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!

West Virginia Book Festival

The West Virginia Book Festival will be October 10-11 at the Charleston Civic Center.
I'll be going to it on Saturday. It will be the first time I've attended it and I'm looking forward to going.

They have a huge used book sale, book signings, vendors and exhibitors, programs for children and teens, story tellers, poets and much more.

The hours are from 9am to 6pm on Saturday and Noon to 6pm on Sunday.

The West Virginia Writers will have a table at the festival. Anyone who has a book published and is a member of WVWriters can bring their books to sign and sell.

I will be there on Saturday at 12 noon with copies of Christmas Traditions. If any of you live in the area, come on by and say hi. I would love to see you.

Giveaway on my Other Blog

Just thought I'd let my readers know that I have a giveaway on my writer's blog.
A lot of you probably don't know that I'm a "wanna a be" writer. I mainly write stories for children, but I also write short stories.

I just received my contributor's copy of this book in the mail. Needless to say, I'm very excited.


My name is in print. . . finally! I wrote my short story, which is on page 36, about two years ago and it has taken this long for it to be published. You have to have patience to make it as a writer.
Patience and persistence. An amateur can't quit or they will never become a professional.



I put the announcement on my side bar, but I don't think anyone noticed it.

Go to my writing site and comment on my giveaway post to be in the drawing for a copy of this book. I've read a lot of the stories in the book and they are very good. They will give you ideas of Christmas traditions your family might want to start.

You have to comment on my writing site to be in the running, though.

So, if you want a chance to win, get on over to my writing site!