I wrote a full story today. It seems like it has been a very long time since the last one, but I don’t care to count the months. The story I talked about writing in the “Independence Day blog,” is still percolating, and needing proper research from a library and bookstore. I will follow through, as that is a story that can probably be sold, but this one that I wrote today is a complete first draft and needing feedback to move forward.
I was at Starbucks working on the humor book, when the submissions I were reading took hold of me. Suddenly, A Prude in Patpong, the funniest story I’ve written to date, didn’t seem good enough to be in the book. I needed to write a different one, a funnier one. And laughing at the submissions in front of me, provided just the right amount of inspiration.
It seems that I’m always out of the house when the muse strikes. So, I took the pen and wrote freehand in a college ruled notebook. Black ink, instead of my usual blue. After an hour or so, I had half of it done and took it home to type it up. For some reason, finishing the story took twice as long as the first half.
Humor is a funny thing, no pun intended. After writing it, I’m left with reading it over and over to the point where I don’t know what jokes are funny, and which ones just sound like I’m trying to be funny.
I passed it on to my editing friends at BootsnAll.com to see what they thought, before passing it to the editors at Travelers’ Tales
Now my head is on the market. Where can I sell this? I don’t think that a story about being the token heterosexual on an all women’s cross-country cycling trip is exactly what the Smithsonian wants for their back page section, but I might send it anyway, just in case. Who else? Travel humor? I need to think about this and ask around. Any ideas? Maybe some women’s magazines.
The other thing on my mind is name changing. I happen to know that two of the lesbian and bis who were on that trip are now claiming that time in their life as “experimental.” And then there’s the issue of quoting ex-boyfriends who don’t even speak to you anymore. So, what’s the deal with non fiction and changed names? As far as I know, it can still be non fiction if you alter a name as long as you claim it. Correct me if you know otherwise.
Also, if you have any suggestions for where I might place a women’s humor piece, pass it on. If you share your markets with me, I’ll share my markets with you…;-)
It was fun to write again. I tell ya, this exit from city life was a good thing for me. Stay tuned and watch the process of trying to sell this story.