Sunday, February 14, 2010

I write a story, I sell a story: I must be a writer after all

Well, I feel like I'm finally coming up for air: in the last two months I've sold a new story ("Written by the Winners," to the HG Wells tribute antho Timelines from Northern Frights publishing) and also finally written a new one, currently titled "Beyond the Fields You Know," which has just started its travels down the rejection ladder. I wrote that one by following the example my friend and colleague Hayden Trenholm and writing while on the road: thus it bears the interesting distinction of having been written while I was flying from Ottawa to Calgary and back (with a little rewriting in the hotel in Red Deer and once I got back home.) I've never been very good at judging my own work and I'm particularly bad now, when I haven't written any fiction in so long, but I enjoyed writing it.

The thing is, of course, that I have been writing: I revised Fall From Earth for publication last spring and also did a major revision of another novel for an agent who's interested in it. I've also done a huge amount of writing for my day job, from blogs to game scripts, plus the occasional rabble-rousing post for MightyGodKing. (On the principle of writing what you read I've even been writing kids' poetry lately, as I find when I read a Dennis Lee book to my son Leo ten times over I come away speaking in rhyme.) But this is the first time since the summer of 2008 that I've done anything that I in my heart of hearts think is real writing, and it felt good.

Don't forget! You have until February 15th to read my short story "The Coldest War" and, if you feel so moved, nominate it for an Aurora Award; you can read it at nominatethecoldestwarforanaurora.blogspot.com.

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