I woke up the next morning with the story already running through my mind. Grabbing my morning cup of coffee, I sat down and started typing. It seemed only right to have the story set in my beautiful town of Sarasota, and what better place to set a gripping tale than Spanish Point. Then, about halfway through writing the story it hit me. This story can only be 5,000 words. Really? How does anyone only write 5,000 words to convey a complete story? Sure, I’d written two novels already, but they contained 70,000 words respectively. Combine that with the fact I work in the legal field, and we can’t write anything with only a few words. Our motto is why use ten words when one hundred words will do. Trusting my instincts, I kept typing. By the end of that weekend the story was completed – with nine words to spare.
Since the deadline to submit was October, I held onto my story for another month. On August 17th I held my breath and hit send. Due to hurricane delays we weren’t going to know the outcome until January. Knowing the outcome would mean the difference between writer and author made the wait feel even longer. Then, on January 28, 2023, while out on a power walk with my best friend my phone pinged. I looked down to see the word “Congratulations” as the title of an email from the Anthology editor. With shaky hands I opened the email and while tears ran down my face, I told my best friend that my lifelong dream of becoming an author had come to pass.