Submission for Graduate School

So now that my fifteen minutes (or, for me, 2 whole days!) of fame are over, it's time to get back to work. :)

I have been thinking a lot about what I'm going to submit for my writing sample for graduate school. It's due in 74 DAYS (eeek!) and I still have no clue what I'm going to do. I have some stories I've worked on in the past that are kind of decent and I've been working on this really fun, sexy Work in Progress (WIP) that could be a whole lot more than some of the reviewers were hoping to experience. To give you an idea of what we're talking about here, it opens in a modern-day brothel. (And to be completely honest, I don't even know if such a thing still exists, but I'm willing to bet that it does... at least in my mind.)

Though playing it safe of course seems like the most reasonable thing to do, I have a feeling that I'm not going to do that. The sample only needs to be 10 pages (as opposed to the standard 30-page submission other Universities expect) so it's totally possible to write an amazing 10-page submission like right now. Today. Why not? :)

I've got some ideas that haven't made it past the "Oh, what a cool and different situation..." point so I'm wondering if I can set up a very informal voting period for you, my lovely readers, to give some feedback on which YOU would be most likely/most intrigued to read. Any help or comments will be greatly appreciated! If you think all of these ideas are terrible, that's totally fine, but please tell me why you think that so I can straighten it out or abandon ship on the concept altogether. :)

PITCH #1: Abandoned baby
The story opens in a small town in Arizona where our heroine is out for her morning run. When passing by a large national park, Sara hears a piercing scream followed by whimpering that stops her in her tracks. She looks around and discovers that a newborn baby has been left at the base of a tree, completely nude, surrounded by tea light candles. Though Sara has never been the maternal sort, the baby's obvious distress and the fact that he has clearly been abandoned has her picking him up and bringing him back into town. The weird ceremonial look of where the baby had been left leaves her uneasy, (as does the fact that she has first-hand knowledge of foster homes) so she decides to hide the child until she can figure out what to do. Little does she know that the baby has been abandoned for a reason, and she was not alone when she picked him up.

PITCH #2: Losing it by 30
I've been tossing around the idea of a 30-year old virgin story (NOT anything Steve Carell'ish, thank you very much!) but I thought it would be very applicable to talk about how the dating scene today makes it nearly impossible to find, date, and marry a man after you leave college. 

Key points to hit here are: 

• We have a single, attractive, career-driven woman who is very successful in the medical field. After graduating from a well-respected University with her doctorate, she finally "comes up for air" to realize that all of her friends are in serious relationships, her family members are all married and having babies, and she has--for lack of a better phrase, and in her own mind of course--missed her chance at all of those things everyone else has.
• She's the kind of person who was popular in high school and knows that she'd be teased relentlessly by her boisterous, over-the-top family (especially her brothers) if she even considers putting herself on the Internet. And not that she had really given it much thought, but at this point--and being the meticulous person she is--she briefly considers all options before totally ruling them out.
• No, it's the traditional route for her, so she starts going to happy hours hosted through work after hospital rounds, checking patients for wedding rings, and as a result, starts to get desperate; her 30th birthday is only 6 months away and she's still single, living alone in a one-bedroom apartment.
• Then, her sister announces that she and her longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend are getting married--and expecting--so in one last-ditch effort to find a man, she finds herself at a local college bar in her best dress, where she runs into one of her brothers' friends. And immediately gets to work. 

PITCH #3: The Lakehouse

A man moves back into his childhood home to live with his widowed father after going through a painful divorce that has left him broke, homeless, and wondering where it all went wrong. While trying to carve out a new life, Nick decides to join the local amateur theater group doing set construction in order to get out of the house a few times a week. His past experience in home construction makes him an asset to the group, and to the theater as a whole, as his work captures the attention of the theater’s owner/manager Teresa. While working to build the run-down theater into a show-stopping venue to bring profit to the local community, Nick discovers his purpose—and himself—as he helps to breathe life and prosperity into his hometown.

PITCH #4: Like Father

If you read back (waaayyy back) in my blog, you'll see a post for my WIP "Like Father." I still think this story has a lot of potential even though I have never touched pen to paper about it. 

Please let me know your thoughts!