Tagline: After her cat brings home a stray kitten, Milly links up with her neighbor, Brady, to search for its mother...and finds a new chance at love in the process.
Observations: In my Basics Class, I talk about several ways to come up with story ideas. One of them is to think of a problem for your character and then write the story of how he/she solves it--and finds "a new chance at love in the process," as the tagline for this story says. Cooper does this in spades with this adorable story.
Milly's problem is that she can't finish painting her kitchen because she's too short to reach the top corner, even with her ladder. Great. But then you read about Milly's second problem--her cat brings home a newborn kitten. (I found this adorable, by the way.) And Milly has a third problem--a neighbor who was a "rather rough-looking man who played loud music and came and went at all hours."
This story was so stuffed with problems and cuteness that by the time I was reading the ending, I'd forgotten that Milly was trying to paint her kitchen, so when the hero noticed the paint smear on her nose, I was as surprised as Milly was.
Cooper also surprised me by stowing the mother cat under the porch. I was trying to figure out where the kitten had come from myself and coming up empty. This might be because in Southern California, most of the houses just sit on a slab. Either way, I love being surprised by stories.
Let me know in the comments how you felt about the ending.
Photo by: Jennifer C. via Flickr CC license
9 comments:
Cute story. I liked how she explained why he came and went at all hours, and he himself explained the loud music as not realizing he had neighbors. The cat bringing home the kitten was cute. I was the same as you, Kate, when she was suddenly reminded that she had been painting. I had forgotten about the corner that needed someone tall. Great story
Wonderful story.
Kate, I agree about all the problems that were fitted into an 800 word story. Loved the cat bringing the kitten home, and I too forgot about her paining the kitchen.
Loved everything about this story. Well done, Ms. Cooper
Thanks for the lovely comments. This was my first ever attempt at a romance for Woman's World (I've tried with mysteries before with no success) I couldn't believe it when I got the email from Alex. My hand was shaking so much I could barely type a reply! Unfortunately due to the coronavirus I didn't get to see a copy of the magazine but I saw it online which was great. Thanks again.
Jacqui
Jacqui, congrats on the sweet story! I still have the issue with my first published WW story in 2005, and every one since. Until the current one, but I just ordered it from Bauer.
You MUST get yourself a printed copy!! Here is the link to order one:
https://bauer-media-group.myshopify.com/collections/celebrate
Jacqui, if you don't get a copy of the magazine with your story, please let me know. I'll be happy to send you my copy. PatMarinel @ yahoo.com (no spaces)
Fondly,
Pat Marinelli
I have my paper copy too and would be happy to send it, but it has notes scribbled all over it. LOL
Hi Jacqui, The week my story was published there was a strike of some sort with the company that delivers magazines to all the stores in my area. I couldn't get a copy and was going crazy. I'd told all my friends and relatives which issue to watch for and, since they lived out of my area, they all got copies before I did! Fortunately, my husband is a repair guy who travels all over Southern California. He stopped at every grocery store along his route until he found my issue - then bought me 10 copies. After that I started subscribing and haven't missed an issue since. Congrats on your success - and on your first try! Great job.
Ordering the back issue from their website worked beautifully! For only 50 cents more than the cover price, it arrived 4 days after I ordered it in a nice thick manila envelope.
Kate, you asked for comments about the ending. I thought it had a different feel than the rest of the story and was wondering if it was due to WW editing.
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