My Latest Publishing Credit

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by Catherine Giordano

The official release date for a new  creative non-fiction anthology, Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Mom, is April 8, 2014. It includes my story, "The Accidental Kidnapper."

It is a story about my son John and his adoption from Guatemala at the age of five. It provides insight into how a it feels to be adopted--a little like being kidnapped.

I hope you will buy the book when it becomes available.  It will be in bookstores and on amazon.com.  

When you buy it, be sure to use the link on my website. Just click on the amazon.com shopping cart logo on the top left side of the page and then shop as you normally would. (P.S.: you can use that link whenever you buy from amazon.com.  I earn a small commission and it doesn't cost you anything extra.)

A Beautiful Woman

by Catherine Giordano

A chance encounter in the supermarket with a gentleman who was a stranger to me reminded me that you are only as beautiful as you feel.

I wrote an essay about this and it has just been published in The Florida Writer Volume 7 Number 2.

Getting published makes me feel beautiful.

Plus, on Tuesday September 8th, the anthology Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Parent will be released. It includes my story "Figuring It Out."  Being published and getting paid for it--it's a beautiful thing.

Also I'll never another story published in Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Mom.  The book will be released November 2013. 

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Click Here to purchase Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Parent 
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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.



A New Author Credential

by Catherine Giordano

A magazine arrived in the mail this week and it had my essay in it. The magazine is The Florida Writer, published by the Florida Writers Association. For each issue, they ask members to submit a short essay on the theme they have chosen for the issue.

The current issue asked us to write about children.  I submitted an essay entitled “The Accidental Kidnapper.” It was about adopting my son years ago from Guatemala when he was five years old.  For me it was an adoption; for him, it felt like a kidnapping. (I did not actually kidnap anyone—I just used that title to be provocative.)

I have submitted essays twice to The Florida Writer published by The Florida Writers Association. Both times my essay was selected for publication. So I’m two for two; I’ll have to try again when the theme is of interest to me and try for three for three.

The first time was back in January and I wrote about organization. I’m very organized so it was easy to write on that topic—I just wrote all about my organization compulsion. That time I got an e-mail about a month before publication telling me my essay was selected.

This time, no e-mail (unless I missed or deleted it). I thought I hadn’t made the cut. So it was extra special to turn to the table of contents and see my name.

I’ve also had an essay published in the LIFE at UCF newsletter.  It was entitled “A Beautiful Woman.” The essay is part of my “The People I Have Almost Met” series—a bunch of essays about chance encounters and the relationships that ensue, but only last a couple of minutes at best. This one was about a chance encounter in the supermarket.

It’s great to have someone think my work is worth publishing. My next goal is have that someone be someone who can pay me for my work.

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High Praise from On High

My title for this post “High Praise from On High” may be a bit of hyperbole.  In truth, it was only moderate praise and it was only from an editor.

I occasionally submit poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction to publishers of anthologies.  Last week I got a response from an editor.

She wrote, “You have good writing skills, and I am glad you sent your story.”

She went on to suggest that I make a few revisions and resubmit the story. She mainly wanted me to use the past tense because they want all the stories in the anthology to be in the past tense. She didn’t suggest any changes to the story itself which made me feel that my story was good and well-written.

It is the first time I have received a personal note from an editor.  Sometimes I get a form rejection email, but most of the time I don’t get any acknowledgement at all. 

If I do make the cut, the payment is minimal but the thrill of knowing I made the cut will be huge.

I only started writing a little over a year ago. Getting praise from an editor is a big milestone in my writing career.  

I found this at htp://katieonfiction.wordpress.com