Recently a person innocently remarked that they had not seen any stories out from me in awhile. I was mortified, because I immediately feared it was a judgement on my ambition. I made a conscious choice last fall to finish Letters to Zell. This meant little to no new short form creations, less time subbing and obsessing over the Duotrope submissions tracker and more time doing serious editing.

Despite my attentions being elsewhere, there are a few things forthcoming. This Sunday (3/9), the gorgeous WhiskeyPaper features my literary piece, “Think About Airplanes.” WP is a market I’ve been interested in since they started. With an aesthetic that I feel very close to and their love of pairing music with pieces, I waited a long time until I had a piece to send their way.

Two anthologies are also due out this spring. First, The Sea, from Dark Continents Press features “Songs of the Sea,” a story about the end of the world and a ship of heroes (pirates) stealing back music from the Silence, who has drown songs in the sea. The second anthology, Desolation: 21 Tales for Tails includes my beloved story “Robodog,” follows a mechanical dog who wants, more than anything, to be real.

Due to interruptions by life (this ridiculous disc rupture), it has taken me a bit longer to get back in the swing of things. There’s some beta reading, contest judging, conference planning, college reunion duties, taxes, and a host of other things that need to be handled before I can really turn my *full* attention to writing. But I’ve reached the point where I can at least allow myself to start thinking about where I want to head, short and long.

The novel (& subsequent revisions) is done and there is no feeling quite like it, despite the fact that my short form work has slowed drastically. I’ve never been good at the give & take part of life. I’ve always simply made more hours. The injury has taught me a lot about being a better steward of my time. For that, I am grateful.