I used to write and publish confession stories. They were basically short, first person romances or thrillers with outrageous titles. After I sold my second one, the editor called me to ask if I had more. Once you get through the long, long slush pile and get to know an editor or two, this can be a nice way to earn a little extra cash.
There was one editor in particular who just loved Oklahomans. She came to the OWFI (Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc.) conference for several years. She let most of us email the stories in directly. She shocked me the first year. I had recently published a story for them about a woman who learns about her runaway daughter years later through an inherited computer. (Based on something that really happened when I worked in computer repair.)
I went up to her to thank her for how quickly that story had gone through and she rattled off the title and subject of the story–one that hadn’t even been published in “her” magazine. She said they’d passed the story around the office and loved it.
So, after this editor left, she told the next one about OWFI. This editor comes to the conference and asks for authentic, Oklahoman food.
Someone took her for lamb fries.
I wrote about this and the hilarious later conversation some of us had with Jennifer Blake here. 🙂
(BTW, some of you will be happy to see that I shared the title of a manuscript that was later pulled out, redone and is now making the agent rounds. Yes, DOTT stands for Dweller on the Threshold.)
Anyway, I couldn’t understand why Oklahoma and lamb fries had been paired like that. Maybe I get it now.
The hubby and I love this show called Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We’re always hoping they’ll show places in Oklahoma so we can do a short road trip and visit. We just caught an episode and guess what? They came here. And guess what they came to try??
I know it’s beef country, but come on!