In late 2006, I submitted  my short story, "Cell Mates" to a contest sponsored by  Montana State University.  A substantial money prize was offered.  However,  within a month after submission, I had a letter from the  editor saying that the prize money had been withdrawn by the doner.  But, Mr. Editor said, "we love your story and want to publish it."  Flattery will get you, etc.  The result: my story appeared in their annual Writings From The River, 2007. 

In mid 2008, I had an e-mail from a Canadian publisher.  They were assembling stories for an anthology that would be used as an example of good short story writing. Their anthology would be promoted to college level creative writing teachers to be used in their instruction. They had seen my story and wanted to  include it as an example of a good  short story.  (Ahh! more flattery!)  And the "plus" was that they would pay me $100 on publication.

In February of this year (2009) I had an e-mail from the Canadian publisher letting me know that "economic circumstances" prevented them from publishing the anthology as planned.

This is a mixed happy and sad report.  Win or lose, I keep on writing and will continue trying to find a payng market for "Cell Mates."

Until next time, Willma