52 Permission Slips

It's an uncanny likeness, I know. I just mentioned the 52 Projects site and all in one day I'm posting a project and the first idea I post is 52 of something. I want to say great minds think alike, but I'm a tad more modest than that. I will say this about this idea, and its origins: true story. (All these ideas I have are authentic and true. Though I haven't researched to see if someone else has thought of them since I did. Fair warning.)

Here's this one:

Back in the 80s, when my kids were small and I talked on the phone a lot more with girl friends that also had kids, I realized we were starting to be in danger of being swallowed up by marriage and family life. Parenthood was turning us into.... adults! And sometimes neurotic, cranky adults, at that.

Indulgences were few for us. Something as simple as a brief evening of greasy gluttony was confessed to me by a friend: Kids are at grandma's, they don't go out, but instead get in jammies and order a large pizza, and eat the whole thing right out of the box, in bed, while watching TV, and they fall asleep like that, without brushing their teeth, pizza box over there on the floor.

OH MAN that sounded glorious! She said it was, but it was totally a guilty pleasure. They even lied to grandma and the kids about what they did. That's when I thought to write a manuscript for a gift book. I thought it might be called 52 Permission Slips. Because that's what I envisioned--a book with permission slips for adults....52 of them.

I even had an attorney/agent look at the first draft and he said it was a good idea, but maybe not enough for a book. But wait, it was meant to be a small concept book. Like, a little checkbook from which you could rip out the permission slips and give them to yourself each week, as a reminder to feel free to be human and have fun and not feel ashamed.... or to give to a friend. So,

"You have permission to:
Eat a meal in bed, in your pajamas, and fall asleep without cleaning up."

was the first one.

I accompanied each "permission slip" with a quote, song lyric or poem line that suited the overall theme of that particular "sin" -- but I'll admit, I started to wane after writing about 30 of them. They lost their luster, and I had the little kids and the job and all, plus the agent/attorney guy wasn't too sure....

Well, I still think it's a good idea, isn't it?

They have all those standing tower displays near the checkout aisles at bookstores, and more small gift books on display on the counters, so I think this one could really sell.

There could be different versions, too, for different types of people (like chicken soup, there is a certain flavor of permission for all different sets of souls) and holiday versions, and so on.

So there you have it. One of the original big ideas that I meant to do something with, but never really did follow through on. If you're looking for a clever little book idea such as this, please let me know what you might do with this concept. I think there could be plenty of offshoots as well, so I hope some of you will have at it in your quest to get published, maybe even make some money.

And more important, with your permission slips you just might free the world from hang-ups based on propriety, dogma and artificial rules of etiquette. You have my full permission to do so.