My First Published Story

I’m soooo excited!

I checked my mailbox last Wednesday and in it was a copy of the magazine in which my non-fiction story is published and the cheque payment for it. It was the first story I submitted to a US magazine and I am just thrilled when it was accepted a few months ago. Still, I didn’t really believe it until I saw it in print.

The magazine is called ‘Learning Through History’ and is based in Naples, Florida. It’s a bi-monthly publication that targets parents who home-school their children. For the May/June 2006 issue, the theme was ‘The American Revolution’. I wrote a biography entitled ‘First to Defy, First to Die: The Boston Massacre’. It’s about one Crispus Attucks, the first black man to have risen against the British and who instigated the bloody event later to be known as ‘The Boston Massacre’. In fact, the Boston Massacre is believed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back (straw being the event, camel being the Americans), which eventually led to the American Revolution.

Imagine my exhilaration when I saw my story in print, with my byline on it and a short bio as well that said I am a freelance writer writing out of Tahiti! Although you can’t read the story, you can view the link at: http://www.learningthroughhistory.com/current_issue.php

Look at the contents of the current issue (May/June 2006) and Page 9 is me! :D

PS: Oh by the way, they have bought ‘All Rights’ so I can’t publish the story here.

12 Days of Separation

The nights are the hardest....

Yep, I'm all alone in this house with my faithful Alto, who never seems to leave my side all day and night long. Xav has gone to Fiji for two weeks on a work mission. I'd have followed him except that he'd be rounding the island on work with his colleagues, hardly staying in one hotel long enough for me to actually explore anything. Perhaps another time.....

Days are not too bad - I'm used to being alone during the day, but the nights are a whole other story. I now sleep with the porch lights on, lighting up the front of my house and garden with a warm glow. Truly, this high up in the mountains, it can get pretty eerie due to the inky black nights. Plus, it's sort of 'winter', so the sun not only sets early, the winds howl through the house at almost gale-force speed! Strong winds rattle my wooden doors and whistle through tiny crevices between the sliding doors and windows. Outside, the huge avocado tree shakes its heavy burdens onto the roof with loud thumps that intrude on the night silence.

And if all these are not enough to keep me awake late into the night, I have my overactive imagination to contend with as well. What is it about the human mind that entices you to visualize nightmares dredged up from a thorough combination of all the horror/ghost/thriller flicks you've watched your whole life?

Thanks to this, my senses are all working overtime - ears extra attentive, eyes sharp, constantly darting to my bedroom door, beyond which lies the darkness of my living room. All doors are securely locked. I sleep with two huge cushions on either side of me, under which are carefully hidden my kitchen knife and the kitchen knife sharpener. My cordless house phone is also within arm's reach.

Talk about paranoia! But then again, better safe than sorry, and better paranoid than dead, right? ;D