Wow. I just got an email telling me that I'd sold my short story "Locked Doors" to Strange Horizons. It'll probably be published in January 2007. I am, of course, incredibly happy about the news.

But it came with really strange timing. This has been a really intense week, emotionally - lots of sad, worrying stuff came up in the last couple of days, which I've been having a hard time processing. I really broke down last night, then woke up today feeling much calmer for the first time (and capable of being positive and strong and getting through difficult times with an optimistic attitude, etc.) ...and opened up my email to find that message waiting for me. And then I just stared at it for a while, because my brain somehow couldn't process such a good thing, such really happy news for me (another sale to my favorite magazine in the world; my third official "pro" sale, making me finally SFWA-eligible; the sale of that story, which I love) in the same mindset and world where I was dealing with something else that was so sad and so potentially scary.

(And I'm sorry, btw, for writing in such a roundabout, confusing way - I will undoubtedly blog soon about the other stuff going on, but I'm not quite ready to just yet.)

I guess in some weird way, I feel guilty for having something so good happen at a time when I'm so worried about something else. But that makes no sense, and even I can see that. (See it, yes; change the feelings, well...)

But I am really, really glad of this sale, and even if I'm not quite absorbing it yet, this has come at a time when I really needed good news.