Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

Markets and Moving and More

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It’s true, time flies when we’re having fun.  When we’re experiencing sad, painful things, time drags and every day seems to last forever. We’ve been in Oklahoma for a year and three months. Doesn’t seem like a year. Only when we took the 10-hour trek to Louisiana (and back) once a month did it feel like forever. Today we learned we’ll be pulling out on July 27th.  As anxious as I am to get home, I’m sad to be leaving. I’ve enjoyed being here in Yukon—meeting my friend Janie at the library for writing day, going to Discovery Church, having lunch with friends every Sunday. Exploring the fantastic Salvation Army Family Store for books and going to Half-Price Books in OKC. Things are different at home.  I can’t imagine living there permanently again. We’ll see what happens.

So … I’m setting goals to reach by July 27th because I have no idea what will happen once we get home. I know it will take awhile to get acclimated, and I hate unpacking boxes!
I’m still trying to finish my novel to send to Love Inspired. The editing/revising is what takes so long. Fresh writing moves pretty fast. Interruptions keep popping up. Today I’m reading the galleys of The Last Daughter, my novella. Seems like every time I post, I’m reading over it for some reason.  Has it taken forever to reach this point? Seems so, but my editor says it won’t be long before it’ll be available. I’m anxious to see what kind of response it gets since I’ve never written anything like it. It has a little darkness to it. A dose of reality I call it—dark reality.

 I have a couple of articles to write for Southern Writers Magazine, and a new nonfiction project I’m toying with.
In the meantime, here are a few markets for you.

Over at Cruising Altitude 2.0, D.L. Hammons is revving up his Write Fight 2013. You have until midnight June 30th to enter your 500 word short story. Take a look and follow instructions to perfection.  http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/2013/06/write-club-last-call.html?showComment=1372432138957#c822276601668980747 

Slice Magazine is open to submissions from now through August 1 for short stories of up to 5,000 words that explore the theme “Escape.”  “We’re looking for anyone with a fresh voice and a compelling story to share—basically any work that really knocks our socks off. We’re not drawn to experimental or heavy-handed genre fiction. The best way to get a sense of Slice‘s content is to read the magazine.” Slice pays $100 for published stories. Find out more details here .

Samhain Publishing is seeking contributions for a fall 2014 gothic horror anthology. Editor Don D’Auria “wants to feel that claustrophobic, shadowy, oppressive gothic atmosphere” Stories may be supernatural or non-supernatural, historical or contemporary, and may feature ghosts, vampires, werewolves, homicidal maniacs, or almost anything your imagination can create. 25,000 to 30,000 words. Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2013. Stories will be published individually as ebooks in Spring 2014, then compiled into the anthology for the fall. Find all the details here.

Do any of these interest you? What are you working on? SHARE!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

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In a few weeks, we’ll be moving from Oklahoma and returning to Louisiana.  I’m trying to finish a requested manuscript to submit to Harlequin’s Love Inspired line before we pull out of here. Once we get home, there will be many distractions until we “settle in” and get into the Louisiana mindset.

I’m looking forward to being back, even though Oklahoma has been a great adventure. We’ve made a lot of friends, found a wonderful church and I’ll miss meeting my friend Janie at the Mustang Library several times a month for a writing day.

Every move we’ve made, I’ve faced readjustment and a new writing schedule. I know that my writing always suffers until I acclimate. This time could be a little different: hubby is going to retire and I’m facing permanence.

We often say, “Nothing lasts forever” or “This, too, shall pass” or “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”  That’s the thing—there’s always been a light at the end of the tunnel for us if we didn’t like a place.

The word permanence makes me uneasy. Same 0’ same 0’ scares me. A routine life sounds both appealing and boring. Okay, we’re facing another adventure, but will we like it?

Do you have any tips? Share a writing schedule with me.  If you were/are retired and wake up in the same place every day with no demands made on your life, what would you do?

Y is for Yukon

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Last year for the A to Z Challenge, Y stood for Yukon, Oklahoma. I blogged about the little town and I’ll take the opportunity to blog about it again. After all, we’ve lived here a year now.

Yukon has been a great place for us. It’s small. We can be anywhere in five or ten minutes. We can see Oklahoma City from our apartment complex. I posted last year that Dale Robertson lived here when in fact, he didn’t. He did once. Maybe his family still owns land here–I don’t know. Our senior citizen center is named after him and his picture is in our library. A few weeks ago, Dale passed away in California. I’ve spent a year hoping to spot him in grocery stores, coffee shops, libraries when all the time he’s been in California.

 I remember watching Wells Fargo with my dad. Rest in peace, Dale.

I drive up and down Garth Brooks Blvd to shop at Hastings, Target and WalMart and go to Jimmy’s Egg. On Tuesdays, I drive into Mustang (about five minutes away) and meet a friend at the library. We write from 9 am to 2 pm. We take our lunch and sit in the foyer at a table to eat and visit. I wrote my novella at the Mustang Library. I just received the galleys to proof; you can see my cover at the right. The Mustang Library has great writing vibes.

We attend a wonderful church in Yukon. Discovery Church is the friendliest I’ve ever attended. Love and laughter oozes from its members. We visited two other churches before we settled there. Sad that one has to shop around for a church–a good fit. Discovery is the only church I’ve ever attended that I felt people truly liked and cared about us–and not just on Sunday. If I ended up in the hospital, I know without a doubt, people would be praying for me and coming to see me. I’ve never had the comfort of that thought.

Yukon will be a sweet memory when we move back to Louisiana in June. While we’re looking forward to being near our daughter again, being in our home instead of an apartment, Louisiana will be like starting over–searching for a church, getting used to the oppressive weather, settling in … trying to fit in–once again.

We’ve moved a number of times in our married life. Yukon became home fast, and we’ll miss it.

How often have you moved in your life? Any place you’d like to go back to or regret leaving? How do places you’ve lived play into your writing?