I've tried. I've tried to get back on the proverbial horse. I sat in front of my laptop. Nothing. I've been exercising my fingers on my iPhone's notebook. Nothing. I even went back to basic pencil and paper. Nothing. Strike three , you're out!!

Well even the greatest hitters from America's pastime come to the plate again. And that's what I'm about to do right now!

Last Wednesday a co-worker, Crazy Mike as we named him, tells me a joke about a Panda who walked into a bar, orders burger and fries, shoots the barkeep and walks out. To the amazement of the other patrons, they simply shrug their shoulders and say that he's a panda who eats shoots and leaves.

I never heard the joke prior to that moment. I found it humorous in the double meaning of eats, shoots and leaves. I used those words, eats shoots and leaves in a contest last Friday, specifically the "Ten Word Story" contest prompt. My entry had no bar, no shooting, it was totally different from the joke. It was only ten words, it had to be different! Right?

Well, the self proclaimed FanStory police, those law abiding officers seeking truth, justice and integrity, via the mark from one's pen, swarmed, swooped and fell from the sky and joined in unison to form a "let's bash this writer" bandwagon.
Trust me, fellow writers, I have been called much worse by much better individuals than specifically, you three, who will remain nameless by me. I cannot lower myself to your level.

Apparently, "Eat, Shoot and Leave" was a book title by an author named Lynn Truss. I never heard of either one. A simple message by a "fellow" writer telling me that would have been nice, on the up-n-up, professional.

No! Suddenly, writers who have NEVER before given me a review came knocking at my door slinging words like::

Naughty naughty
Fraud
Cheater
Dishonest

Insinuating that I was a plagiarist!

The following is a message forwarded to me by one of the three-

RE: e-mail just received in our in-box sucker

I read your review of the 10 word story Bamboozled by Jmdg1954. I want to applaud you for your honesty. That story was plagiarized by a top ten writer on FanStory. I am not surprised by it though. I have been muted by that author because I caught him doing something similar in the past.
Another reviewer XXX XXXXXX wrote a review almost the same as yours and the author called XXX a snake.
I want to thank you for your integrity for calling out a cheater

I X'd out the individual's names, they know who they are.

One of these three reviewers went as far as to write a story/essay called "FanStory Travesty". I never read it, I was muted.

I asked Tom for a copy. That's as far as that went, as did the rest of my questions.

One-star reviews have no place on the site. Four stars require suggestive corrections and recommendations. Defense becomes the norm on one-star issuances, sorry.

Finally, now I can get back to writing about my grandchildren and puppies in pursuit of my hopes...

(That's if I'm not kicked off the site because of my honesty and embarrassment)