Welcome to LoisBrandt.com
If you can't get a story or event out of your mind, the muse is giving you a HUGE hint. Write that story down.
My Stories
The stories that stick with us are stories that we need to tell -- the funny, poignant, and even secret ones. When you tell a story from your heart, readers listen.
- I had a child's fascination, and later a gardener's aversion, to slugs. One day I squeezed my fascination and aversion together and came up with a story. "Princess Slug" was my first sale and was published in Sparkle Magazine.
- Seeing my nephew hold up a crawdad trap when his grandfather was ill gave me the idea for "Crawdads and Dominoes," published in Highlights Magazine.
- When I was a kid, my dog got really sick. I prayed to God that she wouldn't die, but she died anyway. Wow! That stops a kid right in her tracks. Why is it that God sometimes doesn't seem to answer prayers? I asked the same question in "Soccer Prayers," which won Pockets Magazine annual short story competition.
- Every once in a while, especially when my own refrigerator was too crowded, I'd remember a friend's refrigerator when I was growing up. Her refrigerator was empty. From that memory I drafted a surprisingly funny picture book manuscript "Maddi's Refrigerator."
