I have spent the last month or so writing my first short story. It is about a heart-transplant recipient who has to deal with a lot of emotional stress. The story was coming along nicely and almost ready for posting.

Then I saw it. In a magazine.

My neighbor brought over a copy of Life Magazine (it's included sometimes in the Chicago Tribune Sunday delivery) and the cover story was about a heart transplant recipient who deals with the very same stresses as the character I created. In fact, he deals with it the same way as I wrote.

Amazing.

I don't know if this is a sign to write a different story, tweak the story a little or just give up.

I'll probably write it anyway, but now I have to be careful not to plagarize. I mean, I really did make up the story. I had no idea that someone else lived it!

Well, it's been a very busy weekend and I'm way behind in writing my latest article. So I better get to it.

Sigh.