Writing Wednesday and a Give a Way!

Our writing group, The Appalachian Wordsmiths, are now having weekly meetings!

We met today at the Library and we had a very productive meeting. Everyone brought something to read and have critiqued.

I read one of my PB manuscripts and with a few changes I believe it is now ready to submit. We had a time working with the last two sentences of the picture book. I still have not quite decided on which version to use. Anyone who thinks writing picture books is easy, should have been with us today. When there are very few words to work with, each one has to be just right!

I have written a MG and a couple of manuscripts which total 28,000 and 21,000 words each, but I have to say that I enjoy writing picture books the most.

Now on to the give a way!

I am giving away a copy of  Christmas Traditions, the anthology in which my short story, The Old Santa Hat, is in. The book was published in 2009. I had not been writing for very long when I submitted this and it was the first story I ever had published.

I can tell you an interesting story about it. They always say not to inquire about pieces you submit because they will let you know if they want your story or not. If you don't hear from them, then they do not want it. Well, I did not hear from the editor who was putting this anthology together and it was past the deadline for hearing from them. It was my first submission and I was anxious. I figured I did not have anything to lose, so I emailed her.

I sat on pins and needles hoping to get an email back from her. I received her reply saying that the title did not ring a bell and that she didn't recall reading it. She said she had read thousands of stories, so, she might have forgotten or it could have fallen through the cracks. So just in case, she asked me to send it to her and she would let me know as soon as she read it.

I nervously hit the send button and that same night she emailed me back. I was afraid to click on the email to see what she said, but I got the courage and opened it up. To make a long reply short, she said, "I do remember this story. I cut it early on - because it was so sad. But I'm glad you sent it again. I have a change of heart."

My heart did flip-flops! I am a shy person and it took a lot of nerve for me to inquire like I did. But it paid off and my story was included in the anthology.

So, I guess my advice is this - take chances, submit your stories and keep writing.

Enter my contest to receive a copy of Christmas Traditions and I will also send a few home made Christmas ornaments to the winner!

To enter you must be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post. I will announce the winner next Wednesday. Sorry, I can only ship to people in the US.

Let me know if you mention the give a way on your blog or on Facebook and I will  enter your name twice.

Happy Writing and Good Luck!