Questions About the Homeless and An Update

I have a few questions today. I hope some of you who read this would take the time to answer them.

Something came up in our office yesterday and a story idea came to mind. I've pondered it since then and have been wondering what other people think about certain things dealing with the homeless.

I want HONEST answers. I posed these questions to a writing workshop today and got some pretty interesting replies.

1. When a homeless person approaches you on the street what do you do?


2. What do you think about the people who hold up signs like, Will Work For Food or Homeless, Please Help?

3. Do homeless or street people scare you? If so, why?

Remember, I really would like honest answers on this--it won't help my story if the majority of the answers are politically correct. Uggh, I can’t believe I actually wrote those two words.

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Yesterday I received my first rejection of the young year. It wasn’t too disheartening since the editors gave some good feedback on it and I can see what they are saying. It is a place I will submit to again in the near future and a story I will be working on to make it better and send it back out.

With a rejection in the hip pocket I awaited other replies for the ten stories I have submitted since the first of the year.

Lo and behold, this evening I check my e-mail and see a second response to a submission. With trepidation, I opened it and read it. Yeah, I’m smiling now. My story, Sarah’s Playground, was accepted for the February edition of SNM Magazine. To quote my good friend, John Miller: YIPPIE.

That’s one down, forty-nine to go. So, that’s what, 2% of the way to my goal?

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My daily word count has been going well. Here it is, the thirteenth of January and I sit at a little over 21,000 words for the month. That’s 8,000 words over my daily goal. I’m pleased with that but the year is still very early and things tend to change. Hopefully, the enthusiasm won’t wane in the coming months.

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I want to wish my older brother, Larry, a happy birthday. Tomorrow (January 14) is his fortieth birthday. Congratulations on making it this far.

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Sorry to say I don’t have any humorous stories of my children tonight. Well, I do, but I’m pretty tired and I am heading to bed shortly. Tune in next time for another episode of How My Children Scare Me.

For now, I’m AJ and I’m out.