I can’t believe it has been a couple months since my last post. My art muse and the holidays took their tolls on my writing time but I am back making a concerted effort to carve out the time needed to start the rewrites for my novel.

In the meantime, all was not lost. A short story I sent off to an editor a few months ago resulted in a wonderful surprise email this past week.

A local magazine is going to publish my story, uncut, and I will be collecting my first professional writing fee. It’s not much money, but then it isn’t about the money. It is about validation from someone other than your significant other, your mother, your best friend.

I am still on cloud nine because this means that someone, a stranger, one who deals with words for a living, has determined that I have something worthwhile to say. Even though I tell myself that I already was a writer, receiving this affirmation makes it irrefutable.

So I celebrate today, and tomorrow it is back to the word processor. 🙂