Tickled Pink?

My dear old mom had a lot of oddball sayings, but one I remember her using often was when she said she was “tickled pink” about something. I did some lightweight investigation and discovered the term was known as far back as 1910 and seemed to be a variant of the much older term “tickled to death.” This in turn may have dated back to the second half of the 18th century as the result of having something “tickle one’s fancy.”

In all three instances, “tickle” is used in the sense of finding something amusing, appealing to one’s sense of humor or delight. None of them seem to refer to the common definition of lightly touching or prodding in a way that causes itching, squirming, and uncontrolled laughter.

That was an interesting etymology lesson for this beautiful, bright and sunny Sunday in Northern Idaho. I believe I was inspired to look all this up when I started thinking about how much I enjoy posting or releasing a new story—or even a new chapter of a story. It may sound weird, but I’m tickled pink to have started pre-release of my newest story, Team Manager: Swish! to patrons this morning. The really cool thing is that I’ll be tickled pink when I have the public release on Tuesday May 25, 2021. That will include both the release of the first chapter of the book for serialization here on SOL, and the release of the eBook on Bookapy.

Woohoo!

I’m also very conscious of the quality of what I put out. I can’t promise that every story will be appealing to every reader. I like to write all over the map when it comes to story genres. I look back at the most recent stories I’ve posted and find science fiction, romance, satire, do-over, occult fantasy, and (if I include stories by Wayzgoose) mystery and literary fiction.

But I do try to make each story a quality piece of writing. In order to get there, I currently have an alpha reader who basically looks over my shoulder as I write. I have beta readers, including a dozen or more patrons who look at and comment on works in progress. I have story editors who mark up content and suggest variants in how the story is written, where the story arc falls apart, where it is not consistent with the stated audience. Then there are line editors who look at sentence construction, consistency within the story, and places where confusion might set in. Finally, I have three incredible proofreaders who attack the story with gusto as they find missing quotation marks, homonyms, misspellings, variants, and bad punctuation.

Oops. I didn’t mean “finally” as in the last shot. I personally re-read every draft, and don’t simply “accept all” when an editor makes changes. And, since I do my own layout, I reread the story “one more time” in the format in which it will be published. Hence the past two days have been spent re-reading and correcting the three versions (SOL html, DevonLayne html, eBook) of Team Manager: Swish!

I found two things: 1) several dozen more errors that I corrected. 2) I enjoyed the story.

The author’s recommendation doesn’t necessarily mean you will enjoy the story, but I find that if I don’t enjoy my own work, not many others will either.

Team Manager: Swish! is the first volume of what will definitely be two, probably three, and possibly more books about high school sophomore Dennis Enders, a myopic runt who finds acceptance, self-identity, courage, and love as the team manager for the girls’ basketball team at Hugh Bartley High School in Bartley, Iowa. But the road is not easy for the abused teen nor his team, as bullies threatening kidnapping, rape, sex trafficking, drug dealing, and even murder stalk the team and its manager.

Add all that to the stress of high school, hormones, compromising situations, growth spurts, parents, and cliques, and you have the ingredients for a riveting tale. I believe you will be thoroughly hooked before you finish reading the third chapter.

According to one of my readers, this story is right in my sweet spot. Of another story he said, “Like a moth to the flame: a world where a protagonist ends up with a harem while challenging the status-quo. Irresistible, unavoidable.”

Coming May 25, 2021