Jazzing It Up

Notice anything new?

If you stopped by over the weekend, you may have noticed more than this new look. I've been playing.

What do you think?

I think it's still not quite right, but it's the new one for now. Everyone needs a change every now and then to keep things fresh. So please indulge me :)

And . . .

I have a treat for you.

My flash fiction story - "Blues in the Night" - has been published in the premier issure of Dark Valentine magazine. My story is on page 16.

To tie all this into Monday-Is-Something-About-Writing-Day, here's the takeaway: Persistence Pays.

It hasn't paid yet with the new look, but it will before much longer.

It did pay with my story. This is a story I wrote a few years ago. It started life at about 3000 words. Couldn't sell it. Padded it by adding a subplot. No go. Yanked everything but the core. Changed the title. Twice. Adjusted the ending. No sale.

All along I believed in the story the character needed to tell. I tried fitting my edgy little story into all the markets I could find. I called it literary, mainstream, crime, spec fic, whatever the market wanted. But still no sale.

Then along came Dark Valentine.

They didn't ask for specific genre(s); they wanted dark across all genres. I love that magazine because the people there loved my story. They GOT it!

That's what we all hope for when we write . . . readers who get what we're saying.