Step right up, folks!

Step right up! If you are a member of a blended family, you may have a story to tell that could earn you a nice big fat "C" note; that's one hundred buckaroos.

This is our wild bunch celebrating hubby's 70th birthday yesterday. The four children on the far left are "mine", and all the rest are "his", although actually, all of them are OURS because we've been married since before they were born. We love all of them!

We have always been known as Paw-paw and Nana. The one exception in this photo is the center child wearing green, who is our "adopted grandchild", the daughter of a close family friend. When she was little, she called me Nana Banana, and she nicknamed Bill Paw-Paw Apple, and that's what she still calls us. Her little red-haired sister refused to be photographed. Those two giants in back are standing on chairs. The kid with black under his eyes was leaving to play football.

Stepping Up Anthology, Samantha Ducloux Waltz is seeking first-person essays from women who are or have been part of stepfamilies that are nurturing places and also stepfamilies where family members must find ways to rise above the challenges they face/d at home. She is looking for a diversity of voices and welcome submissions from a variety of family situations. As an editor she values honesty, clarity, specificity, showing, not telling, tight writing, and the sharing of insights. Pieces should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words in length. Pays: $100 plus two copies. Deadline: September 30, 2012. See the full announcement at http://www.literarymama.com/blog/archives/2012/06/call-for-submissions-stepping.html and submit via Ms. Waltz's website, as per her instructions.