"God Bless the Child"

In early 1998, I was in my last semester as a graduate student at UNF. I'd long been a writing dilettante and had watched the announcement for the school's yearly writing contest come and the deadline go past me for years.

Less than a week before the deadline for submissions to the 1998 contest, I saw that year's announcement for the first time, with dismay. Here was my last chance to write for the contest, win it, and change my life, and I had no time to do anything about it. The opportunity was once again going to pass me by.

That night, while I stewed in my frustration over pot roast at Cracker Barrel, at the table next to me dined a man with two small girls, about ages 4 and 5. Dad, as many parents must do, nudged the girls to eat their food. The girls, being kids, didn't have much interest. Dad was patient and kind but didn't get results, so he finally reached across the table and said, "Well, if you're not going to eat that bacon, I am."

No one, I thought, likes to see bacon go to waste.

And that was it, one of those MOMENTS, one of those gifts from the universe, delivered to me as an assemble-it-yourself kit. In an instant, from that simple family vignette, I had a story in full. (One quite unlike the story of the family at Cracker Barrel, in fact.) It took me just a few hours to get it on paper. I edited it lightly the next day, printed it, and delivered it.

And then I won.

The school published the story, "Bacon," in a tiny gray chapbook with limited circulation. I received several copies and gave all but one away. And that's where it stood for years. But for a little extra pride and confidence and a cash award ($75, as I recall), winning didn't change my life.

After I had a story published on the internet last year, however, I started thinking about my little "Bacon" story. I had edited it a few times over the years, most significantly by changing the title to "God Bless the Child." I'd wanted to add an allusion to that song in the story, but all my attempts to insert it were artificial, interrupting the flow of the narrative or adding details that simply weren't necessary. Changing the story's title to the song's title fixed the problem.

I submitted the story to one online magazine, Epiphany. The winning magic the story had displayed in 1998 was still working, apparently, because Epiphany accepted it -- rather quickly -- and published it in its 17th issue, making "Bacon" my first published story, and its revision, "God Bless the Child," my third. (You'll find a link to the story below the picture.)

"God Bless the Child"