Seriously, Cinderella!

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but we're finally, FINALLY getting over being sick.  We're still not sleeping, but think that's my life for the next few years.  Oh well - this blog isn't about that.  This blog entry is about writing - my writing in particular.  I need to do more of it actually.  And I need to share it with others.  Why?  Because I can get valuable feedback to learn what works and what doesn't.  Of course I love to hear how great things are, but more importantly, I need to hear what works and what doesn't.  I really want to publish another book (it's quite addicting) but I don't have anything finished that I feel is even worthy of considering.  And I have lots of ideas - I just don't take the time to fully develop them. 

So this piece, titled "Seriously, Cinderella" is one of the very first writings I did last summer when I kicked off this whole "being a writer" thing.  The idea just came to me and I literally just stopped what I was doing and sat down and wrote it out.  When Andy came home from work that I day I could barely contain myself because I was so excited about it and thought it was amazing.  Of course I read it way too fast and Andy thought it was good, but he was in the middle of making dinner and didn't really have time to be overly excited about it.  And in any case, what was this piece of writing for?  What was I going to do with it?

I shared it with my writer's club, which was fun.  And they enjoyed it.  So I kept editing and revising it to make it better.  (The ending had me stuck for quite awhile.)  I thought about the narrator's perspective and added a few more details about each girl to make the story more complete.  I had other people read it too, for other opinions.  And then I submitted the piece to a few different  magazines for consideration.  And then I waited to hear back.

And I was rejected.  :)  Not a single place accepted it.  Not that I was really surprised, because it doesn't really fit any sort of genre.  But I was sort of bummed, because I thought it was good.  My dreams of being published were slightly diminished.  But then I thought, so what?  I can still have it "published" - all that means is that I share it with others and have them read it.  So here it is on my blog for you to enjoy. 

After you read it, let me know what you think.  I want to know if you "get it."  ;)

So, without any more ado - I present:  "Seriously, Cinderella"

Dear Diary,

                I’ll tell you one thing, diary, at my school, Castle High, the drama has already started in finding a date to the prom.  This year’s theme is something ridiculous like “Happily Ever After.”  And people are going crazy trying to find dates!  I mean, even Stephanie the biggest bookworm in the school has a date!  To be fair, Stephanie is rather beautiful in an unassuming way, but she spends most of the time with her nose in a book or practicing French, so even though most guys want to date her, she’s too oblivious to even know she’s being sought after.  Not that I’m jealous or anything because have you seen her boyfriend?  He’s HUGE and the star wrestler for our high school wrestling team, but he can barely use a fork or spoon in the cafeteria.  I think I’ve only heard him grunt his answers in class when called on.  Plus he’s got a full grown beard – and he’s only in the tenth grade!  They say his nickname is “Beast.” 

                Then there’s Janet.  She has so much crap piled in her locker, it’s starting to attract mice; I think I’ve seen her talking to them, but who knows. She doesn’t have too many friends and her step-sisters aren’t exactly the nicest people in the world.  But she lucked out finding her man. Actually, her man found her.  It happened after the homecoming girls’ basketball game.  She dropped her stinky, sweaty, hot-off-her-foot shoe right in front of the rival team’s fan bus and the star player from their varsity team picked it up with his bare hands and gave it back to her with this ridiculous grin on his face like he just found the holy grail or something.  I wanted to barf, but it could have been due to the smell of diesel and sweat as the rest of us, all gross from the game and upset from our dismal defeat, stared at her in the parking lot.  Of course Janet and Daniel are now dating even though they live in different cities.  At least Daniel can drive (he finally passed his driver’s test) so he won’t have to take the bus anymore.  I hear Janet has a midnight curfew and that her step-mother is not happy if she’s late.

                And of course there’s Marybelle.  She’s practically narcoleptic and falls asleep in every class!  I have no idea why any of our teachers haven’t caught on to this yet, but she manages to get away with it.  Well, one day she fell asleep in history class (which isn’t that weird since half the class is asleep at any given moment because Mr. Kingly is sooooo boring) when  - BAM!  Marybelle fell out of her chair!  No joke!  She hadn’t fully awaken from her last class – home ec, where I think they were using sewing machines of all things – and was so out of it that she fell asleep before Mr. Kingly even began his lecture.  She landed with a huge thud on the floor and everyone jumped up and surrounded her.  When she came to, she locked eyes with Martin (who has eyes like a basset hound) who started shouting that he was certified in CPR (which is kind of silly since we all are as it was required in health class) and to stand back because he might need to perform mouth to mouth.  Gross.  Please.  I don’t if it was due to head injury or just blurred vision, but Marybelle, who couldn’t resist those puppy dog eyes,  then announced that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen and they have been inseparable ever since.  A pair of star-cross-eyed lovers.

                Even Audrey has a boyfriend, which is hard to imagine since she spends most of her time with seven short, nerdy guys from the stage crew who spend more time sweeping and hanging out in dark theatres than in the daylight.  And she’s not even dating one of them!  Nope!  She managed to snag the only straight guy in the drama club who plays the leading man in almost every play.  Apparently there was an incident involving food poisoning in the cafeteria – something about bad fruit.  I don’t know why anyone would eat cafeteria food anyway.  One of those lunch ladies is seriously creepy looking and I wouldn’t trust her with my food.  Anyway…Audrey ate some, got really sick, and had to be hospitalized.  Henry – the drama club stud – was in the hospital himself, not as a patient, but as a volunteer (yeah, he’s that perfect.)  He was said to have been feeding her applesauce when she groggily muttered, “I love you,” (or it could have been “Who are you?”  Hard to tell with all the meds she was on.)  And that was it: love at first bite.

                Seriously, diary, I’m over this lovey-dovey stuff. It’s time to get serious.  Does society think that I’m sitting around here waiting for Prince Charming to come and rescue me like I’m some Bambi-eyed princess?  Those girls may get the guy in the end, but then what?  They live “happily for right now” until they find someone more interesting?  And then the drama repeats itself.  Lame.  That’s why I don’t want to be the nice girl.  I’m more interested in who’s spiking the punch or spiking a volleyball than who’s hooking up with whom.  Don’t get me wrong, diary.  I’m going to prom.  But while those girls will be wearing their pastel ball gowns, I’ve picked out a slammin’ slinky, sequined black dress (that almost looks like scales) that shows off the dragon tattoo on my shoulder blade.   And who needs a date when I’ve got my iPhone that when asked, “Siri, who’s the hottest, coolest chick at Castle High” always replies, “You.  Obviously.”  Gotta go - I have some chemistry homework to finish.  We’re doing some wicked cool labs in class right now.  Later!

-Meredith