Years before I plunged into writing the novel, I practiced writing much shorter stories, 350 word tales, in fact. I read them to an audience of other writers at Dimestories, http://dimestories.org/live-events/san-diego/ a flash fiction open mic event that was held on the first Friday of every month.
I later expanded one of those stories, and submitted it to The Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies. It is probably the first story I managed to have accepted by an American publication. You can read it by clicking on the link below:
Marivi Soliven 