Had a nice trip

OK, piling up the rejections.  The new, exciting one was from Clarkesworld, a prestigious sci-fi magazine.  “Leaving Terra Firma” is a short story that falls between the cracks.  Really about the difficulty of starting a new life, rather than hard sci-fi.  A trip to Mars doesn’t qualify as sci-fi.  But I was truly honored and excited that they read it.  Neil Clarke got back in one day!  And every rejection helps with the odds.  But this one is special.  He was kind.  I knew it was a long shot, but the dreaming was wonderful. 

I don’t know where this short story belongs, any more than most of my stories, which tend to be literary fiction wrapped loosely in genre. It’s the whole “what is it to be human?” question from my last entry here. 

But I’m finding a voice.  It’s an odd one.  Very dry.  A voice I wish I could operate with in the real world and get away with.  But when they see a cozy middle-aged woman, whose greatest desire it to commune and understand, well, it just doesn’t give off the pithy dry vibe.  We’ll see how it progresses.

In the meanwhile, I’m help edit my sister’s new poem anthology “Growing Up Girl.”  It’s a.m.a.z.i.n.g. 

University of Oxford

Also took an online class in flash fiction at Oxford.  The time change was killer, but the class was amazing.  It resulted in probably the most imaginative, hard-hitting piece I’ve written.    Lots of great feedback.  The most lasting joy is the fact that I captured a feeling that haunts me nearly every day.  (An exhausting situation that keeps me numbed and silent.) But in one piece of flash fiction, with the use of metaphor and brevity, I captured the ghost in a bottle.

I know it will speak to so many if I can get it published.  I highly recommend Gail Anderson at Oxford in England for her flash fiction course.