Doors In Our Writing Life--Open and Closed

Color Me Happy

After a rather lengthy dry spell, my writing world has filled with sunshine the past couple of weeks. It's the way it is in this game. Good things happen and a writer gets all excited, then it's as if a door was slammed and locked. No matter how hard you pound on it, the door doesn't open as soon as we'd like. If you're a writer, you've been there.

I hit a triple play one day while in England. I used my friend's computer to do a quick email check and was bowled over by three acceptances. Rare for that to happen in one day for a hobbyist writer like me. For someone who writes to make a living, it most likely occurs on a regular basis but not for writers in my category. 

First, Knowonder! online magazine for kids is publishing a new print and ebook with stories about princesses and dragons, and they are using my There's A Dragon In The Library story for the third time. The new book Spread Your Wings looks like a fun read.

The second message that put a smile on my face was from Matilda Butler, co-founder of the 

Women's Memoir website. She and her partner, Kendra Bonnet, run occasional contests on the site. She wrote to tell me that one of my stories, Driving With Dad, (a first place winner in an earlier contest) had been selected to be included in an anthology ebook they were preparing to publish. She asked for a photo and short bio to include, and I was happy to furnish that for her as soon as I returned home. 

The third happy message came from an abstract artist who is doing a Painting/Poetry Collaboration Project. I'd submitted a poem quite some time ago and had actually forgotten all about it. The artist liked the poem and is doing an interpretive abstract painting. The painting and poem will be on display in an art museum in St. Joseph, MO in September. I was pretty thrilled with this new kind of opportunity.

Yesterday, I received word from a Chicken Soup editor that a story I'd sent for a book on friendship had made it to the final round. Most of the stories that make it that far end up in the book, but a few can still be cut, so there is more waiting time to know for sure. Still, it's a thrill to get a story to this point with the Chicken Soup books as they receive literally thousands of submissions. 

The joy of these upcoming publications will keep me happy while I write and submit more of my work to places I think they fit. When that closed door finally opens up again, we all need to enjoy the sunlight it brings into our lives. I wish I could bottle it for those dimmer times one has in a writing life!