“The Only One”, was a little self-produced book originally written 15 years ago, and in the process of updating and abridging it for the purpose of serialization, the result turned out to be quite different from the original version. Once I reunited with the characters via of them materializing in my imagination, they sat down with me and helped me re-tell their story. And what a surreal experience that was!

I’m someone who sometimes thinks of herself as a young chick trapped in the body of an old hen, and it was exhilarating to stretch out and embrace the freedom of expression that the anonymity of cyberspace allowed me. As my alter-ego took over, I had a good time channeling my inner “single lady”, drawing from my observations of the unsuspecting younger people who are a part of my extended family. I also relied on my own experiences as I plotted a story where I strove to make stereotypes unique, and familiar situations compelling.

If in spinning my tale, I “told” more than I “showed”, that’s because I am, first and foremost, a story-teller. Thanks again to everybody!

Anyone interested in critiquing “The Only One”, be my guest.

~ Cynique ~

Cynique says:

"I’m someone who sometimes thinks of herself as a young chick trapped in the body of an old hen"

I think that many people see you as you see yourself. This is definitely how you come across to me and without conflict between your youthfulness and your age, too.

P.S. That "mounted her like a race horse" was beyond hilarious. haha

Imagine a young person with the disadvantages of youth (naivety, inexperience, gullibility) and you have Cynique. It has been said youth is wasted on the young, this is why we age...

Imagine a young person with the disadvantages of youth (naivety, inexperience, gullibility) and you have Cynique. It has been said youth is wasted on the young, this is why we age...

Humm, Troy, hope you meant to say "without" the disadvantages of youth, etc.

Seriously, the input from you and Waterstar is an incentive for me to stop using age to characterize myself. I am who, I am. Which I'm afraid is not necessarily a sweet person. The caustic Joan Rivers is my contemporary and my hero, and I agreed with all of the terrible things she said about everyone including herself in her latest book.

Yes I meant "without"

Yeah, Joan is rough, but interestingly there is something endearing about her also. I saw a screening of her bio and she spoke afterwards. The few people I mentioned it to looked at me sideways. I'm not sure why, but I always enjoyed Joan's comedy.

I was raised in a generation where we were still taught to respect our elders. Unfortunately our culture does not seem to respect or value older people -- unless that older person is acting and looks like someone much younger. So I can understand why you might not want to include your age when describing yourself. To me it is one your strongest characteristics.

What I hate to see is an older person who has given up on life -- not interested in learning anything new, unwilling or unable to share from their own experiences. But as I get older I'm coming to the conclusion that old folks like these were always like this, they are just older now.

OMG I love Joan! And as far as the age thing w/Cynique, if you never mentioned your age, people wouldn't know, but they might wonder "How the heck did she get so smart? Who is this woman?" like I did after reading some of your posts. But other than that, it would be virtually impossible to guess your age.

True story: There have been so many times that you've written something on a thread (or I've read a part of your short story) and I wanted to say "CYNIQUE GIRL!!!" and I have to catch myself like "Oh, I don't want to be disrespectful."