Today I’m happy to announce that my short story (Fruits of the Spirit Daycare) has been accepted by Z Publishing and is included in their America’s Emerging Writers series. You can pre-order a copy of the book, Florida’s Emerging Writers, today by following the link and get it up to two weeks before the official publication date (September 6).

As a further reason why you should check the book out, any money that I raise through this publication will help pay my way to my very first writers’ conference. Going to a writers’ conference has been on my bucket list for literally years, but I’ve never been able to go–nor felt equipped to take such a step forward in my writing career.

But now I’m ready to take a stab at it, and you can help me make it there.

Z Publishing is a pretty cool little publishing house. While it’s relatively new and just starting out, the publishers have scoured the internet in search of authors who are just beginning to emerge into the writing market. They want previously undiscovered writers who have a few writing credentials under their belts but are looking for more.

In an effort to help these new authors become even more discoverable, Z Publishing has created a series of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction works from all across America in their America’s Emerging Writers series. Each state has one book of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from its residents to give readers a tase of local writing styles and stories.

Because I go to college in Florida, my short story was published in the Florida’s Emerging Writers book. The short story, originally only 600 words for a contest, has been expanded to add a deeper meaning to the overall plot and characters that you can’t read anywhere else.

Check out below for a short blurb:

“Trustin, a homeless man in Washington DC, thinks that kindness is all but extinct until he meets an unusual girl from a nearby daycare.”

Our “Emerging Writers” publications are part of an experimental series designed to match readers looking for new voices with up-and-coming authors looking to widen their reader base. We like to refer to publications in this series as “sampler platters” of writers and genres, such that readers can quickly and efficiently discover talented authors that they may otherwise have never heard of as well as compelling genres, topics, and themes they may never have given a shot before.

In Florida’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology, Florida’s most promising up-and-coming authors have the chance to share their own words. Covering a wide array of genres and topics, these young talents will amaze you. Containing one essay per writer, this anthology is a compelling introduction to the great wordsmiths of tomorrow.

So if you want to help a newbie author succeed and make it to her very first writers’ conference, of if you want to check out talented authors from across America, or you just like good fiction originating in your own state, check out Z Publishing’s America’s Emerging Writers series by following this link!

Every bit helps! Thank you for helping me on this journey!