moment.

    I HAVE been farming my Free Hairwad Hot Tub story out to various venues, but nobody is willing to take a first bite of my hairwad. Can you imagine?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Val--That is unbelievable, she said incredulously.

      A free hairwad? Teachers are all about free. Some left-over Krispy Kremes in the teachers' lounge? Some ink pens the insurance people left? We jump on that like Juno onto a bowl of cat chow.

      Yeah, it's hard to believe no one is nibbling...

      Delete
  10. Your story of Aaron and his family is amazing, but Chicken Soup really wants that first person point of view. That inspiring story is bound to make it into another publication if not C.S. I find it so ironic that everything I write that you seem to think just fell out of me has usually been digested multiple times. I don't just marinate, I pickle!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Tammy--Well, your "pickles" are way too soaring and lyrical to be put onto/into ordinary hamburgers/anthologies.

    Mastication...It's good for story revision.

    You just gave me an idea on how I might make Aaron's story something they will consider. Thanks, as always, Tammy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I need your determination to rub off on me Sioux! Both of your stories are fabulous, and they WILL get snapped up - just a matter of time!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beth--I just wish you were the editor...Then I could bribe you with fudge...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lately I've been combining scenes from various stories, or taking out parts of stories to turn them into flash fiction. I call it recycling because it has a more positive connotation than "too lazy to write something new." I've also done the same thing with poems, which has worked surprisingly well (as far as you know)!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary--Recycle (your writing). Re-use (stories and poems). Reduce (the stress).

      Sounds like a winning philosophy...

      Delete
  15. Both of the stories you are taking second bites on sound worthwhile, especially Aaron's story. Just reading your post gave me chills.
    Every year my goal is to get organized and finish what I started, but alas, here is it almost October and I'm not even close.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But Donna, because of you, I now keep a "calendar" of my acceptances and my rejections.

      Sometimes life gets in the way. You've had an exciting year with your granddaughter, and your grandson will only be home for a few more years, so enjoy those while you can. There will time--when you have an empty nest--when you will have oodles of time to write...

      Delete
  16. I've taken so many bites at these manuscripts of mine, I'm ready to vomit. Oh, and thanks for the nice compliment about my food. And your stories are wonderful and they will get in the right place at the right time.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by...