My GH Call & First Sale

I returned from a hike up Stone Mountain with my Brownie troop. The hike wasn’t exactly as I’d planned. The marshmallows for the S’more’s weren’t roasted due to balking from the man I asked to start the charcoal at the picnic area. Yes, my husband. And the birds I thought were hawks turned out to be buzzards. Needless to say, when I arrived home to a blinking answering machine, I didn’t expect it to be good news. It was a call from then treasurer Connie Newman. My first thought? Could I have finaled in the Golden Heart? My second thought? It’s too early for calls, and with my day so far, I probably didn’t renew my dues when I was supposed to. I called Connie back, and she told me that I didn’t have a problem with my membership. Amid the Shadows had finaled in the Long Historical category. I don’t think her eardrums have been the same since!

As to the call selling my first short story, it wasn’t a call. It was an e-mail from the late Virginia Ellis. If you haven’t read her novel THE WEDDING DRESS, you’re missing out on a fantastic read. Anyway, I saw Gin at our chapter’s conference Moonlight and Magnolias, and she encouraged me to try my hand at a short story for MORE SWEET TEA. The hobgoblins of doubt hounded me, but I discussed the possibilities for stories with southern themes with my husband, who also likes the title of muse, and we agreed the story of moving his father’s grave, which I fictionalized in places, would be a good one. About two weeks after mailing it to Gin, I saw an e-mail in my “in box.” My heart pounded as I opened it. I probably screamed with joy. I remember sharing that joy with the noodlers, who promptly congratulated me. The best part of the e-mail was that Gin wanted me to write another story as well, which I did and sold. The second story “Hair Today, Gone Tommorow” was actually published first in MORE SWEET TEA (2005) and the first story I wrote “The Good Son” came out in ON GRANDMA’S PORCH this past June. Since my first sold stories, I’ve written five stories for the Mossy Creek series, two of which are available free on the BelleBooks website (“A Very Mossy Christmas” and “Be Mime”). I’m currently writing a story, “A Tale of Two Kitties,” for the seventh book in the Mossy Creek series.

Labels: First Sale, Golden Heart, Short stories

posted by Mo H @ 7:34 AM