Universal Creativity | Page 18

Bulgaria’s Birthday Bulgaria was excited. Today, was his birthday. Who wouldn’t be happy on their birthday? So, many good things happened. Bulgaria got up slowly stretching his front paws then his middle and finally his hind legs. Following the amazing fresh scent of coffee being made, Bulgaria heads into the kitchen for his morning breakfast. Except when he got there, there wasn’t a single thing in his bowl. “Meow?” Running to find his owner, Bulgaria heads into the owner’s bedroom. But no sign of the owner there. Feeling frantic Bulgaria heads to the laundry room. Still no sign of his owner. Bulgaria then decides to head into the bathroom. Owner has to be in there! Stomach growling and fear rushing in, Bulgaria heads outside. And there, outside grilling food was his owner. “Happy Birthday, Bulgaria!” His owner said as he placed a plate full of hot dogs. After Bulgaria ate his food, he knew what was next! Birthday cake for him. Climbing his way up to the table. Bulgaria looks down at the amazing birthday cake. The top was a picture of him. His owner came around to take a picture of Bulgaria and his cake when Midnight the lab come running through chasing Fat Eddy. Oh, no! Hurrying as fast as he could, Bulgaria tried to get down off the table in time. But, not fast enough. Whoosh! The table crashed and the birthday cake came tumbling down right onto Bulgaria himself. His owner snatched a picture. Fat Eddy and Midnight stopped to watch as Bulgaria licked his way out of cake. “Happy Birthday, Bulgaria,” they shouted before taking off once more. This short fiction piece is written by Danielle Urban. Now, this is a birthday breakfast. Author Interview with Alan Stroe continued... How would you describe the writing and publishing process of both your novellas? Was it hard? Easier than I thought it’d be. Due to their source of inspiration, both subjects were very familiar to me, and easy to write about. The second was a bit harder to the constraints of the historical context. What is your advice to other authors on publishing their work? Definitely hire a professional to edit and proofread your work, no matter how good a writer you are. Don’t quit your day job until you’re making enough money to comfortably support yourself. :) It’s a very tough field to make any money in. Cautiously consider taking a Sabbatical if your particular financial situation permits it— there’s something to be said about being able to dedicate all of your energy to what you love doing most. Spend most of your efforts on writing more books, but only if you have more stories to tell that you are passionate about. Write about what excites you. If it’s tedious and boring for you to write something, chances are it will be tedious and boring for your readers to read. Where can readers find your novellas to buy? Pretty much everywhere books are sold— Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Smashwords, etc. 18