Mills College Women ROCK!

Wow!

I just got an email from my alma mater, Mills College. Carolina de Robertis has sold her first novel to Knopf (other publishers were vying for her manuscript as well).

Carolina entered the graduate program during my second year. She was an IMMENSE help to me setting up for the bi-weekly author readings for the Place for Writers.

This makes the third Mills woman I know to graduate and sell her novel, alongside classmates Laleh Khadivi and Nina LaCour.

I'm so proud to have shared some class/work/leisure time with these fabulous writers!

I'm inspired and know there will be more good news in the months and years to come!

Highlights Fiction Contest

So according to the children's boards, not everyone got a handwritten note on their rejection letter from the Highlights Magazine Fiction Contest 2008.

My rejection letter had the standard "Dear author" response at the top but at the bottom, someone wrote in ink:

"Stephanie,
We enjoyed 'Are We There Yet' and look forward to reading your next submission. Best of luck!"

It's cool that they took the time to write me a personal message, considering they received over a thousand entries. I'm impressed with how organized they had to be to write the messages and return submissions. I'm encouraged and will definitely submit to next year's contest! This time, I won't wait a week before the deadline to write a story!