Tracy Morris laughs while talking about the short stories and novellas she has written. Morris works as a receptionist in a medical office in Roland and writes fiction in her spare time.

ROLAND - When Tracy S. Morris has downtime at work, you aren’t likely to catch her surfing the Internet or playing Minesweeper.

Morris - the professional name of Fort Smith resident Tracy Godsey - has a day job working the front desk at a medical clinic in Roland, but when work is slow she turns to her other job: writing stories. Morris, who joked that she recently “turned 29 for the third time,” is the author of several published short stories and one novella, “Tranquility.” She writes in the fantasy genre, usually mixing elements of humor and horror.

Earlier this year, Morris reached a milestone in her career when she was named first runner-up for a Darrell Award from the Mid-South Science Fiction & Fantasy Association in the category of Best Novella. Several “name” authors were among the other honorees, including best-selling novelist Nora Roberts.

Set in a fictional town somewhere between Fort Smith and Fayetteville, “Tranquility” mixes spooky supernatural events with humorous observations of life in a small Arkansas town. Morris said her writing style fits her reading preferences.

“Some people, they write from a high podium and they’re pompous: ‘yes, yes we shall go and throw the One Ring into the lava of whatever.’ ... I like reading Terry Pratchett, I like watching or reading anything Joss Whedon puts out. I write what I like to read, and I don’t like to read a lot of overblown, overstylized writing.”

“Tranquility” and a novella by another author, Bill D. Allen, were published together as a book last year by Yard Dog Press, a small press run by writer and editor Selina Rosen of Alma. Morris, who grew up in Mountainburg, was 12 when an aunt introduced her to Rosen.

“I showed her a story; it was one of the first stories I’d written,” Morris said. “Basically, she’d take it and she’d get out a red pen and she’d mark it up and send it back to me, and I’d rewrite it and I’d send it back to her, and she’d tell me what needed to be fixed then. That’s the earliest way I learned how to write.”

The story, “Frost King,” became Morris’ first published work of fiction when it appeared in a 2002 anthology of horror stories, “Octoberland,” published by Flesh and Blood Press, a small press in Bayville, N.J. By that time, she said, the story had been rewritten so extensively that it bore little resemblance to the story she wrote at age 12.

Rosen said Morris is “a doll,” but she publishes her work because of its high quality, not because they are friends.

“I like her work a lot. ... We publish a lot of humor, and her brand of humor fits right in with a lot of what we do,” Rosen said.

Rosen first published a story by Morris in 2003, in an anthology of children’s stories, “More Stories That Won’t Make Your Parents Hurl.” Morris said the book was the second in a series of books that eschewed the sickening sweetness found in most children’s books.

Morris proceeded to place stories in several other anthologies from various small presses. Among them are “Small Bites,” a collection of horror short-shorts; “The Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse,” a collection of humorous science fiction stories with a Southern theme; and “Flush Fiction,” which features a drawing of a toilet stool on the cover and contains stories short enough to be read in one, er, sitting.

Morris also wrote four stories, published together in a chapbook titled “Medieval Misfits,” relating the adventures of an accident-prone barbarian adventurer, Lula, and her blind sidekick, Zook.

Rosemary Johnson of Fort Smith, who has known Morris since the seventh grade, said she is impressed by Morris’ devotion to writing. She said she and Morris were once part of a circle of friends who used to talk about their dreams for the future.

“She seems to be the one out of everybody that stuck with what she said she was going to do,” Johnson said.

Morris did take a detour from fiction writing, though. After graduating from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, she worked at The Benton County Daily Record about a year and a half, then moved to Kentucky, where she lived while working as a feature writer and photographer for a newspaper in Ironton, Ohio.

Morris also spent some time doing freelance writing for the Times Record, working as a photojournalist for a local television station and writing articles for magazines such as Cat Fancy, Dog Fancy and Ferrets USA.

She and her husband, Ryan Godsey, own one dog and two ferrets.

These days, Morris is trying to find a balance between her job at Urgent Care of Roland and fiction writing. She said she likes the job at the clinic because it doesn’t drain her creative juices, as nonfiction writing did, and because her bosses let her write during slow periods.

Morris married Godsey, a computer programmer, in April 2004. She said he reads and critiques her drafts and, more importantly, gives her support and encouragement.

He also accompanies her to science fiction conventions, where she makes important contacts with readers and other writers.

“If I want a future as a writer, I’ve got to get the book in people’s hands and I’ve got to build a fan base,” she said.

As a small press writer, Morris does not have access to the hefty promotional budgets of large publishing houses. On the other hand, she is under no pressure to become an instant smash.

“With a large press, you have a window of two weeks to become a best seller,” Morris said. “If you don’t hit that window and you’re not an overnight success, a lot of times your books will be remaindered, which means they’re sent back to the publisher, destroyed, and the publisher writes it off as a tax break.”

Johnson believes Morris will be a big success, if not an overnight one.

“If she keeps up the writing, I see everybody knowing who she is here in a few years,” Johnson said. “I think she’ll be a household name.”

Would Morris want that?

“I wouldn’t run away from it,” she said, smiling.