Yesterday was a very good day — mowed the lawn, played with my daughter, did a thousand words on the novel in progress, sold a story, and attended a fun party with other writers. The kind of day that covers all the bases, appealing to all parts of my personality.
I’m very pleased with the short story sale. Pleased because it was to the All-Star Stories anthology Twenty Epics, edited by the irrepressible David Moles and the lovely Susan Marie Groppi. Relieved because the story (titled “Epic, The”), one of the most unusual I’ve written, was so tailored for this specific market that I’m not sure it would have been possible to rewrite it for anyone else. Without giving away too much, let’s just say I myself am the main character. Man, it was fun to write, though. I was laughing all the way through.
Minutes after finding out about the sale, I hopped in a car and drove out to Lincoln City to attend the wrap-up party for the short story workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Gardner Dozois. I attended this workshop myself back in 2002, and it really was a watershed moment for me — holding up a mirror to me and my writing, showing me exactly what I needed to work on if I wanted to get where I wanted to go. Anyway, it was great to see Kris and her husband Dean Wesley Smith, as always, people I’ve known since I was a wee young pup in college and who mean a lot to me. Gardner was his usual notorious self, cracking dirty jokes and working the room. Jay Lake, Loren Coleman, Steve and Chris York were all there, as well as the famous dancing cows. I gave all the suffering students commemorative glow in the dark alien key chains as keepsakes. Hope they treasure them always.