An Invitation to the Dance

I received a nice little email this afternoon.

The lovely Jennifer Brozek (the new submissions editor at Apex and chief editor of The Edge of Propinquity) sent me an invitation to submit a story for the upcoming anthology CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE URBAN KIND.

Maybe this happens all the time to other writers, and maybe this same invitation was sent out to 100,000 other writers, but it's a first for me, so don't spoil it. Also, don't think me foolish. I understand that an invite isn't a guaranteed acceptance.

The Day Job has been a bog of depression. I'm getting a rush training for my new position, and I'm not all that thrilled (but as they say these days "at least I HAVE a job"), so this invitation was a bright beam of sunlight through a thick canopy of black clouds.

As any writer knows, it's lonely out there. So when someone reaches out and actually ASKS you to write something . . . I mean, wow! Give me a computer; a crayon and some paper; a chunk of stone and a chisel; something quick!

I have until September 1st to turn something in, but I'm already sifting through ideas. As soon as I'm done with the current WIP, I'll be on it like gnats on a dog's . . . sorry, bad Indiana analogy.

Agent update:

It's going on six weeks that my full manuscript has been in the hands of a certain agent. The suspense is killing me, but to be honest, I'm a little afraid to get a response. Right now I'm holding onto the old adage "no news is good news", and I'm praying that things will go my way.

Big Changes

I really wanted to have a good April Fool's joke for all of you, but I'm sorry to say, I'm drawing a blank.

As you all can see I've given the ol' blog a much needed overhaul. There will be some more changes on the way, but right now I'm too tired to do much more.

Let me know what you all think.