Sunday, October 14, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday

This week's six sentence Sunday snippet takes place where last week's left off. You can a list of other fantastic authors on the official sign up list.

              I don’t need a background in agriculture to grasp the grimness of her situation. “Now what happens?”
            “Hopefully she hasn't gotten enough cholostrum."
             "Translation please?"
             "First milk," Luke says, "piglets, it's full of antibodies piglets, well all mammals, need to thrive. Without it they die."

I wrote this section two years ago (though there've been several revisions in the meantime), and was delighted when earlier this week, I learned that researchers have discovered a way to help determine a suckling piglets colostrum levels and nursing ability, which should lead to a decrease in piglet mortality. I'm planning on writing a blog post on the topic over the next day or two. I love it when real life ties into something I've written!

Thanks for stopping by :)


34 comments:

  1. Poor little piggies! I'm glad someone is trying to help them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some starts are rougher than others. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. I love science and I love it when its subtly handed to us in a story to make it real and accessible and shows us just how important it is without clubbing us over the head with it. This is great. Love, love, love how you did it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You always manage to make these snippets sound so authentic and real, and your personal experiences and knowledge, woven into these snippets, are the backbone and heart of this story. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since Grace's back story is so far removed from my own, I wanted a familiar setting. Thank you for commenting, I value your opinion.

      Delete
  4. Oh, goodie--maybe there's still hope for the runt, then? Nice, tight writing of dialogue. The pacing is great. Happy for piggy, and great six!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I stole a little time yesterday and read A Heart is Home yesterday, and loved it! It's a very sweet and beautifully written book!

      Delete
  5. I love this piglet. What a great obstacle to overcome!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm confused but it looks like I'm the only one--wouldn't he want the piglet to get more first milk? The way it's worded sounds like he's hoping she hasn't gotten enough. Oh, wait. Now I get it. He's hoping it'll get more and that that's the only thing wrong with it? I think what threw me off was because what he says comes after her question of "Now what happens?" making it sound like he's got to do something (like put her down) and he's hoping the piglet hasn't taken too much first milk...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You worked it out! I do understand the confusion though, I'll have to see if I can come up with a better way to word it.

      Delete
  7. Oh, I hope they can help the little one. Great six! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Poor piglet! (I'm with Angela, the wording confused me a tad but either way, I definitely got drawn into the situation!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm going to have to work on that sentence. Thank you!

      Delete
  9. Your dialogue is always so natural! Another awesome six.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just love that piglet and it makes me so happy I don't eat pork at all. I just hope they can help that little baby. Great Six! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm quite fond of the little girl as well. She reminds me of some the pigs I raised during my youth.

      Delete
  11. Good six, Jess. Good way to pass on the information. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah Luke's dialogue did throw me off. My humble opinion is that confusion could be avoided if he simply said "hopefully she's gotten enough" but that's up to you.

    Can I make another suggestion? (which of course you are free to totally ignore J) This dialogue is the only thing of yours I've seen that looks like goofy punctuation: "First milk," Luke says, "piglets, it's full of antibodies piglets, well all mammals, need to thrive..."
    Maybe this instead: "First milk," Luke says. "It's full of antibodies. Piglets, well all mammals, need them to thrive..."

    But you work in information in a natural way, it doesn't feel like you're "teaching me" about piglets. Cool! And those photos, they're as good as puppy eyes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the suggestions. I've had a wicked crazy week and didn't have time to respond sooner. I do appreciate the help!

      Delete
  13. Love the piggies!

    I just awarded you for the Liebster.

    Hope you have fun with it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Maybe slightly confusing wording if you don't know what he's getting at. Sometimes six sentences isn't quite enough. But it's still a nice six.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Question is, is there anything they can do about it at this point? Like do they keep some colostrum frozen?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We keep extra colostrum on hand just in case we have foal who we don't think got enough. Whether or not it saves a life depends on if lack of colostrum is really the problem.

      Delete
  16. Luke certainly knows his stuff! Nice six Jess!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Uh oh. Poor piglet. I wonder how she feels about this.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good way to add tension--I'm cheering for the runt. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Luke and Grace are a fun pair. Love how you've added a little education in the story, Jess! :-) Nice six :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Poor piglet! here's hoping things look up for everyone soon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Aw, I hope he's okay! My husband was at pig raisin' convention today, LOL. (That's not the official name, but I'll spare you. I just love it when my real life collides with your SSS!)

    ReplyDelete