Mentor Joanna Szeto Publishes Story in 101 Words

Mentor Joanna Szeto and Mentee Kayla Martinez frequently write 100 word stories together in their pair sessions. Building on this, Joanna published her micro-fiction “For Fame or Fortune” in 101 Words!

“Kayla and I hit it right off,” Joanna said. “I’m a teacher, so I shared an assignment with Kayla. We brainstormed a bunch of random nouns and put them into Wheel of Names. We spun it three times and got forest, debt, and pastels. We set the timer and wrote a 100 word story with those three words. When we finished we shared. I found a place to submit our stories if we just added one more word. We submitted. A few months later, it got accepted…Next time, Kayla’s turn.”

Kayla will have her own work published in the forthcoming Hope Lives In Our Words: Girls Write Now 2025 Anthology. She credits her mentor with helping her develop her writing and find new opportunities.

“Jo is one of those incandescent people that can make you laugh no matter how bad your day was,” Kayla said of her mentor. “Although our relationship has been built upon one hour Friday writing sessions that quickly devolve into just chatting about our lives, I can’t recall ever having a mentorship experience so meaningful.”