I'm jumping for joy! **
(* Special Surprise for my loyal readers. Scroll Down!)
Days before school lets out, I can cross Write First Draft off my professional "To Do" list!!! Happy Dance!
Of course, this step precedes many more steps. Steps that require I share my work with the world which begins with getting a few family members and friends to give it a read. Then, I will need to find a capable editor. And after that, I plan to send my newly gussied up manuscript to agents in which I hope one of them accepts me and has super powers in the form of traditional publication. Aack!!!
Wish me luck! I've been finding four leaf and even five leaf clovers in my garden and my son found a few four leaf-ers at the soccer field last night. I'm taking these signs as positive omens that I'm onto something good! Fingers crossed!
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| A 5 Leaf clover in my garden!!! They say the fifth leaf is for money. Wouldn't that be nice?!? |
FIRST DRAFT
“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not
enough the bad luck of the worm.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
How
Lucy Got Lucky by Audry Fryer
When I think about
the morning my luck started to change, three words come to mind, “Come on
down!”
The announcer
yelling this phrase at high volume from my grandmother’s television interrupted
my frantic search for my car keys. My room was a hot mess, watch-where-you-step,
disaster zone with bits and pieces of good intentions littering every corner,
surface and floor space. Overdue library books that I planned to read sat in a
precarious pile on my nightstand. Paint supplies and blank canvases decorated
an old school desk. And the better part of my floor contained a trail of clothing
leading to a black hole that was once a closet.
The Price Is Right
echoed up the stairs. “A new car!”
I heard the
audience roar with anticipation followed by the host rattling off the rules of
the game. He ended with, “Good luck!” Yeah, good luck, I thought. I could use
some of that right now.
What is it about
luck, anyway? A four leaf clover plucked from the warm Earth may be lucky for
the recipient, but not so fortunate for the clover. A lucky rabbit’s foot
surely wasn’t such a welcome fate for the rabbit. A horseshoe propped up in a
“U” didn’t do much to help the hardworking horse. And, that penny found face up
on the sidewalk? Think of the person who dropped it. As for me, I identify with
the rootless clover, the three footed rabbit, the shoeless horse and the
penniless soul.
When another five
minutes slipped into oblivion without any progress on finding my missing keys, I
stood in the center of my room gripping my hair at the scalp. I made one last
attempt to scan my room as I changed focal points to the beat of the tic, tic
on my retro cat clock. Propped in the far corner, I paused at a shadow box that
held my collection of antique keys. Wrong keys, I thought, as the television
played the well-known horn sound for an incorrect answer. If there’s an actual
key to a fulfilled and happy life, I’ve only found the lock.
Who’s to say that
good luck is really good and that bad luck is really bad? Honestly, how does
the four leaf clover pressed between wax paper and hidden in the pages of a book
on my nightstand make all my dreams come true? Has the rabbit’s foot dangling
from my key chain magically transported Mr. Right to my doorstep? Does that
horseshoe hung above my door saddle me up to ride into the sunset and onto a
life of adventure? And, will that penny I found heads up yesterday beckon
untold riches? No, no, no and no.
There’s a level of
security being consistently on the wrong side of luck. It’s sort of an upside
to a downside. I don’t play the lottery. And, in that way, I never loose. I
don’t believe Prince Charming exists. And, in doing so, I save myself the
trouble of a broken heart. I don’t do anything adventurous or remotely
exciting, which has saved me from bodily harm. Because I lack such aspirations,
I am free to feel grateful for the little things I do have like my health and a
place to live even if my roommate was my grandmother.
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Thanks for checking out my first one or two pages!!!
And, swing by my website for more info on "Yours Truly" and my other novels (plus one hot short story for summertime) at www.audryfryer.com
**The woman jumping is in the picture at the top of this post is from a pin on Pinterest and not of my own legs. After several failed attempts at such a photo, I decided to save my withering sanity with someone else's camera expertise. Besides, my legs are in yoga pants and I have yet to work-out. But it's on my "to do" list!!!
