Tag Archives: chuck harris

If At First You Don’t Succeed … (for Trifecta)


Trifecta — “Give us a 33-word opening line to your book.  That’s it.  Make us want to read the next 333 pages of your work. “

Seems easy enough. Right? (Insert canned laughter here. Befitting of the pop culture reference below.)

* * * * * * * * * *

If at first you don’t succeed …

* * * * * * * * * *

He woke to the smell of a hot breakfast. Opening his eyes, he saw the walls of his childhood bedroom. The Gong Show desk calendar said 1977. He was 8. “Not again,” thought Henry Beckett, 43.

* * * * * * * * * *

One of the many reasons I used The Gong Show as my 1977 reference …

20120407-223706.jpg