The voices in my head don't think they're imaginary - Strokin' The Rocket: Updatery for our Modern Age

Partyin' Hearty. A great time was had by all at the Barley Mill Pub last night. Portlanders from all four corners of our fair city gathered to celebrate davidlevine's Hugo win. Linkables in attendance included coreolis, deedop, kateyule (of course), and most likely dozens more who's LJ handles I'm not savvy to. Beer was swilled, conversation was shouted, and boy did we sweat in that hot little upstairs room. But it was much fun, and I got to catch up with some old friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Some You Win, Some You Lose. I finally gave up and queried GVG on the story that's been sitting at F&SF for over 100 days now ... turns out (as you might guess) that he'd actually passed on it back in May. It was a genteel and useful rejection, as always--thank you Gordon. But fortune did not look entirely unsmiling upon me this week; I also got word from Shawna McCarthy that she'd like to take another of my stories for Realms of Fantasy. That makes two I've sold there this year, and brings my number of stories sold this year up to five. I have to sell two more stories this year to meet my numbers from last year. Unfortunately, I only have 2 more unsold stories in inventory. Which means that I have to ... uh ... write.

But Lo! Writing There Has Been! The pirate novella is up to almost 8,000 words (erp) and I'm not even halfway finished with it. I am having a great deal of fun with it, and have enlisted the wise and able aid of sartorias to help me avoid looking like a fool in my sea-battle scenes. I also have quite a few almost-finished stories just lazing around in my folder, looking seedy and flaccid. They must be whipped into shape. They shall be whipped into shape. I vow it.

Ego Boo: Or, "One of These Things is Not Like The Others". So I was paging through the Oct/Nov. issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction (which has some fantastic stories in it, by the way -- I loved "Revelation" by Albert Cowdrey) and I happened to notice my name among a list of "upcoming authors" on the subscription card in the middle of the book. This alone wasn't what startled me. What startled me was the other names. Ted Chiang, Carol Emshwiller, Charles Coleman Finlay, M. Rickert, Bruce Sterling, and Gene Wolfe. Giants of Fantasy and Science Fiction. And ... me. I can only assume my name just happened to have the right number of letters or something.

EOMFN