“The Four-Legged Woman”

by Nancy Stohlman

Originally published in Pure Slush Magazine. Read original here

The Four Legged Woman

Jacqueline Hele’ne, the infamous four-legged woman, was born a dipygus—a rare form of conjoined twinning where one twin fuses with the lower half of the other and everything forms in duplicate—two pelvises, four legs, two sets of ovaries, two vaginas.

As a baby Jacqueline’s father would let the neighbors look at her for a nickel. By the time she was 13 she had joined the largest traveling circus as ‘The Amazing Four-legged Girl’ where she showcased her oddities for the next decade. Her act was so popular that by the time Jacqueline left the carnival, there were dozens of phony four-legged women in sideshows across the country.

Jacqueline eventually married and bore two babies from her right uterus and three from her left. Men who heard this news confirmed that she had a preference for the left side in other ways as well.

“The Fortune Teller”

Originally published in Flash Frontier. Read original here

by Nancy Stohlman

The Fortune Teller

The fortune teller looked at my hands, smoothed them onto the table. You lost something, she said.

Yes, I said. I want to get it back.

But you can’t get it back, you know that.

That’s not true. Don’t say that, I said. That’s why I’m here.

Look, she said, pointing to the fleshy part on the outside of my palm. It’s gone. I don’t decide these things but I’m telling you what I see.
So what do I do now?

She patted my hand. It’s just part of your story, now, she said.

fortune teller

 

Finish That Manuscript! Workshop beginning January 2015

January 5-February 1, 2015

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION #1: FINISH THAT MANUSCRIPT!

An Online Workshop on Re-visioning, Taking the Next Step, and Falling Back in Love with Your Vision.

A 4-week workshop beginning January 5

*FREE Q & A call on Sunday, January 4 at 7 pm MST–contact me for login information 

Are you or someone you know working on a manuscript? Are you stuck in the writing phase or in the revision process? Or have you “finished” but not gotten the response you wanted out in the world? Are you not sure what comes next? Most of us are better at starting manuscripts than we are at finishing them. But it’s only when we can conceive, create, and bring our projects to fruition that we begin to master the longer form known as a book. Each book we write brings us closer to understanding how to write a book. What phase of the finishing process are you in? And what do you need to cross the finish line and get it out into the world?

In this workshop we will explore:

• What’s keeping you from finishing?
• Are your challenges telling you something about your manuscript?
• How to fall back in love with your work and your vision
• Allowing your manuscript to transform
• Publication—is your manuscript ready to send into the world?
• The different stages of “finishing” a manuscript
• Self-promotion—are you afraid of rejection? (You’re not alone.)
In this workshop I’ll give you the deadlines you might need, help you structure your writing time into your life, help you transition more easily between creation and revision, and help you become your own best editor. Whether you are planning to submit or self publish, you’ll gain writing, editorial and publication advice, how to find and cultivate a readership, how to excerpt and query, and even when to let a manuscript transform. And most importantly, you’ll finally birth your work and give yourself the satisfaction of completion.

Are you ready?

Contact nancystohlman@gmail.com or click here for more information

the end

 

Nancy has worked as a freelance editor since 2004, helping hundreds of authors from 5 continents bring their manuscripts to fruition. She is the creator and founder of To Get The Words Right Manuscript Services, the co-founder of Fast Forward Press, and is currently a writer professor in Denver. 

To find out more about individual editing services, click here.

Vixen Scream at the Tattered Cover!

“He pats my hand. You’ve done the right thing, he says. Usually if you suspect something to be true, it is.”
from ‘The Private Investigator’ in ‘The Vixen Scream and other Bible Stories’ by Nancy Stohlman, out now from Pure Slush

Available in paperback, ePub and Kindle
paperback: http://bit.ly/vixscr
ePub: http://bit.ly/vixePub
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OM89BC4

and for Denverites, now available at the Tattered Cover!

Want a signed copy to give as a present? Contact me at nancystohlman@gmail.com

Vixen bow