A nice short story sale to the cool British magazine Postscripts, edited by the esteemed Peter Crowther. Really happy with this one, partly because of the magazine, but also because it’s my twentieth short story sale. It also made me realize, once again, how important it is for me to do my best to completely forget about my work once it leaves the house. I found myself slipping lately, worrying about things I can’t control, and I’m much happier person when I just focus on producing the very best stuff I can. The sales come, sometimes in torrents, sometimes in dribbles, but they always come, and often from places you least expect.
And speaking of work, I’m excited about the new novel, a mystery with one of the most unique characters I’ve come up with so far. It continues my genre-hopping tendency, but I’ve made my peace with that. If I end up having to publish under five or six pseudonyms, fine, because I just can’t make myself write in the same genre over and over. I think I’m prolific enough that I can handle three to four books a year under different names. There’s just so many stories to write, and I don’t want to limit myself.
Recent Reads: The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald. The first of the Travis McGees, and it’s a great one. I’ve been reading more mysteries lately, as I gear up to write my own, and I’m definitely going to be reading more MacDonald. McGee is one of the seminal figures in modern mystery fiction, and it’s easy to see why. Even from the first book, he’s a provocative character — one that I want to spend more time with. Here’s hoping I can capture a little bit of that feeling with my own mystery.