Well, I didn’t have a whole lot of news to share for several days; then, wham, news galore. First off, I sold two stories on Monday: “Time for Reflection” (my Native American assassin story) to Champagne Shivers and “Schoolyard Surprise” (a flash piece) to KidVisions. According to Ms. Buburuz, I’m the only author so far with two stories appearing in the upcoming print edition of Champagne Shivers (the other story is “Jack and Jill”). To say that I am pleased would be an enormous understatement.

Also on the writing front, I finished a 5000 word short story, which is the longest piece I’ve written in some time. It’s only a rough draft; so I need to go back and tighten things up and flesh it out a bit.

Submissions-wise, I’ve got a bunch of stories and poems out, and a little known but cool market I’ve tried to sell to asked me for a rewrite of a flash piece. I revised the story, and sent it in a few days ago. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

In other news, Issue No. 3 of Lone Star Stories is now up, as of today. The fiction and poetry in this issue are quite dark, and I think I managed to shoot appropriate photos for each story and poem. More news affected my ability to get those photos taken until this morning, which is that I’ve left the law firm to start my own law practice. I’ll be doing professional licensing representation and consultation (mostly for CPAs), general litigation, wills, and maybe some family law (all in Texas, of course, as I’m only licensed in Texas). My last day at the firm was Friday, and my partners were trying to squeeze every last billable hour out of me before I left. Then my family traveled up to Dallas to visit friends of my wife. So, the photos Lone Star Storieshad to wait on the back burner until today.

Finally, I’ve been asked to join a group speculative fiction writing project, a shared world. I need to read the background information sent to me, but I’m sure I’ll want to work on the project. Very cool!