Five years ago, after leaving my previous school and preparing to launch my editing service, I decided to dip into my “short story ideas” folder and write a few of them and submit them to literary journals. I’ll see what kind of response they get, I told myself, and go from there.
Initially, they did not get much of a response. But I continued to click on the folder, write out ideas that appealed to me and fit certain themes (the streets of Las Vegas, humanizing the homeless, a sense of longing for change, etc.), and submit the stories. I now have finished fifteen of them—ten of which have been published—and the folder is empty.
I think these vignettes, flash fiction, and short stories could form a strong collection, and I plan to start pitching it to smaller and mid-level publishers in the new year. If you know a publisher who may be interested in it—think Las Vegas/the West and Southwest, homelessness/social issues, literary fiction, short collections (about 40,000 words), etc.—please let me know. Thanks, and happy holidays!
PS- Photo by Gilberto Campos circa 2020, when I started to work on the collection
