It’s official… I’m published! I just got the June 2006 copy of Singing News (the only magazine dedicated entirely to Southern Gospel Music) in the mail and my very first published work — two CD reviews — appears on pages 94-95.

You know that whole “networking” thing people talk about? Well, this is proof that it really works!! Even though they had no job openings, this company called me in for an interview after I did a broadcast-mailing of my resume a few months ago during my job search. Just going in and talking to one of the editors and mentioning to him that I enjoy southern gospel music, I now have an additional source of income and publication credits to add to my resume (and new music to listen to, as well).

The new job is going well. I’ve read two novels in two days. Yep, they started me out on the first two books in a new series, “Tales from Grace Church Inn,” which is in the same style as the Jan Karron books: three middle-aged sisters–one recently widowed, one never married, and one recently divorced–inherit their parents’ enormous Victorian mansion in a tiny Pennsylvania town and decide to turn it into a B&B. While it was hard for me to turn off the internal critiquer and just proofread them for pagination, punctuation, widows/orphans, etc., nothing could have made me more comfortable my first two days on a job than to be completely in my element. Oh, and the stories are cute, too, which made it so much more enjoyable. Now that the editors are back from Book Expo America, they will “initiate” me a little better into the workflow process and give me more stuff to do!