Yellow Bird--Published Again

by Catherine Giordano

I received three acceptances in one month .  I've already posted about my acceptance into two anthologies: Not Your Mother's Book--On Parenting and "It's a Crime."  The books will be relased in September 2013 and October 2013, respectively. 

I also had an essay accepted last month by The Florida Writer, a magazine published by the Florida Writers Association.  The magazine came out last week.  My story is entitled Yellow- Bird. It a nice piece about a special moment I shared with my son on his 21st birthday and how the song "Yellow Bird" brought me back to my own youth.

There's an interesting story about this acceptance.  One evening I received an email from the editor of the magazine saying she could not accept my story because I quoted from the song.  Did you know you can not quote more than six words of a song? I didn't. I quoted two lines and that doomed my essay. I quickly rewrote replacing the quoted lines and resubmitted via email with a note saying I hoped that it wasn't too late to be considered for publication. It wasn't.

I've submitted to The Florida Writer three times and been accepted three times.  Dare I try for a fourth.  Yes, I must submit again because the theme for the next issue is a brief encounter with a stranger and I have at least a half dozen pieces to fit that theme.  

I have these pieces because I'm working on a book to be titled People I Have Almost Met.  It will be a collection of essays about brief encounters with strangers. I started doing it as a blog, but I discontinued the blog because some publishers will not accept previously published work.  And "previously published" sometimes includes blogs.

So I will dig out those essays and spiff them up.  The deadline is July 1st so I after to hurry.  My day job pays the bills, but it limits my time for writing.

Top Ten

by Catherine Giordano

OMG! I got the news last night, and I am still jumping up and down and screaming for joy. 

About a week ago, I got the news that my submission to the Florida Writer’s Association annual anthology got accepted. Every year there is a theme; this year the theme was crime, hence the title of the collection, It’s a Crime.

My story is titled “The End of a Marriage.” Hint: It doesn’t end well.

Every year after the 60 stories are selected for inclusion in the anthology, an “author of renown”—this year Michael Wiley, author of award winning detective mysteries—makes his pick for the ten best stories. I made the top ten! Not just that, I was ranked #2!!

Maybe it is a good thing I wasn’t ranked #1. It gives me something to strive for next year. I just hope I am not a one-shot wonder.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a writer.  Now I’m a senior citizen, and I’ve been doing creative writing for about two years. As I say in one of my speeches, it is never too late to follow your dreams. 

The book will be released in October 2013.  

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Galleys Humor

Galleys before the internet

by Catherine Giordano

I reviewed galleys for the first time this week because my story “Figuring it Out” will appear in the anthology Not Your Mother’s Book—On Parenting.  The release date for the book is September 10^th 2013.

It was also my first time working with an editor from a publisher.  It was an interesting experience.  At first I may have been too much “I defer to your judgment”—I didn’t want to rock the apple cart—but later I realized I had to stand up for my work. 

In one case, an edit was made for space reasons—a couple of lines had to be cut to prevent the story from rolling over onto a new page. I thought the editor had cut lines crucial to the story. I explained my reasons and offered to cut different lines. The editor gladly accepted my suggestions, and I saved my story.

It took a lot of back and forth to get the story just right. It was so simple because I looked at a pdf of the pages instead of getting them on paper, and all the discussion was done by email. What a chore this must have been back in the days of paper and mimeographs. 

The editor had 60 stories to review for this anthology and she was simultaneously working on another anthology of 60 stories. Dealing with 120 authors all at once can’t be easy. I hope I made her job a little easier.

P.S. No humor in this post—I just couldn’t resist the pun in the title.

CLICK HERE

 

It's A Crime

by Catherine Giordano

Today I learned that the short story I submitted to the Florida Writers Association Anthology #5 It's a Crime was one of the 60 stories accepted.

Three acceptances in one month!  I'm beginning to feel like a real writer.

My story is titled "The End of a Marriage." 

I don't even read much crime fiction and I never tried to write a crime story before.  This story started out as a story about a married couple who wren't getting along and then in a flash I saw how to turn it into a crime story. 

Some of my friends are in this anthology too, and that makes it extra special.  I can't wait to read it.



Reaching New Heights

by Catherine Giordano

I am going to have one of my stories published in a national anthology:  Not Your Mother’s Book—On Parenting. The story in titled “Figuring It Out” and it is about how my son learned that there is no Santa Claus. The story is both humorous and heartwarming. The book will be available in September 2013. Look for it where ever fine books are sold.

In addition to my independently published books (self-publishing print-on-demand books in now called “independent publishing”) I have a few other writing credits, all from smaller regional publications.

·         Three of my poems were included in a poetry anthology Love and Other Passions; Poets of Central Florida (2012).

·         I have had two stories published in The Florida Writer, a magazine for members of The Florida Writers Association.  The stories were “I Organize, Therefore I Am” (Volume 5, Number 4, 2011) and “Accidental Kidnapper” (Volume 6 Number 3, 2012). My third story, “Yellow Bird”, will appear in the next issue available in June 2013 (Volume 7, Number 1, 2012).  I’m proud to say that I have submitted stories three times and been accepted all three times.

·         I had poems and essays published in the LIFE at UCF newsletter (2011, 2012)

·         I had a couple of my news print poems published in an online journal, Poetry Breakfast.

·         I had a column and news print poem published in The Winter Park Observer, a local newspaper.

I decided to take up my childhood dream of being a writer in 2011, so I have now been writing for about two years. In addition to poetry, I write essays, short creative non-fiction (taking a true story, but writing it as if it were fiction) and the occasional piece of flash fiction (very short short-stories.)  

I have submitted my work for publication sporadically, but I feel encouraged now to submit on a more consistent basis.

And who knows, maybe I have a great novel in me.

So far I haven’t gotten paid, although I could have obtained royalties from Not Your Mothers Book. The amount of payment would have been very small because the royalty has to be split among 60 authors, so I opted for ten free copies of the book instead.

My next milestone—get paid.

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Twisters Wrath

I wrote a poem about tornados last year, but I could have just as well written it yesterday.

Read the poem on my News Print Poetry 2012 blog:  Twisters' Wrath

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The Violet

by Catherine Giordano

The Orlando Sentinel publishes “Ask Amy” and advice columnist.  This week “Rita in Burbank California sent a letter with this quote which she attributed to Mark Twain. ‘Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.’

I do public speaking and one of my talks is “All About Apologies … and Forgiveness.” I think that quote should get incorporated into the talk.

It’s such a beautiful statement—it is a wonderful image for a poem.

 

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