David's Musings

I've made mention of my new blog, "David's Short Stories" in posts in the past few weeks. I am nearing the end of my second story, "The Insurrection." This story revolves around a boy who is bullied, beaten and harassed by the town bully, a grown 32 year old man named Luther Thompson. It takes place in the Mississippi delta town called "Ruleville." Luther is a despicable human being who takes delight in the suffering he inflicts on others around him, including his tenants, co-workers at the local mill and especially small boys who he views as a threat to him. Finally, two small boys decide they can take Luther no longer. And, they lead an "insurrection" against him. I hope you'll come by and take a look.

I'm still in the process of trying to get my novel, "Diary: Alone on Earth" published. I have decided against self-publishing at this time. The idea that most self-published novels sell less than a 100 copies was enough for me to forgo that idea right now. I have entered my novel into a contest with Amazon.com. They take the first 5000 entries in two categories, general fiction and juvenile fiction. They then take 1000 from each category and go from there. I'll give updates on how this is progressing. I'll keep plugging away to try and get Diary published. But, I find what one writer told me after I completed my story, to be prophetic; "Completing the novel was the easy part. Now, here comes the hard part (getting published)." How very true that statement was as I discovered.

As I type this, the Super Bowl battle between the New Orleans Saints and the Indy Colts is still 3 1/2 hours away. I'm quite ambivalent about the game itself. I followed the Saints, somewhat, when I was a teenager. That was mostly due to New Orleans being less than a three hour drive from my hometown of Mobile, AL. I was always more of a Green Bay Packer fan most of my life. But, I can't tell you the last time I actually watched an NFL game from start to finish. College football has always been my thing and always will be. However, I'm not denying the significance this game has with so many people. Probably, this is the most watched sporting event in the USA. An argument could be made for the World Series. But, that is usually stretched out over multiple games. No, I would have to say the Super Bowl is the marquee game that garners the most attention of a single sporting event.

I can remember when the Saints came into being as an expansion team in 1967. They were horrible that first year and brought new meaning to the word "mediocre" over the years. Actually, mediocre would have been a compliment to that franchise. Many times, they dwelled at the bottom of the standings with 10-13 losses a season. I believe the Saints fans were the very first to wear paper bags over their heads at games. Many times the New Orleans Saints were referred to as the "Aints." They wallowed in their ability to pull defeat from the jaws of victory. It wasn't that long ago the Saints finally won more games than they lost in a season. They went two decades before having a winning season. Now, over four decades later, they finally make it to the Super Bowl. New Orleans fans are ecstatic today. This is something for which the entire city of New Orleans can be proud to finally witness. Who do I think will win? It's hard to go against Peyton Manning and the Colts. Manning is at the top of his game as an NFL QB. Still, there is a part of me hoping that the Saints can win. After so many losing seasons, after almost a half-century of losing, it would seem only poetic justice that the poster child of losing, the New Orleans Saints, would win sports ultimate prize; the Super Bowl.