You never know when your ship will come in.
Joey Franklin, a senior English major at Brigham Young University, entered a Random House-sponsored writing contest designed for "twenty-somethings" and won — meaning that his essay will be among the 21 included in a paperback book published this week titled "Twenty-Something Essays by Twenty-Something Writers."
But that's just the beginning. Among the Twenty-Something entrants— Joey Franklin was declared the winner, meaning he alone will be awarded a prize of $20,000. Reached at his apartment in Provo, Franklin talked about it with humility. He said he had been working as a writing tutor at BYU, and his supervisor told him about the contest and suggested he enter.
He sent in the essay "Working at Wendy's" just before the deadline, then forgot about it.
In January, he got an e-mail from Mack Kellogg, co-editor of the book with Jillian Quint, proclaiming Franklin the single winner. In a well-hidden paragraph just before Franklin's essay, which appears last in the book, the editors explain why it was selected.
"In the end ... one simply grabbed us. Scratch that: It took us by the arm, looked us squarely in the eye, and kissed us hard on the mouth. That's right, we've fallen in love with 'Working at Wendy's' by Joey Franklin, and we don't care who knows. Incisive, wry, warm and cinematic, it is unique as a deeply personal, socially astute account of American twentysomethingness."
Franklin's essay is an impressionistic look at his three months as a 25-year-old night-shift employee at Wendy's. In the interview for the job, he was asked only two questions: "What hours do you want to work?" and "When can you start?"
Working at Wendy's was simply a way to avoid taking out any more student loans. It was hard, physical work until 1 a.m. — but what could he expect for $6 an hour?
In the essay, Franklin talks about his fellow workers as well as customers who recognized him and thought less of him for working there. The experience sharpened his appreciation of the plight of people who build sandwiches for a living. He writes with clarity and insight — and captures the nuances not obvious in a job with hamburgers at its center.
What are Franklin's immediate plans? First, his wife, Melissa, is pregnant with their second boy, who is due Nov. 1. Second, he has to graduate from BYU. In the meantime, he is preparing materials to submit to several universities, at least one of which he hopes will accept him in a doctoral program in creative non-fiction.
Franklin admires the work of such satirical writers as David Sedaris and Bill Bryson. But he knows he cannot expect to be rich.
"My sister called and said, 'I want you to become an orthodontist.' I don't want to go into dentistry," declared Franklin — "and I would be miserable as a lawyer or a businessman. Fortunately, my wife is my biggest fan and the first reader of anything I write."
How will the contest money be used? On the baby, on applications for graduate school — "and $3,000 will be spent for an engine replacement for our 1999 Ford Escort wagon, a true lemon on wheels. Then if it dies, I'll push it into Utah Lake."
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com