A ham hock doesn’t usually come up in conversation for me, but recently I had an enjoyable exchange with creative people when we mentioned ham hock.
One person suggested a character named Ham Hock would be the county champion greased pig rider.
Another said her hero named Ham Hock would be a good ol’ boy courting a big city girl who returned to the farm.
As a lover of romance novels, I said I would write about a fabulous cook presenting the one she loves with this menu:
Snaps (green beans) cooked with a ham hock
Creamed potatoes
Deluxe roast beef
Rolls with butter
Cherry cream cheese pie for dessert
Why am I sharing this frivolity? To demonstrate that creative people are just that: creative. You can offer the same word, or even plot, to three different people and they’ll create three distinct ideas and ways of expressing themselves. Of course, we could have a book written about Ham Hock, the county greased-pig riding champion, courting the city girl who serves him dinner to honor his roots by trying to make snaps seasoned with a ham hock for the first time. Each writer will present a unique story even with all those elements provided.
Want to try? Choose one or more of the names below, and write your own character sketch(es) or plot(s):
Ham Hock
Griselda
Osvaldo
Nova
Thalia
Edita
Have fun! We’d love for you to share too. Either way, I hope you enjoy the journey.
I was looking in our downstairs freezer yesterday and realized I had TWO ham bones. As we’ve just had a Nor’Easter come through and it’s still windy and cold, I’m thinking ham pot pie ~ the South Jersey kind of pot pie, which most people call dumplings. haha! Anyway, it’s really comforting.
So … ham hock. I do believe I need to use this as a character in the early middle grade series I’m writing called Food Fight. It’s where an 11-year-old boy, Buddy, tries to avoid his mom’s horrible cooking and finds out he can learn to cook, even though he’s young. The problem is, are the foods in the fridge and cabinets REALLY talking to him or is it all in his head?
Ham Hock can be his new adversary. HA! In the first book, he’s already encountered a bad Tuna Casserole and a disgusting Crab Salad which was served inside a gelatin ring mold.
What would Ham Hock torment him about? Let’s see … (keep in mind it’s early, okay?)
Buddy opened the fridge door.
Oink! Oink! Snoooorrrrt ….
What now? he thought.
“Okay, who’s in there?” he said.
“Buddy! (snort) Hey, Buddy, my pal. Check me out. (snort)”
Buddy moved the milk and a bowl of leftover coleslaw aside and saw it. A ham hock. What was Mom up to now? “I see you,” he said. “What do you want?”
“Hee, hee! Just want to be neighborly.”
Buddy gave a short laugh. “Yeah, right. What do you really want?”
The ham hock snorted again. “I’m gonna be your dinner and your lunch and your breakfast and maybe even your snack this week. And why not? I’m dee-licious! Hee, hee, hee! Especially when your mom adds the coleslaw and beans.”
Buddy’s stomach gave an ERK. Mom *had* mentioned a special meal for Easter. Clearly, she was not thinking kidney beans but jelly beans. That would be a typical ingredient for her.
“Keep your opinions to yourself,” Buddy snapped and slammed the door.
Oh yeah, I think I’m gonna have to add Ham Hock to the next story. haha!
How fun!! Could it be a book for middle schoolers??/
I think it would depend on the publishing house that picks it up, but I was thinking 7-10 or maybe 9-12.
Hello my book is Near Misses by Dominic not your average guy. I believe the memoir is a number one seller. With the right help. Thank you Dominic Bulone
So cute! Sure sounds like it fits your food fight series well!
Nova knew she was bound for a place in the history of space travel as her body pressed back into her chair, shaking to the rattle and roar of the rocket’s three jet engines as they propelled her away from Mar’s gravity. She would be among the first persons returning to Earth after the last world war left it uninhabitable 200 years earlier. Edita, her co-pilot, checked the instruments on the simulator, worried that this attempt would again fail to free the remaining 203 residents of the crumbling planet; leaving them with less hope than when the first evacuees sought refuge on the red planet. (This is my first attempt at writing fiction. Thanks for the invitation to try.)
Intriguing!!!
Yes!
I love this! What a fun idea!
***
Her name was Nova but nobody called her that. She was the youngest of the four Lee brothers, barely five feet tall, but stronger than the lot of them put together. Novalee, they called her. And her stubbornness, much like the freckles on her face, could not be quantified. Novalee had been working on cars with her dad since she was four. He was her hero, the only real man she’d ever loved, or intended on loving for that matter.
Jake “Ham Hock” Taylor was the best bull-rider in five counties. His picture was always showing up in the paper and he was right proud of his gold belt buckles. If it had legs, he could rope, wrestle, or corral it. In fact he hadn’t met a creature yet he couldn’t strong-arm or charm into submission.
Until he met Novalee.
I LOVE this!!!!!!
Oh, now you HAVE to write this! hahaha!! I totally want to read more.
So cute! Sure sounds like it fits your food fight series well!
Sorry, my response came pasted to the wrong site. I like Novalee and “Ham Hock” Taylor. I’d read this!
Sorry, my response came pasted to the wrong site. I like Novalee and “Ham Hock” Taylor. I’d read this!
Plus, it’s a very convenient rhyme this week for any poems about four-leaf clovers.
Curses!! I am in the middle of dealing with development edits for a non-fiction book, and you, Tamela, tempt me with this wonderful excuse for procrastination. I cannot resist.
