10.15.04
The good folks at Failbetter have published my short story “Sunshine over Helsinki”. This is an odd little story that was inspired by a discussion with my friend Penny about ideal jobs; we landed on the idea of doing weather forecasts for a cold climate (like Minneapolis or, perhaps, Helsinki) from the safety of Southern California. Fair enough, I thought, but somehow I can’t picture myself being happy in Southern California, where the weather’s always blandly perfect. (Of course, it’s not yet winter here–come January I’ll be dreaming of palm trees…)
The day “Helsinki” came out, another of my stories was rejected, but with a kind note–it was, the reviewer thought, “[p]ensive, melancholic without being self-indulgent, but too cute”; this, I think, may be my epitath. Oh, if only I could follow through on a story that was a little less “cute”!
Anyway… I hope you enjoy “Helsinki”; it borders on the cute as well, I suppose, but I think if you give it a chance you’ll find there’s a pleasantly melancholic after-taste.
10.2.04
As of right now, at the start of October, 2004, I’m hitting about 0.07: 4 “sales” from 56 submissions. Since that’s over just 15 months of sending things out, after a 10-year hiatus, I’m pretty pleased with my rookie year. I’m still playing in the minors, by trying to make a good show of it.
The “sales” to date have all been on the web; most recently, Failbetter took my story, “Sunshine over Helsinki”; in May, SoThere took my story (mostly a true one) about a girl and an umbrella; and in April, Eyeshot started it all off with my Foshay Tower adventure, “After Ice Cream.”
The fourth was accepted in June, but has not yet appeared so I’m loathe to disclose its future home for fear of jinxing things. The literary world, especially the on-line neighborhood, is too fraught with danger and contingency to go whistling into the sunshine. We’ll put an asterix beside the 0.07 statistic until number four (which was number three) comes to pass.
Of the little birds that have flown home (some so many times that I’m thinking of entering them in a carrier pigeon competition), I’m proud to have been rejected out of hand by a lot of the big names–Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, Pindeldyboz–as well as some great little markets. I think this only reflects well on their taste.
