Page & Spine Fiction Showcase published my story “Edith Empowered” over the weekend. This was a surprise, because of how quick the magazine accepted my submission. More importantly, however, the publication of this story marks the first piece of fiction I’ve ever been paid for. You can reading it by clicking here.

My goal for a long time has been to get paid for writing. So this is the start of a dream come true, and if you read the story I hope you enjoy it. To talk a little bit about where it came from, last Spring Break I drove with my parents from their house in Oregon to visit my sister in Denver, CO, where she is going to graduate school. Later, Leah flew in and joined us. On the car drive, I thought it would be funny if a messed-up text led to an actor getting bad acting directions. That, of course, is the basis of this story.

What is notable is that my father was actually integral to making this. I was trying to think of a famous television character who was known for being meek and mild, and after explaining what I was looking for, he suggested Edith Bunker. Then my mom jumped in and told me a bit more about the character—because if you didn’t know, “All in the Family” was a little before my time. Anyway, after I sold this story (that’s fun to say!) I called my parents up and told them what happened. And with that, I’ll leave you to reading Also, check out what else is up on Page & Spine—it’s a really neat website, and the people who run it are super nice, too!

–Jeff and Leah