The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-24
By Joe Ross

The greatest moment in writer's life Is when his first story is accept. ed The first check may not be very large but il is the most important one he will ever receive.
 The first acceptance means a great deal more to the writer than the mere sale of story. It means that someone besides himself sees merit in his work, merit for which that other person is willing to pay, and the writer who has toled for months and even years, without placing a story knows that an editor does not throw his eompany's money away. So the great moment in Wallace M Sloane's life came just little more than three years ago For IS fmonths he had written. read and written. The stories went away they returned. And for Mir. Sloane who lives at Fort Payne, as well as for many another. the editors kindly had ready and waiting q plen- tiful supply of rejection slips, assur- ing him that 1t would be their great est delight to accept his story, but that for reasons they could not go into fully they were forced to send it back.
 And Wallace M. Sloane understood. He knew that he had not as yet written what the editors desired. And he kept trying He determined to find out the kind of fiction which is saleable. He read after such mas ters of the short story as O. Henry, Stephenson, DeMaupessant and Jack London. He read all the fiction mag azines he could place his hands on. And he continued to write.
 Finally the first acceptance came, came after the IS darkest months of his life, months in which he had shaved trying to accomplish that which at times appeared impossible of. accomplishment
 And that check more than repaid him for all that had gone before
 Nemesis and the Stacker" which appeared some time ago in The Ar gosy Magazine, is thought by many readers to be the best thing this writer has ever done. There are others. however, who contend that his story Holidays" in a recent is- sue of Argosy-All Story Weekly, rep resents his best work, while Peace full Dan Fuckers Christmas" Breaking Loose" and "Resurrecting Alabama Slim" are the favorites of still others. And while MT. Sloane personally claims no particular merit for his work. other than that each story contains his best efforts, the last three named are his favorites.
 Mir. Sloane was born near Fort Payne, and he is proud of it, back ing his part of the state against the world, but he declines 10 name the year. in which he was born. How ever. 1t is easy to see from his pho tograph that the event occurred not so very many years ago,
 He makes another adml ssion. and that Is that he was at one time q newspaper man, which. although he doesn't say so himself is one of tho reasons he is able to write purpose full fiction. For to write fiction suc~ cessfully one must know people, must understand their strength and weak nesses, and there IS no field which contains greater advantages for studying human beings than does the routine work of a newspaper man.
 MT Sloane's newspaper work was with the Chattanooga Times, and while with that paper he wrote con siderable newspaper verse. some of which was copied widely. One in particular. "Elegy on an Old Time Country Pedagogue." was reprinted throughout the country.
 While still In the public schools. Mir. Sloane had placed verse with The Sunny South and The Christian Herald and for a time, and especial ly while with the Chattanooga Times. it looked as if his literary efforts were to be bent in that direction. And there came the desire to write fc- ton, but he has never been able to give up verse writing altogether, and