Well, three weeks ago I promised you I'd blog again when I hit 100 followers on Twitter, and with 101 people, bots, and dogs following @sdorneman as of this evening, it's time to hold up my end of the bargain.
It's not that my Tweets are particularly retweetable or anything. I credit my recent surge in minions (hey, if they are my followers, I get to command them to do my bidding, right?) to my attendance at Grub Street's most excellent Muse and the Marketplace conference. Apparently Twitter handles are the new business card. I recommend the Muse to writers of all types, whether you're looking to improve your craft (moi), connect with agents and editors, or simply want to know that even though you work in solitude, you are not alone. Highlights of the conference for me were Ron Carlson's keynote address, Lynne Barrett's two seminars on Understanding Plot and Mapping Your Structure, and reading my flash fiction story about a foot fetishist under, shall we say, challenging acoustic conditions at an open mic party hosted by Beyond the Margins and The Review Review.
Hmm, I wonder if Grub Street has some kind of Best Customer Award or loyalty program I can get in on? In addition to my Muse attendance, I'm currently taking Mike Marano's Revenge of the Smart Page Turner class (he kicks our arses with work, and that's a good thing), and in the summer I'll be taking a one-day time management for writer's seminar with Hillary Rettig and a longer class, 10 Weeks, 10 Stories Level 2, a flash fiction workshop with Sue Williams.
Not to mention I'm the Mayor of Grub Street on Foursquare (nyahh, nyahh, Kim Windyka).
Lots of writing, some for class, some going out to world, some only for me, but no new publications to report. I do, however, have a lovely rejection from a journal (a journal that I happen to, still, have a very high opinion of) to share. It reads as follows:
"As per [our] guidelines, here are one to two sentences outlining why we didn't choose your piece:
This is a good story. We just can't take them all."
I'm going to assume that means I could a been a contender.
See you at 200 Followers, if not sooner. Hopefully much sooner, as 200 could take a while...
Thanks for reading,
Stephen
P.S. I almost forgot! May is National Short Story Month, so in an effort to relieve pressure on our bookshelves, I'm giving away three short fiction collections to the first three people who comment on this post (and let me know who they are, so I can deliver them their books). I'm choosing various past year's editions of Best New American Voices, Best American Short Stories, or Best of the West - I love all of the above collections, and want to spread the love. I'm sort of participating in the Collection Giveaway Project. Enjoy!
