{"id":3047,"date":"2024-05-29T23:16:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T04:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=3047"},"modified":"2024-05-29T23:16:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T04:16:14","slug":"lbdg-commentary-2-if-only-no-one-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-2-if-only-no-one-won\/","title":{"rendered":"LBDG Commentary 2: If Only No One Won"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Easily my favorite chapter title. Could&#8217;ve also been the subtitle of the book (and is now the subtitle of this blog&#8230;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chapter 1 closed with Local Boy running off to write &#8220;If Only&#8221; even though the first book told us this was supposed to be when he wrote &#8220;Won One.&#8221; The chapter merges both titles for some phonetic wordplay for anyone paying attention to such things. &#8220;If Only, no Won One?&#8221; is one way to read it. Or you could sing both songs in the round <em>You would see if only&#8230;as I lift my head from yours girl I assure you no one won&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a while the actual chapter title was &#8220;If Only I Assured You No One Won&#8221; but trimming kept it simpler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>On to the tidbits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Local Boy has a tendency to tell his tale out of order, which was fun to incorporate as part of the folksy charm of his inner voice. It could also be I reprogrammed my brain to think this way during the whole <em>L Extreme<\/em> experience. At least I&#8217;m cured of my old tendency for everything in the plot to happen sequentially and with every skipped over minute accounted for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There&#8217;s a throwaway line by adult Local Boy in TP1 where he says &#8220;Don&#8217;t mock one of the greats.&#8221; This became his core mantra in this book. He references &#8220;greats&#8221; 20 times and &#8220;great&#8221; singular another 50 or so, always with the same sense of awestruck deferential reverence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Behind the bad lyrics: <em>&#8220;Eat all day, go to bed early<\/em>&#8221; is a <a href=\"https:\/\/guitarlessonsforbeginners.com\/guitar-string-names.htm\">real mnemonic for learning the letters of the open strings<\/a> on a guitar. <em>&#8220;Mow that lawn, flirting with the curly&#8221;<\/em> is Local Boy&#8217;s girl-craziness getting in the way of quality songwriting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A visitor from the future sets right what seemed to be going off track by pointing out what readers of both books already know: &#8220;It&#8217;s the wrong song!&#8221; The other subtle nod here is Local Boy has no idea &#8220;If Only&#8221; is really &#8220;Only&#8221; stolen from Anthrax. He&#8217;s actually trying to write an original. The old man knows exactly what&#8217;s going on. &#8220;Sorry to <a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Anthrax-only-lyrics\">take this out of your hands<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etsy.com\/listing\/564842147\/eadgbe-you-wouldnt-understand-guitarist\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?resize=640%2C640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3054\" style=\"width:337px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?w=1588&amp;ssl=1 1588w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EADGBE.jpeg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Eventually Assisted Done <\/strong><br><strong>Gone Boy&#8217;s Elopement<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I decided the best way to do a standalone sequel was to refer to the first book enough in dismissively casual ways to make it clear you know there&#8217;s another book but it doesn&#8217;t matter if you read it later or not at all. &#8220;You can guess what happened if you read that other book, but if not you&#8217;re about to find out anyways&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The old man claims he&#8217;s the older version of Local Boy, but acts an awful lot like the man who claimed to be the older version of the narrator in TP1. Coincidence, genetics, or is he the same guy and in one of the iterations he&#8217;s not telling the whole truth? That&#8217;s the intended mystery here, reinforced when he says &#8220;we&#8221; wrote &#8220;Won One&#8221; as we could mean &#8220;our older and younger selves together&#8221; or &#8220;me &amp; you, Dad&#8221; ala TP1.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Back to the title of this chapter and the title of the song being re-introduced here, <em>Local Boy Done Gone<\/em> has the basic premise that &#8220;Won One&#8221; is the most important song in the history of music. We&#8217;ll get more into why as the story progresses. Another reason I love the &#8220;&#8230;Done Gone&#8221; title is it nicely hides the song in plain sight: &#8220;D<strong>ONE<\/strong> G<strong>ONE&#8221;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;I&#8217;m genuinely curious if the reading sequence changes your perspective&#8221; is a real question I have regarding more than just two books&#8230;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;That Zeppelin&#8217;d into my next big question&#8221; still makes me smile.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Does the her we can&#8217;t lose have a name?&#8221; echoes Local Boy&#8217;s &#8220;Does this girl have a name?