Happy Dance

I know I've already posted today, but I can't stop myself from posting again. I don't think it's against blog etiquette (is there even such a thing?) and frankly, I'm too happy to care. I just received an email from one of my publishers saying they would like to have my short story "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" for their PMS: Poison, Murder, Satisfaction anthology. They've already asked for my short story, "Third Time's for Keeps" for their Romance of My Dreams Anthology. That makes two that will be out next year in print. Woo-hoo!

That's exciting enough, but the thing that really has me doing happy dances is the fact that "Alice" was the first short story I ever wrote and it was submitted a few years years ago to not one, but two, short story contests. It didn't receive so much as an honorable mention in either one.

A little side note here: I've since learned, submitting to contests is like submitting to a publisher. Either do your research or suffer the consequences. By that I mean, read between the lines of the submission guidelines for each contest and try to get a feel for what they're looking for. Read the previous winners--if you can find them. More important, find out all you can about the judges, because they are the ones who are going to be reading the stories and deciding on the winners.

My mistake, well, one of my mistakes, was in submitting to contests with judges that were looking for "serious" literary stories. "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" is about as far away from serious as you can get. It's a humorous story about Alicia Smith, whose perfect life is turned upside down when her husband has bypass surgery and her live-in maid suddenly runs away with the yardman to live in a commune in New Hampshire. Alicia's answer to all this upheaval? Alice Smitty, an alter ego with a homicidal bent. Who does Alice want to kill? Why, Alicia's husband, of course.

The thing is when the book comes out next year with "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" in it, I'd love to send a copy to those contests along with a smart-ass little "nyah-nyah" note.

I won't do it, but it sure is nice to think about.

Gotta go spread the news and do another happy dance!