Article Fiction

Delightful surprise in my morning mail - two issues of WIN-Informer with my article in them! Of course my family's like, "What? Where? Let me read it!" At least the ones old enough to appreciate a trends article. (Somehow I don't think six-year-old Lydia was very impressed. But she had other things on her mind, including playing Mary tonight in our church's children's Christmas program with a solo - she's a born actress.)

It does strike me a slightly humorous that I've had success with publishing articles, poems, and book reviews, while my main focus, fiction, sits on the shelf. Well, at least it's not always my shelf. Word has gotten around in our little 900-strong church that I'm a writer, and my first novel is making the rounds. Just tonight I was talking to a ten-year-old, and she said her whole family had read the copy I let her mom borrow. Very cool. Even if the book is never published, some people have enjoyed it already. And that's the whole reason behind writing, anyway. Money is nice, but an unread book is not worth the paper it's printed on.

Most of the "nonfiction" I've had published does relate to fiction anyhow. Fiction has always been my preference. Back in school, when Mom (I was homeschooled) assigned an essay I knew it would be boring and when I had to write a report I knew it would be a rehash of several history books. But a short story? I'd triple the required length then write a sequel just for fun.

My current lack of published results from fiction is probably because I've focused on book-length fiction for the past two or three years. But, thanks to http://www.faithinfiction.blogspot.com and http://www.fusemagazine.net, two sites I visit daily, I'm taking a break and writing a short story for their impromptu Christmas contest. I hope you'll join in on the fun!