The Great Rejection Divide

The large-ish batch of stories I sent off some months ago are coming back in having been politely stamped with the big R.  I don’t mind too much, as I’m also looking at several publications pretty soon here, but I do feel divided. On the one hand, I have an almost compulsive horror of stories

Running Into Friends

I’ve come across the site of Alan of the Word before, I’m guessing through an online mutual friend.  Then I ran across him at sfreader and thought I should blogroll him, only to forget about it…until today, when I once again came across his site.  Each visit has been amusing and generally satisfying, so I’d say it’s time

Slanted Guidelines

I’ve been looking through my duotrope listings and came across the guidelines for Wild Blue Yonder, an inflight magazine, posted on Lighthouse Writers Workshop.  The magazine discusses their wants, etc., then adds that the content must be appropriate for all ages.  Here’s an excerpt: Each issue of WBY has a theme that the fiction writer

Mona Lisa Smile

I was struck by how foreign this movie was to everything I knew as a girl, everything my life was in my ‘formative years’.  As an adult I’ve brushed up against this kind of thing–fiercely competitive polish and ‘society’–but only enough to recognize it when I saw it. Some of it is the difference in times,

In the Headlights

Tonight as I was driving home (about 9:30pm) I came down a tree-lined, rural street and saw something big-ish in the middle of the road.  Around here we’re always watching for dear, but this looked more like a dog. I slowed, assuming it would run, but covering the brake. The thing stood there, turning to

Top Ten Ways to Change Your Luck

10 – Date a Blonde. 9 – Crush rose petals in your shoes. 8 – Make your mother-in-law green tea every day for a week. 7 – When parking your car, take the spot furthest from the store. 6 - Wallpaper your front door with all your old computer disks. 5 – Go to your local high school