Lonnie Rides Again

I finished the first draft of “Lonnie, Me and the Battle of St. Crispin’s Day” and took it to the Southern Indiana Writers Group critique meeting last week. Got some great ideas of ways to make it better, so Imma do that today and email the repaired version around. I’m submitting it for the SIW upcoming HOLIDAY BIZARRE anthology, which will include most or all of the stories from our out-of-print CHRISTMAS BIZARRE and some new ones featuring other holidays.

In “Lonnie, Me and the Battle of St. Crispin’s Day”, Lonnie and Tiny return to the neighborhood where they lived as boys and attend the parish church’s Saint’s Day Festival, October 25, Saints Crispin and Crispinian. There is alcohol present. There is dancing. There are games of chance. And Lonnie is married to a hard-shell Baptist. Things get…interesting.

I was worried about this story, because “Lonnie, Me and the Hound of Hell” went over so well; I was afraid this story wouldn’t be very funny by comparison, but the SIW members present assured me that they were sufficiently amused. I am content.

Now Imma go work on the rewrites. Happy!

WRITING PROMPT: Where did you grow up? Or any of your characters? Would you/he/she go back? Why or why not? What is one strong positive memory of that place and time?

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Lonnie Rides Again

    • Author
  1. Bodie P

    February 13, 2011 at 12:54am

    How funny you should ask about where I grew up, and suggest writing about it. Though central locations are invented, they are based solidly on the area in which I grew up–and the work practices are ones with which I was familiar. Setting my story in that world gave me an opportunity to re-inhabit a place and time that was in many ways wonderful. Certainly it gave me a deep sense of the rhythm of the year–I still chart my years in terms of plowing, seeding, cultivating, and harvest. Of all times of the year, harvest was my favorite–better even than Christmas. So does Lonnie get to swank around and do stuff that you enjoy?

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 13, 2011 at 9:03am

      He does some stuff that I enjoy–interacts on Twitter and Facebook. In fact, when I started the story, I asked on Twitter if Lonnie should tweet, and @PlaidGirl, one of my friends on there, said yes. So two of his Twitter fans are in the story. 🙂 And he really has a Twitter account: @LonnieCartr . Yes, he misspelled his own name.

      I was raised in the inner city, but now that I live in the country with a small garden I love harvesting through the year. Mom and I were just saying yesterday that there’s nothing like the feeling of bringing your own food in still warm from the sun and wet from the rain. 🙂

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