Three Quarters of the Way Through a New Article

When I was a young teenager (bear with me), I loved to watch professional wrestling. The names were Lou Thesz and Dick the Bruiser and the Sheik and Larry Chene and Happy Farmer Humphrey. So, if you're thinking Hulk Hogan or Ice Cold Somebody-or-Other, you need to re-calibrate.

In any case, there was live wrestling in my home town of Sarnia and I have been welcomed as a Guest Columnist on more than one occasion by a local weekly newspaper (The Sarnia Journal) so I thought a neat little article about local wrestling back in the dark ages might be welcome.

Somehow that turned into a light piece of poetry. That didn't quite scan. And somehow, the more I wrote, the more my old wrestling flame wanted me to jam into this flimsy little vehicle I had begun to create. 

So, I had to start again. I am now at an 845 word mix of prose and verse. My newspaper has a maximum of about 450 words. He's an understanding editor, and I am always happy to work with him, but not that understanding.

So, now I'm on Draft 7, taking that to my Writing Group, pretty sure it is too long regardless of an editor's limitations.

For this work along, in tandem with annoying my wife, also understanding but not limitless, if the final article is published somewhere (I have a half an idea, maybe) I will receive Zero Dollars and a limited number of readers - including my cousins.

I will, however, have added to my writing skills and satisfaction.

This is the writing world for most of us - although it's possible I'm a little more compulsive than most.