Time to take advantage of my Wild Wednesday them, where anything can happen, and give you a brief update on my writing life.

I’m sitting on pins and needles.

Metaphorically speaking, of course. I kept checking my email last night, and I even had a dream about this situation—with a sad ending that left my dream-self frustrated. Why the anxious waiting? I submitted a flash fiction story to Splickety magazine last Friday, and I’m dying as I await to hear if my precious little story made the cut.

On some levels it’s not a big deal. There’s always tomorrow, right? Always another chance for a story to be accepted.

At the same time, it matters a great deal. Approaching eight years as a writer (yikes, I’m getting old), I would love nothing more than to finally see one of my stories in print. Anyone who’s followed a dream for any amount of time can relate. You work hard, put in the time necessary, pour yourself into achieving this goal.

It’s like Frodo’s quest to Mount Doom (on a much smaller and less world-threatening scale, of course). He toiled for months and months, at times nearly giving up. Yet at the end, because he persevered, the triumph of completing the quest, of seeing the Ring destroyed, made the blood, sweat, and tears worth the effort.

*rushes off to check inbox* Whoops, sorry. I’m back. Just had to make sure nothing was happening in my absence. 😉

I feel like Frodo—minus the blood. Pretty sure there’s been some sweat and tears along the way. I’m so close and because I’ve been at this so long, so diligently, I’m desperate for a happy conclusion to this chapter of the tale.

Publishing a single story isn’t the end goal, by the way. Eventually I want my books to be read around the world by millions of loyal fans. Hey, it can’t hurt to dream, right? 😉 But getting published, even if it’s a 700-word story in a magazine, would be a huge step forward and a major confidence boost.

And so I play the waiting game. Such is the life of an author. And I don’t even have the blessed gift of coffee to help me endure the wait. I don’t drink coffee. *ducks any potentially thrown tomatoes or colored pens*

Now that you’ve been brought up to speed, you can return to your regularly scheduled day.

Meanwhile, I’m going to bounce between being productive and checking my inbox. A lot.