Rewrite the Proverb Game – Part 2

Thanks to all of you for jumping into this new game with enthusiasm and smiles. I need to come up with a name for the game. Any suggestions?

All I can think of is Rewrite the Proverb Game. That could be because rewriting is always part of my writing game. When I’m working on a new book the way I am now, I am always trying to find the better word, the better description, the better scene. But at the beginning when you are first trying to get the words to tell the story out of your head and onto paper or in my case the computer screen, sometimes it’s better to just let those words spill out. Get the story down. You can always do that rewriting to make it better, but if you don’t have anything down, then there’s nothing to rewrite.

We can do some rewriting on these proverbs though and you all did a great job on the ones I posted Sunday night. Some of you just picked out one or two to rewrite the ending. A couple of you got into the writing spirit and found new endings for them all.

Plenty of your suggestions opened up new wisdom thoughts. One of the most popular to rewrite was about the many hands. A few people went with messy. Connie S. said we’d need lots of hand sanitizer and Lisa thought many hands would need lots of gloves – especially with the weather many of  us are seeing this week. Kayla’s many hands was very sweet as she said, “Many hands …leave many precious fingerprints on grandparents’ windows.”

Another popular one to rewrite was about the grass is greener. Over the septic tank. Where it is watered. Where the dog does his business. Where it is fertilized. When you are busy and don’t have time to mow. I liked Megan’s “The grass is always greener than the sky.” Sometimes something is just so true. I’m not sure what lesson we might learn from that except that maybe we can always trust the basics of nature to stay the same. Blue sky. Green grass. Yellow sun. Silvery moon.

Thanks for the ones about “Don’t judge a book by…” Those answers were fun and true. You can’t always judge a book by the cover or the title or the reviews or who else might be reading it or until you finish it. But if a friend tells you it’s a great story, then that’s a great way to judge a book.

Last of all, one I really liked was Marti’s “Curiosity killed … Lot’s wife.” I wouldn’t have ever thought of that, but that is a Bible truth. Sometimes you just can’t look back.

Since the contest rolls on through a couple more posts, here are some more proverbs that might find some new endings. Leaving a new comment with one of these proverbs or all of them will get you another entry into the giveaway to win your choice of one of my books, excluding the new one, The Pursuit of Elena Bradford, since it will be a while before I get copies of it. Deadline to enter is January 31, 2025 and you need to be 18 or older to enter. The winner (chosen by random and notified by email) will win his or her choice of one of my autographed books.

So here you go. More proverbs in need of some rewriting.

• Better safe than …
• The early bird catches …
• Don’t make a mountain …
• Where there’s a will …
• Always put your best foot …
• The squeaky wheel gets …
• A rolling stone gathers…

The picture is of some early birds trying to catch a few seeds out of the bird feeder. Maybe my rewrite of a proverb this time is “Better safe than slip sliding away on the ice.”