Glenlivet

[Cita]

The padded booth in the dim restaurant swallowed Sunshine Angel Lewis and she held onto the table to keep from going under.

As the girl with the stick-straight hair took her drink order, Shiney cursed getting old, no longer limber enough to tuck a leg up under her ass to lift herself into a more dignified position, and no, house scotch was not ok, not today, not to celebrate her sixty-something-th birthday even if she was doing it all alone.

In the interim between ordering Glenlivet and receiving her highball glass, Shiney regretted having chosen this fancy dining place instead of driving to the little adobe tucked onto a dusty side street where a five-year-old pinata hung in the corner with cobwebs and no one ever took down the Cinco de Mayo decorations.  

They didn't serve high-end scotch, but she liked Corona with lime fine if it cold enough, and she knew she'd have ordered the #7 platter: one enchilada, one chili relleno, and one beef taco, all swimming in beans and rice, of course.

She wrapped both hands around her glass and stopped listening to the specials after the veal, finally ordering the baked roughie though only a fool expected good fish this far from the ocean.  

Ordering fish wasn't the only silly thing she'd done today.

[Jeanette Cheezum]

I love the whole enchilada. Especially, if you have a Corona topped off with a slice of  lime.  This sounds like a friend of mine. I can see her sitting in the booth,  her feet dangling and the menu covers her face. Great 6

 

[Mike Handley]

Love it.

WTF is wrong with TTU Press?

You write, dear, because you must create. It's the endorphin-fueled download you crave, not to mention the satisfaction of filling an electronic canvas with word paint and hearing the oohs and ahhs and OMFG-that's-goods.

The writing is fun. The rewriting not so much, since other stories are crowding the gate.

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

Wait--are you writing about me?????

[Cita]

This was an exercise to jumpstart a scene I have to write.  Of course I can't give you all of Shiney right here.  And, if anyone is paying attention, I just found out that TTUPress will not be reading any of my fiction in the near future.  So. 

[Kristine_ES]

is it okay to be brutally honest?

sentence two could have ended at "not today" because  we don't need to know she's sixty--it's going to come later? 

and so much was spent on the atmosphere (the places, the food) when i really wanted to know was more about Shiney. that's the danger of cramming a "whole" "complete" story into six sentences...?

RELIEVED this is finished novel, which Shiney deserves.  (and THAT'S why you write.)  :D

never had glenlivet, but by Bill's description, will have to try some. 

[Cita]

OMG.... Sunshine Angel Lewis is, of course, one of the main characters (and the one in most conflict) in my novel (which is undergoing its 7th or 8th rewrite as we speak).  Ah, Shiney.  ANYWAY, the novel is finished, of course, but still I rewrite.  Thank you to each of you for seeing her... because she is real enough to bleed for me.  The issue I am dealing with right now is that Shiney's conflict must be up front in the book, before all of my (lovely) backstory.  Removing the scaffolding is one thing, removing skeleton is quite another.  So... those of you (Elliot... where are you?) with old drafts, please know that Shiney's 60th-ish bd party alone is going to open the novel AFTER the "Unveiling" chapter.  There will be a later bd party in the book and Beauty will reign as queen from the middle of the table.

[Joey Delgado]

Why do you write? See above. :)

 

Cita, I can't wait to read a book about Sunshine Lewis; of today, tomorrow, and yesterday. Why, at sixty, is she just beginning to come to terms with who she is? She's not a Glenlivet, she's a Corona with lime.  This material is deserving of a novel.

 

[Teresa]

You write because you SEE.  I actually saw a little bit of you in Shiny (I think there's a little bit of us in each of our characters).  I saw a spunky gal who needed to tuck her foot underneath herself, a self-help lift.  And she was better than house scotch.  She will always be better than that.  And I don't know what Glenlivet is.  Why don't I?  And I can't afford the carbs in the #7.  Damn.  I think this character is also her own unique person and you'll write her the way she wants to be written.  This is a fine start. 

[Gita]

The name Sunshine Angel set off a round of questions in my head. That name sounds like she was the child of hippies.  But she's too old to have been born in the 60s.  Oh well.

Why do you write? Need I remind you that you are one of a group who, a year ago, said "I can't NOT write."

Impeccable details, from the stick-straight hair to the pinata to the baked roughie (a fave of mine).  I want to know why this woman is alone on her birthday and what  she has done with her 60+ years. Please tell more.