by Mary Ann Joyce from the December 15, 2014 issueTagline
Jess and Mat might joke around a lot, but their mutual attraction was no act!
In a Nutshell
Jess's sister strong arms her into volunteering to build sets for the community theatre. The other set builder is a hunk. They hit it off.
Observations
I know when I read Mary Ann Joyce wrote the story that it's going to be a great one, and I wasn't disappointed.
I was smiling throughout this story. I loved the comparison of Jess's break-up to a bad haircut. Awesome. I loved the banter between the sisters. I LOVE a man in a tool belt. So, thanks Mary Ann for that awesome image. I was cracking up at their playacting--get it? Playacting?
As for a teaching tip, notice how there is a good passage of time that happens in this story. There are four--count 'em, four time transitions.
1. She tells her sister she's not a theatre person and then "So Saturday, we went to the theatre..."
2. "Before long everyone was joking..."
3. "Over lunch one day..."
4. "The next night..."
In my opinion, this passage of time reinforces the feeling that a reader might have that the couple has a good chance of ending up happy with each other. It helps the reader feel like they got a lot more than 800 words.
On a sidenote, this wasn't a holiday story at all. I wonder if that was a choice Johnene made, to give people a break from holiday themed stuff, or if she didn't get enough good submissions of holiday stories. Something to keep in mind. It might behoove people to write some holiday stories now, while you're in a holiday mood and the holiday ideas are bopping around in your head, and submit, because it seems as if the mail room at Woman's World is moving more slowly than it used to.
Photo credit: By Baytownbert (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
7 comments:
I loved this story, Kate. I loved it so much, I didn't even notice that it wasn't a holiday story in a holiday issue. Great catch.
This was a cute story and very well written. I hadn't thought about it not being a holiday story but I will have to start writing one.
You're right, Kate, Mary Ann always writes a quality story and this was no exception. Loved it.
As Kate said, if the story has "Mary Ann Joyce" at the bottom, you know it will be good! This one was especially sparkling. Not a holiday story, but sparkling is a good thing in December!
Thanks everyone for the very nice comments. I had fun writing this story! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we all have sales in the New Year!
Loved it, too, Mary Ann! And I really liked how the story spanned time to allow the relationship to grow.
I was just looking over the list of author names at the right of your blog, Kate. Actually, I recognize only three or four of them. I wonder if being published in WW is a rare event for most of the writers who make it there. Never to be heard from again? Then there are the few who sell stories to WW over and over again.
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