MY STORY IS READY TO GO

About a year ago I wrote a short story and in the following months I marked time in Rehab and Assisted Living, and many people read the story, almost 100 readers in all. When I returned to Independent Living I began picking at the story. Picking at your story is what you do till it goes out in the mail. I am mailing my story electronically tomorrow. It is a feeling most people will never experience, although it's somewhat like expecting the birth of a baby. One author wrote the night before she knows the story is going out, she sleeps in the room where the manuscript pages are. Sleep, I said, but I have an idea not much sleeping gets done because the presence of the story in the room may be like that of a live being, even an intruder.

I've waited this long to submit the story, for I couldn't imagine what magazine would be interested in such a story as mine is. Then I found one that has a contest going for any genre of fiction! As I read the rules, I got some more ideas and that meant more picking at. The story is so much better now. Next January we'll find out if it was good enough.