Just signed for “Death Follows Us to Restaurants” to be published at Lone Star Stories.

I am now holding in my hands a copy of Best American Flash Fiction of the 21st Century. It contains a reprint of my 365-word story Buddha’s Happy Family Jewels, which despite its short length is definitely my most widely-read story. Or maybe because of its length. 🙂

This anthology is printed in English, but with some Chinese introductory sections. It’s meant to be an ESL textbook for English students in China. So my story has two “questions for consideration” (for writing essays).

This is all very strange, and very cool. Also, in my follow-up to the story, I had to explain what “family jewels” are. Some teacher out there is going to have a lot of fun explaining this one.

I’ll be teaching again. Here’s the list of pros who are teaching the workshop. More information is here. Last year I loved it and I’m really excited to do it again.

* Barth Anderson (novels)
* Richard Chwedyk (shorts)
* Leah Cutter (novels)
* Susan Marie Groppi (shorts)
* Vylar Kaftan (shorts)
* Kelly Link (shorts)
* Delia Sherman (novels)
* Jennifer Pelland (shorts)
* Margaret Ronald (novels)
* Sarah Prineas (novels, particularly YA)
* Theodora Goss (shorts)
* FJ Bergmann (poetry)

It’s Palm Sunday.  I will celebrate by appreciating my palms. I have two of them, and I’m quite grateful.  If I didn’t have palms, my hands would only have one side, and they would be all twisted like Moebius strips.  Also, it’d be really hard to hold things.

I bet someone here knows this.

I’m a good proofreader, but I have some terminology questions. I’m talking about what to do when I get proofs back from a magazine asking me to go over a story. If you know an official/standard website for this, feel free to point me there.

1) When I’m supposed to name the location of the error, such as: page 12, para 2, line 1… do partial paragraphs at the top of the page count as number 1 for that page? I assume so, because how else could I describe a line within them unless I called it para 0?

2) Each line of dialogue counts as a new para for this purpose, right? So it’s quite possible to get to para 15 on a page?

3) When asking for a correction, do I describe exactly what’s there and what to change it to? Or just the change? For example, if the line reads, “Let’s go to the park,” and I want it to say, “Let’s go to the mall,” would I write it as: page 2, para 2, line 3, change “Let’s go to the park” to “Let’s go to the mall”? Or is it enough to say: page 2, para 2, line 3, should be “Let’s go to the mall”?

Thanks!

People who make incorrect assumptions about my race and gender based on my name: amusing

People who cannot pronounce my name upon seeing it: understandable (though really, it’s pronounced like it’s spelled)

People who cannot spell my last name correctly even after I say “F as in Frank”: maddening

Deborah Brannon reviewed Paper Cities for the Green Man Review. She loved Godivy and called it a “crown jewel” of the collection. She writes: Vylar Kaftan’s “Godivy” is laugh-out-loud enjoyable satire and there’s nothing else I’ll tell you!

See for yourself. The review is here. If you’re looking for a book of urban fantasy, set in a variety of interesting cities, you might really like Paper Cities. You can order a copy here.

Hey writers.

Do you ever write a story, and have it ALMOST working–but it’s three sentences off?

Approximately three sentences, of course. Might be a few more or less.  Might be sentences you need to add, delete, change, or some combination of the above.  But those tiny changes make all the difference.

This happens to me a lot. Probably with half of the stories I write.  I get them 99% polished, but they’re just not quite right. I know they’re off but I can’t see how.  And the only way to see it is to put it away for a few weeks or months–which matters a great deal when I have a deadline to meet.

Few critiquers can identify the problem. They can usually point out why the story isn’t working, but rarely a solution.  And if they do propose a solution, it’s often major, like, “chop off the ending and do this instead.”  But it’s rare that I need such extreme measures.  If I’m patient, I can often solve the problem more efficiently.

Is this a common experience? Is this a result of my attention to detail and my efforts to make every word count?   Am I a hopeless perfectionist who’s making this harder than it needs to be?

This alarm clock is completely awesome. Except I really fear the results. I think I’d set mine to Focus on the Family, or one of those book-burning clubs.