Okay, here's the how and why of Hackamore. I'd been taking a creative writing class at school for about five semesters, and my teacher, (let's call her Dr. M) saw the short story Ride the Unicorn in about the second. All my other stuff has been the fantasy, most especially excerpts from The Hart. She took one look at Unicorn, and said "Is this YOU?" She liked it, and said I'd found my "muse". Which just translated as "this kind of thing is what you write best."
Well, I was glad she liked it, but after trying to do a couple more of what I call human stories (read The Hart. I usually work with animal people like found that tale), I found out I didn't particularly like writing those. And I didn't really think that Ride the Unicorn was the best work I'd ever done. It was good for what it was, but it wasn't the pinnacle of my efforts. So I happily went back to writing fantasy.
But throughout the semesters Dr. M has said that the genre I write in is "not my muse." She's said this both in passing during class, where we read and comment on our projects anonymously, and to me in the meetings students have a few days after reading to go over the projects in more detail. I developed a standard answer.
"Okay, so it's not my muse. But I don't like writing those other stories. It's no fun. I don't enjoy it. I'm not going to do it. "
And I didn't. Which left things at that. Dr. M and I are friends, and I like and respect her -- but I'm just as stubborn as she is.
Finally the day came though, when she not only mentioned that fantasy wasn't "the author's muse", but really went off on it during class, AND in the meeting. She finally managed to piss me off. (It was like saying that all my work in fantasy didn't matter and was of no consquence. Grrrrrrrr.) I went home, sat down, and wrote Hackamore in an evening, spent two days editing and revising, and handed it in.
Whoops. Let me backtrack a moment. I gave it to a friend of mine in the class to proofread for me, because I knew it had darn well better be mechanically correct. I was taking my life into my hands here. (Dr. M is NOT the easiest teacher in the world, and she's definitely very direct with her opinions.) He read it, pointed out some typos and such that I changed later, then set it down and said it was the best thing of mine he'd ever read. At which point I started to bang my head against the nearest wall. I knew then that Dr. M would probably love it. Still, it had the message I wanted to convey, so I turned it in anyway, knowing full well she'd probably feel justified. I figured, hey, it still says "lay off", so why not?
Did she get it? Ooooh yeah. So did most of the class. I hadn't exactly been quiet about the fact that I was getting tired of the same old thing over and over. The thing is, a lot of people also loved it, said it was great, etc. And I was right, Dr. M thought it proved her point.
Frankly, I could care less. I put in the least amount of work and time and effort on this story that I ever have, on any peice of writing, even poetry. I put a great amount of time and effort and myself into the fantasy stories, something I love to do.
So, tell me what you think. Should I quit painting landscapes?