Tagline: Ann knew it was love that put the sparkle in her marriage...but she still missed the diamond she'd lost from her ring...
In a Nutshell: Ann lost the diamond in her engagement ring a while ago. Busy lives and a stretched budget have made it impossible to replace. Until now.
My apologies. I skipped an issue and went out of chronological order. Sorry!
Observations: Okay, I am going crazy! I read this and thought I've read this story before! The feeling was so strong, I went through the blog looking for my review of it. I couldn't find it, but if someone else remembers a story a while ago that had a couple going down to a lake for the romantic end of a story, please tell me!
Anyway, I thought this story was the perfect Woman's World mix of sentimentality and positive lifestyle. It's so common these days to see stories about divorce and unhappiness and well, people bitching, so it's nice to have Woman's World here to show examples of how to not succumb to that negativity. (On that note, have you looked at Closer? It's similar to other celebrity rags, but with positive stories, not dirt and scandal. I liked the issue I bought.)
In fact, let's do a comparison, just for fun.
WW: Ann gives a positive message to the bride-to-be in the opening scene.
"It's not about the sparkling diamond, it's about love--and you and Ted have plenty of that."
A Reality Show: A bride-to-be would most likely be criticizing the ring and comparing it to those of her friends and either finding it lacking or happy that it outshone theirs.
WW: We see Ann is reconciled with not having the diamond replaced. Her family comes first.
A Reality Show: The "star" of the show would probably be looking among all her other jewelry and wondering why she shouldn't just go to the jewelry store and upgrade her engagement ring herself.
WW: Ann is eager to go on the anniversary date.
A Reality Show: The woman might be "busy" doing something not really important and therefore is late to the anniversary dinner.
WW: The husband had worked for a long time to make his wife happy. Their love is reaffirmed.
A Reality Show: The ring would be flashier, but the marriage would not be fortified. The meaning of the gesture is lost when the recipient is gratitude-challenged and the giver is taken for granted.
Photo credit: Derek Ramsey via Wikimedia Commons
17 comments:
I've been trying to think up a story about some already-marrieds, and haven't managed to yet. This was a good one.
Sweet story with an unusual slant. Nice to see a touch of realism, too, with the missing diamond taking several years to replace. I liked that.
I love seeing an already-married story. I thought this one was so real to life and I loved the positivity of the heroine.
Tamara, I've never come up with an already-married story either.
Missed you, Kate. Hope meeting your deadline is going well.
I liked this story. I also, should have thought of this idea since I lost MY engagement ring diamond about a year ago! (Darn you Ms. Dobbins! LOL) Seriously, I also find it difficult to come up with good stories for "already marrieds" but think they're very sweet when the author can pull them off so nicely. And Kate, I loved how you changed up your review style here. It was neat!
--Mary Ann Joyce
I did come up with one about a guy who planned a surprise anniversary party for his wife of fifty years. The couple also shared a birthday, and I titled it "The Love Triangle". I was thinking, as I dropped it in the mail, "I know you're gonna love this story". Well, Johnene didn't -- said it was too obvious what the husband was up to. One of those, "I can't believe she didn't just love that story" moments, with which some of you may relate.
Tamara, at least you got a comment. I've only ever gotten two--one on a mystery and 'Nicely written though' on a romance. All my stories but two have made it to Johnene and I've never sold any. But there's still hope.
Hmm, what does it say about marriage and romance that none of us can come up with any good "already married" ideas? The only ones I can remember are a cute Valentine's story and a not-so-cute story where a divorcing couple having a garage sale decides to try again.
The only one I ever submitted was rejected, but recently sold to The People's Friend.
There is hope indeed, Pat. Keep trying. The fact that you've gotten to Johnene is promising and also her positive comment about your writing.
Already-married stories are so hard! And the frustrating thing is Johnene is probably really hungry for them, since they're so few and far between.
I must give some serious thought to some already-married plots that don't involve an anniversary.
I think they're hard because there has to be a story, a black moment, and for the married couple it isn't as easy as "does he feel the same way I do?" The type of problems that married people might have are generally not welcome at WW, even if they resolve them in the end.
I submitted what I thought was a nice married story two or three years ago. I was looking for it just now, but I must have lost it when we switched to a new computer. Anyway, I know I have a hard copy filed away. It was an empty nest story with the couple still in love with each other. Alone at last! Johnene didn't buy it.
Well, all this talk about married romance inspired me to write a little story this afternoon. It came out at 902 words, so I had to cut it back to 800. Hey, I think it is pretty darned cute. Now to see if the girls at WW agree.
Congrats, Mary Jo and good luck!!!
I have my fingers crossed, Mary Jo. It sounds as though you wrote that pretty fast -- good work.
I have my fingers crossed, Mary Jo. It sounds as though you wrote that pretty fast -- good work.
Good luck, Mary Jo.
Thank you for the good wishes, ladies. We could all use a little luck. Yes, Tamara, I usually write these mini stories very fast, and then in a day or two I do some tweaking. There is always something that can be written better. Anyway, this one is in the mail.
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