"Pillow Talk" Guest Post for Michele Paiva

Click on the link below for a guest post and interview:

http://www.loseyourfinattitude.com/1/post/2010/08/guest-blogger-author-ruth-j-hartman.html

(I'd Like) to Kill a Mockingbird

Deep South Magazine, an online publication of all things southern. Click below for my story about my family reunion.


http://www.deepsouthmag.com/?page_id=127.

An Unexpected Yay!

After receiving some of my short stories back from various kind publishers to whom I had submitted after the horrendous computer crash, I turned around and sent one of them out again. I did it mostly to prod myself back into the wide, wonderful world of publishers. Lately, I've been writing romance novels, which, of course, take longer to write. This means I'm still submitting to publishers, only not nearly as often. I didn't want to forget how! Of course, I hoped they'd like my story, (I mean, as a writer, why wouldn't you want that?) but wasn't sure if they'd accept it for publication.

I sent my story, "(I'd like) to Kill a Mockingbird" to a wonderful new publisher, Deep South Magazine. I'd learned of them through a fantastic newsletter I subscribe to called, Funds For Writers. Within a couple of days, I heard back. In the affirmative! Yay!  (You knew that yay would show itself eventually, didn't you?) So I'm pleased to say my short story should be out sometime this month. I'll post the link when it's official. Yay! Sorry...that one sort of slipped out :)

11,000 and Counting...

To recap, my former computer died a slow, violent death. In its demise, it took with it most of my written work to date. It took me quite a while to get over that. I'd see a publisher's guidelines and I'd think "Great! I've got just the short story to submit to them!" Then the ugly truth would knock me in the head. Nope. Not gonna happen. Your stories are no more.

Thankfully, with the help of wonderful, caring publishers, I was able to recoup some of my work. Two novels were e-mailed back to me so I could have them for my records. And a few short stories have also trickled back. To all of you who took the time to do that for me, I'm very grateful.

But the one that really got to me, stuck in my craw, shall we say, was my current work in progress. I was 11,000 words into the novel when my computer came down with an incurable virus. I'd kept written notes for my work, but most of that was just in idea form, jotted down in a hurry. If I was lucky, sometimes I could even read my own chicken-scratch.

But, as of last evening, I am once again over 11,000 words! The story has many of the same elements, but has changed somewhat. Some parts I remembered word for word, while others were just a cloudy concept stuck somewhere in my brain. I'm very happy to say, I like the story that's emerging even better than the previous one. A blessing in disguise? Yes, I believe it is.

Dental Article Published.

My true dental article about one of my patients, is now posted at: http://www.youandmemagazine.com/articles/dentistry-help-from-unexpected-places.

You and Me Medical Magazine is different from other medical magazines because it tells true stories from the patient's or practitioner's personal viewpoint. It's well worth checking out for all of the articles.