Y’all, I can’t tell you how many years I’ve been saying “I need/want to publish something!” My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Vanderkam, would be mortified to know that I am still an unpublished writer. She was the first teacher of many to tell my mom “This kid is a writer” during parent/teacher conferences. Sorry, Mrs. V!!!

Last year, “Publish Something” was on my list of resolutions…which I find fun, not daunting…but when I found out my Mom had a brain tumor at 96 years old, all bets were off in 2023. We lost her in March and it’s been a rough road. Even though we were lucky to have her for such a long time (go, DNA, go!) no one ever prepares you for losing your mom – at least not when she’s your biggest cheerleader.

Not wanting 2023 to be a total flop, I’d been working on a romantic short story to flex my writing muscles. As New Years Eve got closer, I realized I had a pretty good shot at finishing it. Just about two hours before we rang in 2024, I finished my very first romantic short story and sent it off to a handful of awesome friends to review. There’s a lot to unpack here: finishing a piece of fiction was major for me, but so was being brave enough to share it. After a humiliating experience in a writing class back in my 20’s, I have a serious amount of fear pent up about ever sharing something again. But I was brave…and I did it.

As of right now, two friends have returned their comments to me about the story and I am both happy and grateful. They both liked the story…and they both found part of it needs a tweak. Can’t tell you more than that, but I’m pretty happy with the feedback. Oh, and typos…there were typos and punctuation weirdness. Totally fixable.

Right now I’m not sure how often I’ll post here on this website, but whenever I do I’ll share it on my Facebook author page and on Instagram. If you’re not following me on those platforms, I’d love for you to do so!

Happy New Year, friends!

Dianne