Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Fair Trade by Marie Savage

From the February, 29, 2016 issue

Tagline: Sara needed Jason's home-repair expertise, and Jason needed decorating advice from Sara. It looked like the beginning of a beautiful romance!

Observations: The one thing that stood out for me with this story is that there were two, what I'm going to call, gender reversals. We have on the one hand Sara, who takes a home repair class--a topic associated with men more than women. On the other hand, we have Jason taking an interior decorating class. What is great about this concept is that we immediately admire the two main characters for stepping out of their comfort zone. Then, because we are focusing more on Sara than on Jason, we also see Sara actively trying out her new skills and succeeding.

I also liked that the story spanned a few weeks and made it more realistic in that it took a little while for the two to get friendly enough to get to the dating stage.

Solid story.

Photo credit: el cajon yacht club

14 comments:

Sandy Smith said...

I loved this story. Another well written story with a bit of a difference. At first, though, I thought it was a matchmaking story. I thought the man who sent her to take the class knew she would meet the love interest and I also thought the same thing when he was told to take the decorating class. At that point, though, I didn't see how that fit together, so then just enjoyed the story for what it was!

Pat said...

Another great WW story!

Kate Willoughby said...

"Another well written story with a bit of a difference." <---That right there is sort of what we are all aiming to do. Give them the same thing but different.

Mary Hicks said...

Hi Kate!
I sent a story in about four weeks ago and just now read the new guidelines. Do you think I should re-submit the story online?

Thanks,
Mary

Tamara said...

I was worried about that as well, Mary. I wrote to Patty Gaddis, and she said my stories were being considered.

Mary Hicks said...

Thanks Tamara!

I should keep up better, but I didn't know the guidelines had changed. I was finishing my second book and haven't had time for anything else until it went to editing.:-)

If I may ask, who is Patty Gaddis and how did you get in touch with her?

Tamara said...

First I should say that some people on this blog suggested that I shouldn't worry about my stories that I'd already sent it. They were correct. Patty Gaddis is the first editor, first reader, of three, and now the first reader of only two, since Johnene Granger is gone. I think that's right. Kate can correct me if I'm wrong. What kind of books do you write?

Mary Jo said...

Tamara, Patricia is the Fiction Editor for Woman's World. Her name is now officially on the masthead. She seems to be a lovely person to work with, and I think that is the general consensus. Then, of course, there is the Editor in Chief. Sorry, but I don't recall her name at the moment. I had an email from Patricia Sunday night, telling me that she liked a story I had submitted but the EIC shot it down. That has happened to me twice now. I think you said it had also been your experience. Patricia is very encouraging, though. I am really glad to have her on board.

Tamara said...

Yes, Mary Jo. I've had three or four where that's happened, one just recently, before the changeover. It seems that Patricia is open to communicating with us, as was Johnene. Well, we won't be hearing anymore "This just didn't work for me". Of course I preferred that to no word at all, but I guess I'll get used to that.

Mary Hicks said...

Glad for all the comments. It would be nice to know if your story had been accepted sooner than four months. But if that's the way it is ...:-)

Tamara, I write clean romance—I like to think I write a good story first with romance worked throughout. But I have to list them as 'Romance' on Amazon. The second of my series is being edited, and I'm working on the third book.

Mary Jo said...

Mary, it sounds as if you are doing very well with your books. Good for you. I would say you never know about the time line at WW. I emailed a little mystery on January 29 and Patricia got back to me with an acceptance on February 2nd. Maybe that is email for you. The snail mail slush pile seemed to require about three to six months for any kind of reply.

Kate Willoughby said...

Mary Hicks, I think you certainly could resubmit via email if you wanted, but just mention that you had previously submitted the story by snail mail. Congrats on your second book!

Tamara said...

Mary, that is great about your books.

Mary Hicks said...

Mary Jo, Tamara and Kate, thank you for your kind words about my book!:-)
I'll wait a little longer then I may re-submit. Thanks!