Several elements have converged and convinced me that I should do a short-story binge.

First, the editor of one of my favorite magazines wrote to me on Friday, having read in my journal about how much I love his magazine, how I would love to be published there, someday, and etc.; among other things he said: "I'm pleased you like what you've seen of the magazine so far. And that you'd like to sell a story here... Well, I'd kill for one. Really."

This is normally the sort of thing that only happens in my daydreams!

So of course I came home and opened up my submission log to see if I had anything that seemed right for him. And, of course, I didn't. Because I only have 7 stories in circulation, and they're all out to other markets. I'd like to have more stories out there, which means I need to write some!

Second, today I finally got around to revising my Rio Hondo story, previously called "Dirae," now called "Terrible Ones." (So, basically, the title didn't change, just the language I wrote it in.) I think it's pretty good, and I'm going to send it off to the magazine mentioned above. But while I was working on it, I realized that I haven't written another story since I did that one, in June. I've done tons of novel revisions, and written more of the Frog novel, and I've worked a bit on the collab with Greg, but have done no new solo short fiction in months. I miss writing short stories, and there are ideas piling up in my head. Which means I should write more stories!

Third, Polyphony is open to submissions, and I'd like to send them something. Especially since I have an idea for a story that I suspect Jay would like a lot. Which means I need to write it!

In the past, while writing novels, I've always taken a little time off in the middle to write a few short pieces. Doing so has usually been quite satisfying. I get a sense of immediate accomplishment, which is a nice change during the middle of a big project, and I tend to return to the novel revitalized. I'm just about halfway through the Frog novel (40,000 words in, and I think it'll run about 90,000 when it's done), so this seems like as good a time as any. For the next week or two, I'm going to try to write some stories. I'm excited about it. Wish me well.



Today the amazing David Moles sold a novelette to Asimov's! Congrats, Dave! We are all, truly, his bitches. It's so satisfying to see my friends making sales to top markets. I feel like I’m part of the swirling center of something grand in the genre.



Today was pleasant. Heather and I had lunch with the lovely Susan Marie at the Lakeshore Café (the service was incredibly slow and slapdash today for some reason, which is too bad, especially since Susan had never been there before -- good food, though). We had nice, gossipy chat, as always. In the afternoon Heather and I cleaned a bit, did some dishes, and unpacked more boxes (there's still a mountain of things to unpack and sort, but it is now a somewhat smaller mountain). I revised "Terrible Ones," and wasted about an hour trying to salvage a story I'd trunked a while back -- there are parts of the story I like very much, but as a whole it's too deeply flawed to save, I think. I'll just have to scavenge the good parts for some future fiction. Heather and I hung out tonight, and unwound, and enjoyed the evening together. I called my brother, who just turned 20 today -- it's hard to believe, honestly. I remember him so clearly as a child, wearing a drooping diaper, pulling the covers off my bed, tossing everything out of my toybox, and as a just-barely-teenager, wrestling me in the front yard, being a smartass, demonstrating his legendary laziness. Now he's got a girlfriend, and he's out of high school and into college, studying to be a theater tech. Simply astonishing. People grow up. I barely believe I've grown up, much less my brother. And let's not even get into the fact that my baby sister is now 18 years old, a high school graduate... time goes by. Zoom. Which wouldn't be so bad, I guess, if only we could live forever...



Since yesterday, I've gotten another dozen Flytrap submissions. This is rather fun.