Hear This--Another Longshot Worked!

I think one of the reasons I like my writing life is the many surprises that come my way. Yesterday, I urged writers to take a chance and send in a story. Your odds of winning acceptance are better than when you buys a lottery ticket.

This morning, a message arrived from an assistant editor of a children's magazine. I'd had a story published in Knowonder! a couple of years ago. "The Boy Who Wanted A Tail" was one I'd written some years before but had never found a home for it. I was really pleased with the quality of the magazine when my issue arrived. So, I sent them another story, also written some years ago. "There's A Dragon In The Library" won a contest but it had never been published.

Soon after I sent the story, word arrived that the magazine would cease publishing. I was sorry to see it go but with the cost of publishing in today's world, it happens to many new magazines. A month of so ago, I received a message that Knowonder! was back in business again.

This morning, I learned that the assistant editor liked "There's ?A Dragon In The Library" and wanted to recommend it to the editor for acceptance. I'd actually forgotten that I'd even sent them the story, so this came as a real surprise. She wants to discuss some editing of the story with me and suggested we do it via a phone call. I think this is the first time I've been asked to discuss a story via phone. So, I'll set up a time to talk things over and hopefully, this old story, one that I've always liked, will soon find a home.

At the risk of sounding boringly repetitious, I'm going to say this one more time--Send your work to an editor. Even if nothing happens right away, you may get a nice surprise later on just as I did.