You think you have time to prepare for these things...
Last night, I was editing my short story for the Winter Issue of Woman to Woman Magazine. My 5 year old--settled close to me-- was reading over my shoulder (yeah, my 5 year old can read. Probably at a 2nd or 3rd grade level... it's not always pleasant as you will see).
As she was reading along, she gasped loudly and put her hand to her mouth.
"OH NO!" she said in horror, pointing to my black and white screen.
"What?" I asked, trying to figure out what had offended her.
"That!You wrote a bad word! A bad word, Mama! You need to get rid of it and stop writing bad thing!!!"
The irony here is that I write clean fiction-- clean fiction, as in NO bad words ;)
I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, and finally I saw it. "Is that the bad word?" I asked, pointing to the screen, a smile pulling at my lips.
"Yeah. You can't say that!"
That, friends, was the word stupid.
Sigh... she wasn't wrong. I had told her that rule over and over and over... (guess she was listening.)
I asked her if she wanted me to delete it and she said she did... and that I had not one but TWO bad words in that one paragraph (parish the thought!).
Apparently, she was right. I had the word hate in there too.
Mama really should write cleaner fiction... the five year old would agree.
(I wish she would stay this innocent.)
~Kelly
P.S. I sent the stories off with the offending words. It fit with the story. I hope my 5 year old editor won't hold it against me too much. You be the judge in the Winter issue of Woman to Woman magazine when it comes out.