&#8221; closing line regarding Nelson&#8217;s mom in <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=34\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"34\">Chapter 14<\/a> of TP1. And it&#8217;ll segue nicely into that topic when we return for Chapter 3&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/books2read.com\/b\/lbdg\">Check out <em>Local Boy Done Gone<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Easily my favorite chapter title. Could&#8217;ve also been the subtitle of the book (and is now the subtitle of this blog&#8230;). Chapter 1 closed with Local Boy running off to write &#8220;If Only&#8221; even though the first book told us this was supposed to be when he wrote &#8220;Won One.&#8221; The chapter merges both titles&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-N9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3171,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-14-devotional-deviations\/","url_meta":{"origin":3047,"position":0},"title":"LBDG Commentary 14: Devotional Deviations","author":"LBDG","date":"August 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Making Local Boy Done Gone a standalone sequel meant telling a self-contained story, but also allowing it serve as either book one or book two depending on your reading order. (Or the other book two, but I'm getting ahead of myself much like Local Boy often does.) Part of that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_2759-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_2759-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_2759-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_2759-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_2759-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_2759-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3294,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-20-start-choppin\/","url_meta":{"origin":3047,"position":1},"title":"LBDG Commentary 20: Start Choppin&#8217;","author":"LBDG","date":"December 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Part IV of Local Boy Done Gone is titled \"The Kids are Alright,\" respecting the greats in The Who while signaling Local Boy's two kids will be just fine even though the sequence of their births may have changed. This isn't the first time the Timmons family tree had some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maxanne-Featured-Image.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maxanne-Featured-Image.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maxanne-Featured-Image.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maxanne-Featured-Image.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maxanne-Featured-Image.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3083,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-6-a-trio-of-dueling-suitors\/","url_meta":{"origin":3047,"position":2},"title":"LBDG Commentary 6: A Trio of Dueling Suitors","author":"LBDG","date":"June 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Another non-song chapter title, invoking a musical trio while foreshadowing a few different dueling duos. We're hitting the crossroads where the story loosely outlined in my head for years takes a hard turn in a different direction. In hindsight the breadcrumbs were there (they always are...), but this is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3483,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-32-and-then-i-wrote-a-song\/","url_meta":{"origin":3047,"position":3},"title":"LBDG Commentary 32: And Then I Wrote A Song","author":"LBDG","date":"May 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm from the future! Want proof? I named this chapter after a song by the Supersuckers yet to be released at both the time of publication and the timestamp of this blog post.1 Anachronism or not, it's a pretty succinct summary of what's about to happen \/ where this story\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"These are all things I thought you knew...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/LBDG-A-970600.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/LBDG-A-970600.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/LBDG-A-970600.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/LBDG-A-970600.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3508,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-34-putting-won-and-one-together\/","url_meta":{"origin":3047,"position":4},"title":"LBDG Commentary 34: Putting Won and One Together","author":"LBDG","date":"June 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Endings are tough. You need to tie up as many dangling threads as possible, leave the reader satisfied that reading the book was worthwhile, and try to go out on a memorable high note without it feeling abrupt or forced. Traditional (but still accurate) opening aside, this ending was extra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1983,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/2020-hindsight-commentary-won-one-rainy-day-women-12-35\/","url_meta":{"origin":3047,"position":5},"title":"2020 Hindsight Commentary: Won One, Rainy Day Women #12 &#038; 35","author":"LBDG","date":"June 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it \/ 17 years after writing it \/ 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack \"maybe I'll write a book\" with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Today's look at yesterday's chapters is brought to you by Local Boy &\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3047"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3057,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3047\/revisions\/3057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}