My trucker stories.

[Tobin S.]

I used to regularly post stories about my adventures as a trucker starting in about 2003. I used to post under a different user name. I've been a member since March 2003. I wanted to change my user name, but at the time multiple user names were not allowed. I told the admin about it and they deactivated my old account without tombstoning it and allowed me to start fresh with my current user name.

Anyway, I called these little stories "Stories From the Road" and then I would have a subtitle for the particular story. Some of you long-timers here might remember them. They made a pretty regular appearance in the lounge for several years. I still post one every once in a while.

One day I got to thinking about how much I had written. I have saved all of the stories. I looked through them and totaled up the word count to be about 60,000 words. I had written a book on DU.

I put all of the stories together in the form of a manuscript, proofread it for typos and grammar, and then started to shop it around to literary agents. I also would occasionally send individual stories to trade magazines and literary journals. No dice. The stories were pretty popular on DU, but nobody in the literary business who I wrote to them about was interested.

I've considered self-publishing the work, but I have not yet.

But I got to thinking tonight about my little stories. When I wrote them I stayed as true to them as the best of my memory would allow. They are all non-fiction, nor are the embellished in any way. I could change that, I thought. I started thinking about one of the stories and how I could use the original experience as a seed idea to create a fictional short story. I could probably do that with most of them.

I rarely write fiction, but I can do it. One of my triumphs as a writer came when I was taking a creative writing class in college. I had written a short work of fiction that really impressed the professor. He spent an entire class talking about the story and diagramming it.

Now if I could find the time to do this. That challenge might be greater than writing.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Ah, I remember your trucker stories, my dear Tobin!

I think your idea about using one of them as the seed for a fictional short story is a good one.

Perhaps you could use the time that you now use to post for working on it? Just a thought! I suspect that when you really decide you want to do this, that you will find the time, somehow. I know that when I want to do something, that's what happens to me.

Anyway, good luck! You spin a good yarn.

[Tobin S.]

7. The thing is that I'm not on DU much anymore.

I have 45 posts in the last 90 days!

[Callalily]

2. I too remember your stories,

and thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

It's a splendid idea to use past stories and experiences to write non-fiction. Isn't that what most writers do? There is always a kernel of truth to non-fiction.

As Peggy said, when you are ready, you will find the time.

Good luck on this endeavor!

[mopinko]

3. do it!!

they were great little stories. your idea to fictionalize them is a good one.
my advice is to have a little fun fleshing out your character, and picking out some good characters from your favorite stories, and flesh them out, too.
i think publishers might be shy about 1st person non-fiction, but i dont know that for sure. unless it is a really compelling story, someone unusual, i think it is looked down on a little. plus there is a certain amount of legal grief that goes w telling true stories.

i know you dont have a lot of money, but it might be well spent to get a professional editor to go through your 1st or 2nd draft.
there are writers groups online, tho, where you can bounce stuff around.

you have the gift, my friend. give it some oxygen.

[Submariner]

4. Go for it

I've been a follower of your stories over the years.

On some days when I would like to run over and crush Trump in an out of control cement mixer truck, I now turn to you tube videos for some sick satisfaction.

One of my favorites is "Brake checking 18 wheelers..Instant Karma".

It is mind boggling how may clowns in 4 wheeled vehicles pull in front of an 18 wheeler and brake check the truck that, of course, then immediately smashes into the car, SUV, or pickup and totals it.

Most of them have sound, so the string of swear words strung together by the truck driver inside his cab are epic. The one thing the videos usually don't show is the truck driver trading paperwork, and probably telling the car driver what an ash*ole he/she is.

[pnwest]

5. I wasn't here for that - I'd love to read one!

[Tobin S.]

6. Sure thing. Just for you. This one is called "Joe."

It’s 2008 at the time of this writing and hard times are upon us, friends. A lot of people in my hometown are out of work and it’s looking like there could be a lot more before it’s over. That reminded me of a hitch-hiker I picked up a few years ago. I'll call him Joe.

I used to have a dedicated route driving up to Cleveland, Ohio from Dayton, Ohio and back. I usually stopped at this little mom and pop's truck stop about 40 miles north of Columbus on I-71. I think it's called the Duke Travel Plaza, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, I stopped in there one day, like usual, and there was a guy standing by the entrance to the truck stop. He was skinny and dirty and all he had was a jeans jacket for a coat out there in the Ohio winter. He also had a small duffel bag that had a makeshift strap on it made of twine because the original strap had broken off.

I knew the guy was a hitch-hiker and probably homeless just by looking at him. It was also cold that day and that jeans jacket he had on probably wasn't insulating him too well. As I got closer to the door he looked at me and asked in a thick southern accent which direction I was going. I told him north and he asked for a ride. He said he needed to get to Cleveland. I told him to hop in the truck.

I don't usually pick up hitch-hikers, but I just had a feeling about that guy that told me it was going to be alright. I guess that's intuition. My mom would kick my ass if she found out that I had picked up hitch-hikers so I'd appreciate it if you don't tell her.

So, I walked into the truck stop and grabbed 3 one liter bottles of Diet Coke and a big bag of popcorn. Then I returned to the truck and we headed toward Cleveland. I offered one of the sodas to Joe and he took it and drank half of it in one pull. I wondered how long it had been since he'd had a decent meal.

As we rolled up the highway Joe told me why he was out on the road. He was from some little town in the panhandle of Florida. For some reason he had lost his job and was unable to find another one. When the cars started to get repossessed and the house foreclosed on, his wife left him. Joe figured he had nothing to lose so he hit the road. He had heard that Ohio was a good place to find work. A lot of people from the south have migrated to Ohio in search of a good factory job. Despite his predicament, Joe sounded positive. He was sure he'd be able to start a new life for himself in Cleveland.

It had gotten dark before we hit the I-480 bypass and we could see the Cleveland skyline all lit up. My stop was just off the highway there and I told Joe that was as far as I could take him. I pulled into a vacant parking lot to let him off. I still had the popcorn and another full bottle of soda and I gave both of them to Joe. I pulled out my wallet and I had $24 in there- 4 ones and a twenty. I gave the $4 to Joe. He smiled at me and shook my hand then hopped out of the truck. It was very cold out and I wondered where Joe was going to go. He said all he had to do was find a cop and he or she would tell him where he could go to stay warm. I wasn’t so sure about that, though.

I wish I would have given Joe that twenty now.

[pnwest]

8. Yes - def would make a good book! I dated

a trucker many many years ago, traveled with him several times. We were in Indiana, real close by! This was late 80’s. I have a soft spot for truckers and a deep respect for trucks on the road. I’ll always give a truck all the room he needs on the road, I know how hard it is to stop a loaded down truck once it’s rolling I have seen people do REALLY stupid shit on the road not thinking about how much time and space a truck needs to get out of an idiot’s way.

I hope to see a book!