Last year saw my first short story, TO LIGHT AND GUARD, published in Bewildering Stories magazine. That was a big milestone for me: my first official publication.
This year is shaping up even better! I had a poem, THE TOWERS STOOD, published in the World Healing, World Peace 2014 Poetry Anthology, and my short story DYING BREATH sold to Youth Imagination magazine!
In even more exciting news, my middle grade sci-fi retelling of the Wizard of Oz, OZCILLATION, was picked up by Evil Jester Press, and will be released in 2015! I am so excited to work with this group of enthusiastic and creative people, and to be one of their first middle grade novels as they expand.
Right now, my novel is with the editor, so I am waiting on pins and needles to get the feedback from her. I know there will be some hard work ahead to make OZCILLATION all shiny, but I am ready to tackle it. I will be approaching the novel with fresh eyes, as I have not read the book since I started querying agents waaaay back in December of 2012. I have come a long way as a writer since then and will probably see things in the book I want to change as well.
So what am I doing while waiting for my editing notes? I am editing two short stories that I hope will find homes this year. I am doing final preparation on my genealogy book for upload to the self-publishing Print-On-Demand (POD) site, likely by the end of this week. Then I will figure out how to format the genealogy book for ebook, and upload that. I’m sending querying to agents for my YA contemporary fantasy THE ORACLE OF DELPHI, KANSAS. I am also beginning to work on my marketing strategy, as well as optimizing my website and blog and other social media. Oh, and I’m working on another novel.
So, I’m busy.
The list, of course, does not include weekly repetitive tasks like blog posts, watching the 2 TV shows I allow myself to watch, reading, taking care of the business of life, and running around after my most important Work-In-Progress, my preschooler!
As much work as the coming year will be, I am looking forward to the challenge! How about all of you? What new bragging rights do you have? Share!
United We Stand?
I don’t need to tell you how divided our country has become. How polarized. How there seem to be two different Americas today, each living in a parallel but very different reality from the other. How people feel free to spout the most vile language, to dehumanize their neighbor, and to throw away the very values of America while claiming to cherish them.
There was a day, not so very long ago, where we truly were the United States of America.
I hope someday we can find ourselves there again—but united in joy, not grief.
The Towers Stood
by Kerry Gans
One summery September morning
Death flew out of the clear blue sky.
In Manhattan, papers and people fell like rain.
In Washington, the Pentagon crumbled.
In a Pennsylvania field, a plane of heroes crashed.
And still the Towers stood.
Flaming like the torch of Lady Liberty,
They stood in defiance of hatred.
The enemy envisioned immediate collapse,
A domino effect of death.
But still the Towers stood.
American strength saved 16,000 people that day,
Although 2,977 perished, sudden soldiers
In an unexpected war.
On that day of death, there was no North or South
No coasts East or West
No difference between old money and new immigrant
No African-American, Asian-American, European-American, Native-American.
On that day we were simply American,
United in anger and pain.
On the day the towers fell,
America rose.