The picture is of the galleys, or page proofs, for a story I have appearing in an upcoming issue of Analog. The galleys are the author’s last chance to catch any mistakes before his work appears in print. I’ll say more about the story when it appears, but reading it over, I was struck by how far I’ve come as a writer. I don’t often read my past work — I’m always focusing on the story or novel in progress — so sometimes I forget how far my craft has come over the years. It was a good reminder. I’m usually pretty hard on myself, always trying to get better, so it’s good to see that those two or three million words of practice are getting me somewhere. It’s easy to lose sight of that sometimes.