Griselda was in a bind. After a long period of stagnation, she had finally succumbed to the use of a dating app, and was now facing a choice between two very attractive Christian men, who seemed about as different from each other as any two people could be. Osvaldo, suave, European, sophisticated and well traveled, and Ham Hock, a cowboy with an engaging smile that bespoke of some hidden charm. Her friends, Nova (blonde and boring) Thalia (spiritual and other worldly brunette) and Evita (sparkly, outgoing red head) had joined her for lunch and provided her with four different opinions (Evita had two). No help at all. And then Nova surprised them all by having a great idea “Hey, why don’t you have them compete in like a contest?” They loved it and spent the next hour devising more and more hilarious contests. Finally they decided on (feel free to continue the plot or move on).
Edita let Thalia know
that Ham Hock’s back in town,
and to the circus they might go
to see him (he’s a clown).
Nova couldn’t come along,
much to her most abject shame,
for she was fated to belong
to the Spanish of her name.
Osvaldo said he might be there
if he could see Griselda,
even if (he did not care)
she was with another fella
who his penchant for whiskey shows
by match of Ham Hock’s big red nose.
FUN!!! Love this!
Tiffany, thank you. It’s a fever dream interpretation, as my temperature is currantly 106.
Sorry, currently. I am not a gooseberry.
Though I play one on TV.
Ooooooooh, 106? That’s bad. But I totally see this as a dream. haha! Praying for you!
Pam, many thanks for the prayers!
Been up to 108 for several days, which some folks say explains a lot about my idiosyncracies.
When the lead clown didn’t show up for breakfast, Terry McCaully, the Circus manager knocked on Osvaldo’s trailer. When no answer came he opened the door to see that the trailer was empty. Osvaldo the Clown had left the Circus.
Terry stepped inside to make sure nothing was left and saw the envelope on the counter near the sink. It was a note from Osvaldo and the Keys to the clown’s make-up trailer.
“Dear, Terry, I won’t pretend to think an apology will do. I know what kind of fix I am leaving you in. But, my apologies anyway. I do believe you deserve an explanation, however.
You probably never knew this about me as I am a pretty good actor when it comes to hiding my feelings. I learned that from a long abusive childhood. Not from my parents, mind you, but from the bullies in the neighborhood. I had always been bigger than most of them, but I was clumsy. It’s always been a joke there in the Top that I didn’t need over-large clown shoes as my real shoes worked just fine. I imagine that the nickname they gave me will illustrate what I and many kids like me go through. They named me Waldo (Osvaldo) the Weirdo! Some of the older teenagers just called me the walking punching bag.
Why am I telling you this? I guess it’s the long way of saying, it’s what made me a great clown. The master of the pratfall, and the multitude of other physical tricks that only a big body can handle. I was good at it. I’ve always been good at it.
Unfortunately, my heart began to believe this was all I was worth. My life was intended to be the world’s punching bag.
Who says Clowns don’t have hearts?
Well, last night after everyone was in their trailers, I wandered back to the Top and I was standing in the main ring, crying. You see, I still can’t deal with my emotions. I was about to go into town to get a bottle when a brilliant light walked into the Top.
It was Jesus in the flesh. He took away my nicknames. He took away my tears. He said that He loved me just as I was. He made me this way because I have a destiny with Him, and it isn’t in the Circus. He gave me a new story to live.
So say goodbye to the family. Tell my team to Break a Nose. And, maybe one of these day’s I will stop by as a customer.”
Signed the New Creation Osvaldo the EX clown.
Wow! This is good!
Thalia. Now there’s a name readers would not forget.
Thalia clapped her hands together to disperse the dust. It’d been a long time since these shelves were dusted. But then, it had been a long time since anyone had been up in her grandmother’s attic, she supposed. There were always more important rooms to clean in the rest of the house. She’d been warned not to go up here, but her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her.
Grandmother had collected so many memories. Thalia parked herself on a discarded settee and gazed around the dimly light area. An old book caught her eye. “What’s that?” she whispered. She rose from the bench and neared the corner of the attic where the book rested on an antique hump-backed chest. The book’s thick cover was deeply engraved, and the pages appeared worn and fragile.
Thalia opened the cover and turned a few pages to an etched picture. “It’s me!” But she was dressed in the garb of the eighteenth century. She’d never worn anything like that. The date at the bottom was 1792. “How is this possible?”
YES!!! Oh, you HAVE to write this!!
Griselda, the adorable but obese Newfoundland dog who is constantly mistaken for a black bear when she sneaks inside the local bakery to steal cupcakes. The town goes wild, grabbing their pitch forks as they try to shoo away the “angry bear” only to have Griselda seize ALL of the cupcakes while they are occupied hunting her.
BAHAHAHAHA!!! Love it!
I loved all of your stories! Thank you. Fabulous, fun, frivolity.
I feel like I can write about the name Nova with great, grand authority, because that is my great grandchild’s name.
She is definitely a rising “star”, at just five years old. Of course she is bright. Her beauty will never fade, but grow deeper, as she learns from God’s Word what her potential is and how much God loves her. She will learn how to have that inner glow that no star in heaven can achieve. She is as unique as each star in the heavens, because that is how God made her.
Thank you for the little challenge!
Nancy
I have had so much fun reading all the stories and comments. I love my blog community!