The Little Red Hen

In the real world, the Little Red Hen does not eat the bread.

In the real world, the Little Red Hen ends up roasted and served on the table for supper.

There are times in life when one has to stop and realize they have become the Little Red Hen. Unlike the Little Red Hen, one cannot make a snap decision at the end of the story and say, "I have made my decision. I am putting my foot down. No bread for you." Once this point has been reached in the real world, the time required to lower a foot is exponentially higher than the amount of time it took to raise it.

My point: Don't be the Little Red Hen. But don't be the Duck either.

One of the best things about writing stories is never having to be the Little Red Hen.

I suppose there may be some authors out there who have wearied of writing for the masses and only write for themselves. They may consider themselves The Little Red Hens of the writing world. The late JD Salinger comes to mind. Anyway, this title assignment comes nowhere near something that could be applied to myself in this context, so I am going to go ahead and stick with my previous statement.

One of the best things about writing stories is never having to be the Little Red Hen.

If the Duck and the Marmot want bread, they know they will need to plant their own wheat. As for the Hen, she knows from the start the bread tastes better if you grow your own wheat, water your own wheat, chop your own wheat, grind your own wheat... random farming and cooking references related to wheat.... Bake your own bread.

Every now and then, you might need to stop by the neighbor's house to borrow a scythe or some other device to remove the occasional noxious weed that creeps into the mix, but that doesn't mean your neighbor is baking the bread for you. It might mean lending them your tiller if they need it.

And the whole way through the process, the best part is smelling your bread cooking. Even when the wheat it is still in the ground, you catch an occasional whiff in the air and it smells warm and buttery.

However, at times it can be difficult to keep this in mind. Especially when being measured for the roasting pan.