September 15th, 2008

Good morning, world! And why, you might ask, is it such a good morning? What could possibly be the cause of back-to-back blog postings when I rarely manage more than once a week? Well, today I have been published. No, seriously. There it is, my flash fiction piece “Another Boot“, published at Every Day Fiction. Go! Read! Enjoy! Subscribe to their RSS feed and get flash fiction daily!

First time only happens once, right? Here it is. First. Time. Woo! This is particularly significant for me because it is my third sale, so I had begun to think all I could hope for was to sell stories so that they could languish on editorial desks, unpublished and forgotten. I know the publication process is slow, but one of my contracts has actually expired in the eighteen months since I signed it and was paid, so really, that’s a lost ship at this point and not just writerly melodrama on my part. Not that it’s bad to get paid, mind you, but it also feels unreal. I get money in hand (which again, is great and validating on some level because editors are the first hurdle), but there’s nothing I can point to: see there’s what I got paid for, there’s the work.

Until now.

And in true John Scalzi fashion, since I have ruthlessly pimped my one and only published offering, I am now declaring the comment thread to this post to be an open pimp thread. Read something cool? Made a cool video? Built the tallest Lego tower in the world, or know someone who did? Link away! Point us all to the creative goodness that exists out there in the wide web, most especially if it’s your own creative goodness. Comments no longer have the link filter, by the way, so if you know three cool things instead of one that you think everyone else should see, feel free. Share the joy.

And when I get my share of rejections in the next seven or so days, remind me of this moment of tiny glory, will you? Thanks.

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