For Your Consideration: Sticky Situation

Thrilled to report that I completed the monthly Write 1 Sub 1 challenge in January and submitted my short story "Sticky Situation" to Spider. Although it might have technically been February 1st on the east coast, according to pacific time it was still January 31st when I uploaded my story to Submittable.

 

At first I was hesitant about online submissions. I enjoy the old school process of printing out my final draft and cover letter and putting my SASE in the envelope. For me, going to the post office and mailing out a story feels like an accomplishment. But the ease of sitting on the couch with a laptop and submitting a story at 11:45pm on at Friday night might have just pushed me into the 21st century. It was so easy!

The short story is about a student who brings a sticky hand to school and the shenanigans that ensue. The idea has been percolating since I was in the 5th grade and something like this actually happened. One day last year while flipping through an Oriental Trading Company gift catalog I saw a picture of the sticky hands, and it triggered my memory. I cut out the picture, and put it into my writing journal. Now the experience has been reimagined as a full fledged fictional story. Hopefully, it will find a home in Spider or another children's magazine and give readers a laugh or two.

Do you prefer to mail your story submissions or submit them online? Where do you get your story ideas? Do you keep a writing journal? You never know when inspiration will strike!