New Story - The Wasted Portion

Yesterday I finished a draft of a little tale I call The Wasted Portion, a 908 word story of horror on the Laughing Grass hopefully worthy of its Halloween morning conclusion. It won't scare anyone, not a single one, though the squeamish might feel thoroughly disturbed (and I'm talking mighty squeamish here, I think we can all agree that understatement is a major factor in my writing). It takes the good Captain back to his early days riding for the Prince.

Some thoughts that have come from a few sources of feedback - Suppose you have grabbed your scythe (it's that thing the Grim Reaper holds, related to the sickle if you didn't know) and headed out the door. You walk to this place where something is growing: wheat, grass, weeds, corn stalks, kudzu, or whatever (it doesn't even matter to me, just picture something vividly with your mind's eye). Now you take your scythe and send it through the growth causing stalks of whatever you have envisioned crashing down. You look up and your neighbor (who isn't really retarded, maybe he is just a salesman for the leading supplier of building material in the country) pulls up on his wagon, the bed of which shows not a single mar from carrying anything but him around in it. He says, "What is it that you are doing, _____?" You then reply, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm ______."

I originally used the term "mowing" but felt some pushback from a reader on the matter. Technically the exact use of which I speak of was "recently mowed." I have changed that to "recently scythed." If you think that sounds lame, know that I do too. The reader complaint is that the term "mowed/mow/mowing" came after the lawn-mower and are not appropriate for the context. The great Willa Cather uses the term "mowing" to describe Emil (I'm pretty sure that is his name) taking his scythe to the grass at the family cemetery as "mowing" in Oh, Pioneers which was published in 1913 (I'm pretty sure). The first mechanical mowers were made in the mid-1800's and were usually horse-drawn in those days, which makes my argument using Cather a little weaker. I have not found a paper dictionary at this point, but if you look for the definition of "mow" online you get a dozen variations of "to cut with a blade or mower." So anyways . . . does anybody have a sure knowledge of what they called cutting crap down before the invention of the mower? I think the term "mow is older than the mower or it would have never been called a "mower" and the wheat and stuff that you cut down and stick in the barn wouldn't be called "mow." In the end, what do I know? I only write here.

In other news my grew very excited when I opened my mailbox today and there was an e-mail from WotF. Much to my dismay it was only a newsletter. I wrote them about a week ago to see if ADIS was lost in the mail (since I received a confirmation e-mail for TEC twelve days after the cut-off date). They wrote back and said they are still sorting, but I really want to know. Did ADIS make it or not? So that is my WotF update.

I think my recent burst of super-short stories (maybe incredibly short stories would be more accurate, since my first suggestion implies that they might have powers beyond that of a mortal short story) has to do with my schedule/available time situation and the fact that all the complaining I did about the Writing Center lowering the word count caused me to think of some really basic elements of my stories. They are somewhat liberating in that I can write about a snapshot in time that might take up too much room if I tried to stick it in another short story but that I would still enjoy exploring.

I have really gone on and on. I think this may be my longest post in quite a while. Anyways, thanks to all for your support, suggestions, and general love/friendship/encouragement.

R.