Love Janet Reid's contests!

   Janet Reid is an agent who likes crime novels, so entering her 100-word contests may not help my picture book writing. But then again, writing in a totally different genre is good for the brain, right?  So, I am honored (and surprised!) that I've been chosen as a finalist in both her contests that I entered this month.
    The first involved collective nouns (my "frustration of picture book writers" was beaten by a "schvitz of rabbis") and the second involved using the names of the paint colors Janet had used to repaint her accent wall--5 times!  My story involved a bartender and a painter and lots of daiquiris.  Kid friendly? No.  But a fun challenge!

If I never sell another story...

...it will be reward enough to know that I helped Gen Doak get published at age 87!  Gen wrote a story years ago about a Thanksgiving dinner her family shared when she was a little girl.  I retyped it from her typewriter version onto a Word document and we looked on-line for a magazine that looked like a good fit.  Good Old Days looked perfect, and we sent it off.  And sure enough, they bought it!  It came out in their holiday edition, and Gen is so very proud.

  I had some good news this week, too--I'll have my second rebus, The Red Kite, in the June '14 issue of Highlights!