That Sadie Thing blog tour - guest post by Annalisa Crawford

Published under my maiden name - it is
me though, honestly!

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Christine for hosting me on the first stop on my That Sadie Thing blog tour. 

As it's the first day, I thought I'd talk about the first story I ever sold  - Tasting the Grass.

I got £10 for it. I was 19 years old, and  it was the best £10 I'd ever earned - I almost didn't cash the cheque, after all it had my name and the name of the magazine on it. It was my proof that I was a real writer!

The story is about a character who's had a one night stand behind their partner's back.

If I sound a bit vague on this one, it's because any and all detail would be a major spoiler. At the time, I was trying to write for Jackie and Just Seventeen magazines, and they loved their twist-in-the-tale stories, so I tried to write one. I didn't get around to submitting it to either of those magazines, because from the first sentence I knew it wouldn't fit.

It was perhaps easier to find markets in those olden days, because there were less of them - all print, none online. Today, once you start looking, you can find thousands around the web. Any literary magazine of note, back then, was mentioned in Writer's News, which I subscribed to - Panurge, Staple and Stand were just a few I was desperate to make the grade for, but never did.

What it did, though, was give me a good grounding in how to submit and how to receive rejection - an apprenticeship, almost. Writers these days (and I'm really not trying to sound like a veteran here) don't have to be rejected unless they want to be - it's easy to publish anything and everything by yourself. In a way, I think every writer should have a folder crammed full of rejection letters - it's character building!



About Annalisa
I live in Cornwall, with a good supply of beaches and moorland right on my doorstep. I live with my husband, two boys, a dog and a cat. Despite my location. I neither surf nor sail, and have never had any inclination to try. I much prefer walking along the beach and listening to the waves crashing over rocks. For this reason, I really love the beach in the winter!

Buy That Sadie Thing here (this link should take you direct to you local Amazon)
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 Read her blog here.