Back to Work!

Fifteen days, no posts. If I ever get the time I will try to fill readers in on everything that's gone on in the intervening fortnight, a strange and trying time personally (and a quiet time for Boot Camp.)


HITS

I think our last hit was number 133 for 2007

134 was DMW having an acceptance from Afterburn Scince Fiction Magazine and a payment of $30

135 was RVJ making the finals at First Writer and getting a years subscription ($60)

136 was yours truly $200 3rd at Yeovil for "The Bella Archipelago"

137 was Boot Camp NEWBIE Matt Plass getting his first-ever hit at Flashquake , and it pays! ($25)

138 was TomC's first-ever poetry hit at Mythic Delirium

139 was moi, a very near miss at Glimmer Train (see below)

Dear Writer, Although your work did not make it all the way to the top 25, it did make it a long, long, LONG way through the judging process (top 3%) and you are a finalist in our first Family Matters competition--nice work!
(If you log in and click on "My Submissions," you will see that designation.)

Be sure to mention your finalist status as you send your stories out into the world. We'll look forward to reading more of your work!

All best to you, Linda -- Linda Swanson-Davies, co-editor


That story was a strange one for me. A little while back my son had a nasty broken wrist requiring an operation and I wrote about the complex thoughts and emotions I experienced at the time.

The most difficult moment was that as my son went out, under the anaesthetic, he whispered, "I love you Dad" and at the moment it felt the same as seeing him die. I was hit for six, then endured 3-4 hours of agony while he was operated on and then waiting for him to come round.

A few days before that I had been witness at 3AM to a vet putting down a deer. That found its way into my consciousness also, and somehow to I flipped everything in my head and saw ME dying with my son standing and saying "I love you Dad."

A few other things "impinged" too, and though the piece meant a lot to me, I believed it was far too messy and difficult to place anywhere.


I was wrong, and the last 3% at Glimmer Train is a damn good hit.


Moral, submit, submit, submit.




Alex