Family history

A while ago I pitched an idea for a story to the editor of a photo journalism magazine. The story was based around a propaganda photograph taken in 1944 of my grandparents and my mother (then five years old). The editor liked the pitch and asked me to develop it and submit a short sample of the sort of text I would write. I ended up writing a first draft of the whole story. My first attempt at journalism and I was trepidatious, wanting so much to do justice to the power and importance of this story.

Yesterday the editor emailed to say he found the story compelling and wants to work with me to get it to a final version which he 'definitely wants to publish'. I'm so pleased to have got this far, still anxious about getting it right but very happy to get the chance to work with the editor towards that goal. Maybe the exercise will release the block I've been suffering with the fictional short story I want to write about this period in my family's history. I hope so.