Glass Maze Every jumbled pile of person

Publications

I’ve added a publications page to the blog. Just a list of stories I’ve sold so far.

It was fun putting this together, a nice year-end what-happened-in-2008 survey. And I’m thinking about doing the inverse — compiling a list all of the year’s non-accomplishments: all the stories that were abandoned, or rejected, or left unfinished; all the ancient undead tales languishing in the dark forgotten crypt-y parts of my hard drive. All the stillborn ideas. Because it’s probably just as important to remind yourself of what you haven’t accomplished in any given year as of what you have. Stephen King used to impale his rejection slips on a spike next to his desk, where he could always see them — which, beyond being grimly satisfying, seems like a wonderful goad to the aspiring writer. Here are all the things you’ve failed to do this year. Annoying, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you do something about that?

While I think this is an interesting idea, it is somewhat “glass half empty”. Your accomplishment was penning your story and submitting it for consideration. Having it rejected, although heart breaking, isn’t necessarily a failure. It is simply a reminder that having stories published isn’t easy, and therefore the list of “accomplishments” means that much more.