The little short story that could

After almost twenty years of writing and publishing short stories, one in particular took a life of its own.

One short story that defied all the odds.

It started with an Instagram DM from an editor at The Markaz Review, who asked me if I was interested in submitting a story for their upcoming edition.

I was intrigued. I mulled it over. Do I really have time to write yet another story amidst all the hustle and bustle of running a business and raising three kids?

Eventually, I decided to resurrect one of my short stories that I had shelved away in a messy drawer in the underworld.

I picked up the Agency, a story about a Jordanian woman who runs a matchmaking agency in Amman. I spent half a day editing it and then submitted it to the editor.

I heard from the editor a few days later, and to my surprise, it was accepted, and also, to my surprise, I got paid for it.

It can’t get better than that, right?

Well, no, I was mistaken.

A few months after publishing the story, I was contacted by the editor-in-chief of The Markaz Review, who told me that my story was selected to appear in an anthology that would be published by the San Francisco-based publisher City Lights. Of course, I jumped on this opportunity and did a little dance.